-Scroll.in A one-man judicial commission has recommended that the company pay the full amount as penalty for its violations in a forest that is home to elephants. In July 2020, the government of Assam ordered an inquiry into allegations of illegal mining in the state’s Digboi forest division. The division, an administrative category, falls within the larger Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve, one of India’s largest rainforests. In December 2021, the report of the...

-The Hindu COVID-19 could impact final numbers, says the National Statistical Office. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 9.2% in the current financial year following last fiscal’s 7.3% contraction, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said in its first advance estimates of economic output released on Friday, amid concerns over the likely impact of a third wave of the COVID pandemic. The NSO, however, made clear that these were “early...

-The Hindu * Why has it stayed away from both the methane pledge and the forest conservation declaration at Glasgow? The story so far: At the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference (the 26th Conference of Parties-COP26) in Glasgow, the United States and the European Union have jointly pledged to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas methane by 2030. They plan to cut down emissions by 30% compared with the 2020 levels. At...

-NetworkIdeas.org In recent weeks the media have featured stories bordering on the alarmist about a coal shortage in India. Coal inventories with thermal power plants had fallen to levels at which major country-wide power outages seemed inevitable. Fortunately, that has not (as yet) materialized, but it is indeed true that coal inventories with the power producers did collapse from the equivalent of around 30 days requirement to that for a couple...

-Newsclick.in The move, paving the way for rampant hydrocarbon exploitation in and around some of the densest forests, will potentially benefit corporate bigwigs in the oil and natural gas sector. New Delhi: A wildlife conservation body under the Narendra Modi government has exempted oil and natural gas extraction from the definition of ‘mining’ activity, paving the way for rampant hydrocarbon exploitation in and around some of the densest forests of India which...