-Hindustan Times Mumbai: Alleging that the Centre was diluting environment protection laws to allow construction in ecologically important areas, citizens and environment groups have filed 3,971 objections against the draft environment impact assessment (EIA) notification, 2020 proposed by the Union environment ministry. On March 12, the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) presented the new rules that will replace the 2006 EIA notification, which is presently in force, in...

-Newsclick.in The draft notification pushed during the lockdown, in more ways than one, tries to minimise public participation in determining impacts of any particular industrial project on livelihoods and environment. New Delhi: In what could spell catastrophe for the lives and livelihoods of millions of citizens across the country, the Central government has sought to introduce new rules whereby environmental clearances can be granted to industrial projects on a post facto basis....

-The Hindu The absence of playgrounds and electricity in govt. schools speaks poorly of policy priorities It should rank as an irony that as a founder-leader of the International Solar Alliance, India has not yet electrified a significant number of government schools, while extolling the elegance and virtue of photovoltaic electricity to the rest of the world. The lack of power in schools is taken note of by the Parliamentary Standing Committee...

-The Hindu 5% estimate in line with RBI forecast. The government expects the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at a slower pace of 5% for the full year 2019-20, as compared to 6.8% in the previous year, according to the first advance estimates released by the Statistics Ministry on Tuesday. This estimate is in line with projections made by the Reserve Bank of India, which had revised GDP growth downwards to...

-The Telegraph The government plans to frontload additional expenditures in the rural job scheme to boost demand in the rural economy New Delhi: Rural development schemes are likely to get more funds than allotted in the budget to boost consumption growth, which has fallen to a seven-year low in the villages. The Narendra Modi-government plans to frontload additional expenditure in the rural job scheme and highway Construction Projects to boost demand in the...