-The Indian Express Alarmed by ministerial turf wars thwarting his GoM's bid to "expedite" Environment Clearances and coal supply to eight power projects identified by the Prime Minister's Office, Sharad Pawar is learnt to have sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's "intervention" to ensure the GoM's decisions are "implemented in a time-bound manner". Pawar was made chairman of the GoM on environmental and developmental issues relating to coal mining and other development...

-Live Mint Farmers resisting India's biggest FDI deal are paying a heavy price for their stand In June 2005, the Orissa government signed the country's biggest foreign direct investment deal yet with the South Korean steel manufacturer Posco for a $12 billion (around `65,856 crore) plant near Paradip in the mineral-rich state. Livelihoods in eight existing agricultural and fishing villages were to give way for the project that was intended to be...

-The Hindu The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) seems to be helping to raze green speed-bumps - ruffling the feathers of environment and tribal activists in the process - with Environment Clearances having been issued for more than Rs. 45,000 crore worth of projects in its first two months of existence. In the next few months, the CCI expects to spur revisions in clearance provisions for high-rises, SEZs and roads, and form...

-Civil Society Online Accreditation is the act of granting credit or recognition. It is to be preceded with a process where facts, figures and professional ethics are scrutinized so that the desired certification of competency, authority or credibility is presented. Only the best suited with the requisite track record are to find themselves in the approved list. In India, the much talked about and well critiqued initiative wherein consultants undertaking the responsibility...

-The Hindu Activists oppose diversion of forest land citing continuing non-compliance of several requisites The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is reconsidering its clearance for the controversial Kalu Dam in Thane district. About 999.328 hectares of forest land in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats region is up for diversion for the drinking water project for Mumbai and Thane. Work on the project had been...