Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, will make a decision in the next week that could define the future of the country: whether to approve a $12 billion South Korean-owned steel plant, the largest potential foreign direct investment ever on the subcontinent. The plant, proposed by South Korea's Posco, has been in the works for years. It already has been cleared by the environment ministry, which Mr. Ramesh runs, and endorsed by...

The liquor baron and Rajya Sabha member from the state, Vijay Mallya, on Tuesday came out in support of tribals in Biligiri Ranga Hills who are in danger of being displaced due to the plan to declare the area as a tiger reserve. Speaking on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India, in Panaji, he said that the tribals were guarding the tigers from poaching and other dangers. “If...

The much-awaited Bill on sexual harassment at workplaces gets the Cabinet nod for presentation in Parliament. ON November 4, the Union Cabinet gave the go-ahead for the enactment of a law on protection of women from sexual harassment at the workplace. Titled Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, the draft law is basically a new avatar of the ones prepared in 2004. This development has been...

The issues relating to the victims of endosulfan, sprayed in the plantations of Kasargod district in Kerala, have snowballed once again. “Earthworms emerged from the soil, and, subsequently, died. Then birds came to eat the earthworms and they died as well.”   “Some termites were killed in a cotton farm sprayed with endosulfan. A frog fed on the dead termites, and was immobilised a few minutes later. An owl which flew over...

The Environment Ministry on Friday issued a show cause notice for revoking environment clearance to Jindal steel and power plant in Angul in Orissa for violating green laws. The Ministry issued the notice under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, for revocation of environmental clearance in view of Jindal not obeying its conditions. The Ministry, while giving environmental clearance to the 6 million tonnes per annum (MMTA) integrated steel...