-The United Nations While citing the rapid development and growth of the Internet, a top United Nations official today urged greater efforts to bridge the ongoing digital divide and ensure that everyone around the world can harness its benefits. There were 2.3 billion Internet users worldwide at the end of 2011, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo, said in his address to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which...
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ONGC crude oil leak: Jayanthi Natarajan visits affected villages
-PTI NAGAPATTINAM (TN): Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan visited the Keezhavelur and Karunavali villages of the district on Tuesday where more than 10 acres of farm land has been affected due to leakage of crude oil from an abandoned pipeline belonging to the ONGC. The pipeline had been laid to take crude oil to the Narimanam refineries. The pipeline was abandoned as it developed cracks, officials said. Natarajan told reporters she would speak to...
More »Kudankulam on shaky legal ground-D Nagasaila and V Suresh
-The Hindu Violations of Coastal Regulation Zone and Environmental Impact Assessment notifications make official claims questionable The debate over nuclear energy will go on, but the issue with the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) is one of the several illegalities on which it is founded. In 1988, India inked the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant deal with the former Soviet Union. Two key elements in it were: the highly dangerous and toxic “Spent Nuclear...
More »The power of RTI
-The Hindu The Right to Information Act was a marvel in a country that boasted unbreachable barriers between the ruler and the ruled. It was outside the imagination of the ordinary folk raised in a cloistered Environment of fear and secrecy that they could actually call for and obtain records of decisions that critically impacted their lives. Yet in only seven years, the RTI law has not just penetrated the fortress...
More »Meghalaya set for mining policy, but gaps remain -Esha Roy
-The Indian Express Imphal: After some 80 years of unregulated mining, mostly coal and limestone, the northeastern state of Meghalaya is set to adopt a mineral policy that aims to organise the lucrative sector and boost its performance. The state cabinet approved the Meghalaya Mineral Policy 2010 last month and it is due to be introduced in next month’s state assembly winter session for approval. The state government was forced to act...
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