A government panel has said the 'Go, No-Go' concept of forest area classification for clearances tocoal blocks is legally not tenable and should be abandoned. The environment ministry's ban on mining in areas of thick forest cover has locked away millions of tonnes ofcoal reserves. According to the power ministry, coal shortage is likely to hold up new power projects of over 17,000 mw aggregate capacity. This has triggered debate among...

-PTI   The Bombay high court today questioned the source of wealth of Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali Khan, arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). "From where did he (Hasan) get so much money? Is it his or someone else's? No person can amass so much money through any decent activity. He must have committed some other offence (apart from what he has been arrested for)," Justice A...

Community initiative tackles perennial problem of groundwater salinity In a rare community-driven initiative, the residents of a nondescript village near Deeg in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan have solved the perennial problem of groundwater salinity by laying a one-km cement pipeline to get the Yamuna river waters from a feeder canal situated nearby. The small Madhera village had been facing difficulty in getting clean and pure water for both drinking and irrigation for...

-The Telegraph   The government plans to revisit the minimum space criterion for special economic zones as developers are facing problems in acquiring land. “Land issues are critical... I think the minimum size is something that needs to be looked at again definitely. You are not going to find 5,000 (hectares) of land area, it is a pipe dream. It’s not going to happen... I think that’s something we need to talk...

-The Hindu   Amid growing protests over land acquisition, the government on Wednesday indicated that it could re-visit the subject of land ceiling of 5,000 hectare for the special economic zones (SEZs) and the matter could be taken up by the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for policy changes. “Land issues are critical and I think the minimum size is something that needs to be looked at...