-Outlook The death of 39 rhinos in and around the world-famous Kaziranga National Park in less than 10 months has brought to the fore the threat faced by the endangered animal. The threat comes from poachers, who kill the rare one-horned rhinoceros for its prized horn whose price in the international market varies from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 90 lakh, and flood which is an annual occurrence in Assam. Early last month,...

-Outlook The Justice MB Shah Commission probing into the multi-crore mining scam today said most of the iron ore and manganese mines in Odisha would come under the purview of its investigation. "The commission will verify records and probe into all the iron ore and manganese mines allocated since 1952 whether closed or in operational stage," said U V Singh, the team leader and Principal Conservator of Forest in Karnataka. Stating that about...

-Outlook A green NGO today alleged that the Environment Ministry has given its nod to divert the Mahan forests in Madhya Pradesh for a coal block and described the decision as "appalling". Greenpeace India campaigner Priya Pillai alleged that the Environment Ministry's decision to grant forest clearance to the Mahan coal block in Singrauli district is "appalling". "The communities living in the forest have written more than once to the Ministry on the...

-The Economic Times The recent decision of the government to allow FDI in multi-brand retail trade has attracted heated debate and emotive reactions. Though the main consideration for allowing FDI in retail is not its benefit for farm sector, the debate has predominantly focused on threats and benefits to the country's farmers and the farm sector. Interestingly, the main stakeholders, i.e., farmers, have not reacted much to the policy decision and...

-The Guardian  Oxfam calls on World Bank to stop backing foreign investors who acquire land for biofuels that could produce food International land investors and biofuel producers have taken over land around the world that could feed nearly 1 billion people. Analysis by Oxfam of several thousand land deals completed in the last decade shows that an area eight times the size of the UK has been left idle by speculators or is...