The Budget season is in full swing and allocations for various sectors being hotly debated upon both by policy makers and the public at large. What is important to remind ourselves, is that where this will lead this country of over one billion, facing challenges of balancing economic growth with social justice and equity. Food Security has moved from an issue of the poor and hungry and those who advocate their cause...

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar recently alleged that Monsanto, the Union Environment ministry’s genetic engineering approval committee (GEAC) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) had colluded to start trials of genetically modified maize in Bihar before clearance from the Environment ministry and the state government. The charge is significant: Nitish says ICAR’s experimental farms in Bihar did not maintain the stipulated “isolation distance” from normal farmland, meant to...

The colossal hubris, ignorance and smugness of India’s nuclear czars take one’s breath away. The day Japan’s crisis took a decisive turn for the worse, with an explosion in a third Fukushima reactor and fresh radiation leaks, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) secretary Sreekumar Banerjee declared that the nuclear crisis “was purely a chemical reaction and not a nuclear emergency as described by some section(s) of media”. Nuclear Power Corporation...

India has become the first country in the world to incorporate Tsunami proofing for Environmental clearances of major projects, after titanic Tsunami devastated key projects in Japan this month. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday asked the Expert Appraisal Committees, mandated to given Environment clearances to projects, to include tsunami related risks in the terms of reference for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) reports for four sectors --- nuclear power, infrastructure,...

Pune district administration inspects hill city site Report to be submitted to Environment Ministry We have the required permissions: Lavasa A site inspection of the Lavasa hill city conducted by the Pune district administration has revealed that 7,78,86, 600 cubic feet of mining has been conducted in two villages by Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL). The comprehensive data regarding the remaining 17 villages is still being consolidated by the authorities, according to Pune Additional...