-The Hindu Environment Ministry rejected forest clearance to Kalu dam in Thane district While irregularities were surfacing in irrigation projects around Mumbai in early April, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) rejected forest clearance to the Kalu dam in Murbad taluka of Thane district, which would have submerged around 1,000 hectares of forest land. Work started last October without permission from the MOEF, and Indavi Tulpule...

Himachal Pradesh-based environmental organisations are elated over the recent High Court judgment against cement majors Jaiprakash Associates Limited for flouting environmental norms and illegally acquiring land for setting up their mega business ventures. Non-governmental organisation Him Parivesh that had filed the petition in the High Court had said: “The years of struggle of the communities and their stand against the Jaypee power project and cement plant has been vindicated by the...

The green bench of the Himachal Pradesh high court slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore on Jaiprakash Associates on Friday for setting up a cement plant fraudulently. The court quashed the environmental clearance granted to the company's thermal plant and directed that it be dismantled within three months. It also called for a special investigation team to be set up to see if state officials were involved. Disposing of...

-The Economic Times The April 28, 2012, issue of The Economist has a story on India's solar power and mentions Charanka village in Patan district, Gujarat. Solar energy can be converted into electricity, using photovoltaics, or can be converted into heat. (There are other technologies too, but those aren't important yet.) So far, solar thermal, or heating, in India has essentially meant solar cookers and water heaters, though it needn't stay that...

-The Telegraph Reclaimed from Maoists, the natural reserves of Saranda are up against unscrupulous adversaries. At least four mining firms have been extracting iron ore and manganese against their sanctioned capacities in this West Singhbhum region since 2008 right under the nose of the mines department and Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB). The startling fact came to light this January after the two laggard state offices replied to separate RTI petitions filed...