-Outlook Expressing concern over the recent tragedy in Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court today prohibited setting up of any new hydroelectric power project in the state and directed the Centre to constitute an expert body to study environmental degradation caused by such projects. The court directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Uttarakhand government not to grant any further environmental or forest clearance for any hydroelectric power project until further orders. "We...

-The Hindu     Questions being raised about possible floods in downstream areas Dehradun: The level in the Tehri dam in Uttarakhand on Sunday reached 818.50 metres against the permissible mark of 825 metres, Tehri District Magistrate Nitesh Kumar Jha told The Hindu. According to Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) data, the level rose by 8 metres since August 1. Mr. Jha said that for the past three to four days the inflow was around...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: The ministry of environment and forests has denied forest clearance to the 1,500MW Tipaimukh hydel project in Manipur and the 3,000MW Dibang multipurpose project in Arunachal Pradesh. The forest advisory committee (FAC), which met on July 11 and 12, has stated in its report that in both projects, the requirement of for-estland is large and will have an adverse impact on the general ecosystem of the area. Civil society organisations...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: Seedbeds are not yet ready in vast stretches of Bengal's rice bowl because of poor rainfall, raising the prospect of a slump in production and showing up the inability of catchy slogans alone in making farming less of a gamble in the monsoon. Rainfall in the four major rice-producing districts of Bengal till Monday was around 50 per cent less than the normal average, officials in the agriculture department...

-The Hindu Kathmandu: Greater cooperation is necessary to protect the fragile ecology of the Himalayas, the world's youngest mountains facing unprecedented human encroachment, concluded the team of Nepali and Indian journalists and researchers that gathered in Kathmandu on Monday to assess the disaster brought by the floods last month. The programme, titled "Ganga-Mahakali catchment disaster" was organised by the Nainital-based People's Association for Himalaya Area Research (Pahar) and the Kathmandu-based Himal Southasian...