-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today overruled the Centre and directed it to set up a national regulator to deal with the mandatory Environmental Impact assessment processes for forest-related projects that can range from mining to industrial ventures. The implications of such a watchdog for industry were not immediately clear in the absence of specific modalities but a clearance logjam blamed on the environment ministry was seen as one of...

-The Times of India KOLHAPUR: A team of three experts from the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) arrived in Kolhapur on Monday to study the impact of pollution on the Panchganga river. The experts held meetings with officials of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC), the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and environmental experts. "The team conducted a series of meeting on day one. The team is expected to visit locations by tomorrow....

-Down to Earth Mining ministry opposes cap on iron ore production; environment ministry disregards recommendation to cancel licence of firms encroaching forestland The Central government has rejected a key recommendation of justice M B Shah Commission, that of putting a cap on iron ore production in Odisha. The commission has been probing illegal mining across the country. In its first report released recently, it had pegged the loss to the Odisha government...

-Survival International Anthropologist Dr. Felix Padel works with the tribes of Odisha in eastern India, including the Dongria Kondh, for whom Survival International has campaigned for 10 years. Felix is the great great grandson of Charles Darwin and lives in a remote village in Odisha. In this interview, he talks to Survival about the Dongria Kondh's relationship to their mountains, their heroic struggle against Vedanta, Darwin's evolution theory and the experience...

-The Hindu     This is because new Environment Minister Moily has decided to invite comments from CMs The new Environment Minister Veerappa Moily's decision to invite comments from six Chief Ministers on the High-Level Working Group on the Western Ghats has put the final notification of the Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) covering over 59,940 square km of the hills under indefinite suspension. Before Mr. Moily took over, the Ministry already prepared the draft notification...