-The Hindu Plea against nod for felling of trees New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has held that Aravallis in Faridabad district will be considered as deemed Forest. The NGT was hearing a plea against the Haryana government permitting felling of more than 7,000 trees for a group housing project, to be undertaken by Bharti Land Limited. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “It is difficult to uphold...

-The Hindu Trees in plantations, private lands should not come under it, says expert panel A high-power committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recommended that Forest surveys — the biennial exercise by the government to estimate Forest cover — explicitly demarcate trees grown in Forests from those grown outside, that is, in plantations and private lands. Currently, the government counts both towards estimating the portion of...

-The Indian Express As activists on both sides argue their case on the SC order on eviction of encroachers whose claims have been rejected under the FRA, an explanation of key issues: from dwindling Forest cover to bogus claims. On February 28, the Supreme Court put on hold its February 13 order directing states to evict tribals and other Forest-dwellers whose claims over encroached Forest land had been rejected under the...

-The Indian Express PET bottles imported for processing in SEZs had increased substantially. New Delhi: The government has plugged a loophole that allowed the import of plastic waste into India for processing. “…Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the country including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented Units (EOU),” the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) said in an order made public on Wednesday. The...

-The Indian Express When it comes to agriculture growth, the NDA government compares poorly with its immediate predecessor. The next government must initiate structural reforms, set realistic targets The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released the second advanced estimates of national income for 2018-19, along with the quarterly GDP estimates for Quarter 3 (Q3). The overall GDP for Q3 is down to 6.6 per cent and for 2018-19 as a whole,...