-Down to Earth   Tribal voters refused to allow polling officers to put ink mark on their finger nail, fearing reprisal by Maoists In the dense forests of Saranda in Jharkhand, residents say two things rarely touch the ground-one, sunlight and, two, government development schemes. The forest had been a hotbed of Maoist activities and a large number of panchayats in Manoharpur block around the dense forest never voted in the past...

-Down to Earth   Hearing on plea to stay illegal Mining to be taken up next Monday. Petitioners argue that the illegally recovered wealth from the miners should be utilised for the development of the backward Mining districts in Odisha On the day it pronounced its verdict on illegal Mining in Goa, the Supreme Court decided to look into illegal Mining in Odisha as well. On Monday, the apex court issued notices to...

-The Hindustan Times   Nearly one-and-a-half years after it banned Mining in Goa, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed an annual cap of 20 million tonnes of iron ore extraction in the state. The final capacity that will be allowed to be mined in the state will be decided by an expert panel within the next six months. A special forest bench headed by Justice AK Patnaik said the panel would also advise...

-Down to Earth Group has 1,750 farmers says pollution from industries has reduced them to poverty and political parties in power ignored their repeated pleas Ninety-five-year-old V Ammayappan is just back home from hospital after a kidney surgery. But this farmer from Melapalayam village in Tamil Nadu's Karur district is determined to cast his vote on April 24 when elections to Lok Sabha will be held in his state. He speaks with...

-The Telegraph Shillong: The National Green Tribunal has ordered a stop to rat-hole coal Mining across Meghalaya and it observed that neither the government nor the people were benefiting from "illegal Mining" except the "coal mafias" while warning against illegal transportation of the mineral. This is the latest instance that a national authority has intervened in the traditional and unscientific form of coal Mining that has been the order of the day...