-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Vedanta Group's bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa will have to get the gram sabha's clearance on whether it affects the cultural and religious rights of the tribals and forest dwellers living in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. While the gram sabha's nod is compulsory under the Forest Rights Act, the court made it clear that the Act confers...

-Live Mint Vedanta can mine bauxite in Orissa with gram sabha nod, some Karnataka iron ore mines to reopen Two key judgements passed by the Supreme Court on Thursday bode well for India's troubled natural resources sector, keeping alive Vedanta Resources Plc's hopes of mining bauxite in Orissa and promising an alleviation of raw material shortages at steel makers by partly lifting a ban on iron ore mining in Karnataka. The country's top...

-The Times of India In the continuing 'Congress vs Congress' green battle, the Union tribal ministryhas once again rebuffed the Andhra government's attempt to start mining in tribal pockets of Vishakhapatnam, rejecting the claim that ban on sale or lease of tribal land to non-tribals was not applicable to state corporations. Reiteration of the illegality came after Andhra mounted a fresh defence of the bauxite mining lease - after a meeting in...

KEY TRENDS   • According to National Sample Survey report no. 583: Persons with Disabilities in India, the percentage of persons with disability who received aid/help from Government was 21.8 percent, 1.8 percent received aid/help from organisation other than Government and another 76.4 percent did not receive aid/ help *8   • As per National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), the Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) was 57.2 per 1,000 live births (for the non-STs it was 38.5)...

-PTI CHANDIGARH: The grant for construction of houses under Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) has been increased in Haryana, an official said today. "The grant under Indira Awaas Yojana has been enhanced from Rs 45,000 to Rs 70,000 in plain areas and from Rs 48,500 to Rs 75,000 in hilly areas," a Haryana Rural Development Department spokesman said. Under IAY, the state government has spent Rs 46.61 crore during the year 2012-13. As many...