-The Indian Express The Centre on Monday admitted for the first time that hydropower projects had "direct and indirect impact in the aggravation of floods" that hit Uttarakhand in 2013, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. It also said that the projects caused "irreversible damage" to the environment and enhanced landslides and other disasters. Filing its affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) conceded that "the...

-Livemint The Forest Rights Act, 2006 has been impactful but faces new threats The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, commonly known as the forest rights Act, was passed by Parliament in December 2006. It was the third milestone in the rights-based development decade of 2004-14, coming after the Right to Information Act enacted in June 2005 and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act...

-The Hindu The deaths of Chaiti Bai and other women after a botched tubectomy in Chhattisgarh are an opportunity to reflect on the problems India faces in the pursuit of modernity and global status, especially in health and education A sudden death always has great pedagogical value. The death of Chaiti Bai, a Baiga tribal woman, following a botched tubectomy at a mass sterilisation camp in Chhattisgarh recently, can improve our perspective...

-The Hindu Kollam (Kerala): A scheme implemented by the district panchayat for the welfare and health care of pregnant Adivasi women and infants is turning out to be a model for other districts, district panchayat president S. Jayamohan has said. Since the implementation of the scheme no infant mortality had been reported in the Adivasi belts of the district. Terming it ‘Kollam model,' Mr. Jayamohan said that providing nutritious food would be...

-Business Standard The committee has suggested an umbrella law to help set up new national and state-level regulators that would also take the powers of the existing pollution control boards The T S R Subramanian committee, constituted about three months ago to review laws related to environment and forest protection, has recommended some big-ticket changes to the rules and legislation. These include a complete overhaul of certain laws, special fast-track dispensation...