-The Hindu The draft policy on the use of forest land is at odds with sound conservation principles and fails to plug holes in current guidelines that work to the advantage of project promoters The Supreme Court in July 2011 while delivering the Lafarge Judgment laid down guidelines on forest clearance procedures. These were to operate till a new regulatory mechanism was put in place. Two years after the judgment, the Ministry...
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National Green Tribunal stays cutting of trees in Aravalli hills
-PTI NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has ordered an interim stay on cutting of trees in Manger village in Aravalli hills on a plea for withdrawing permission granted by authorities for non-forestry activities there. A bench headed by Justice S N Hussain issued notices and sought replies of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), Haryana government, directorate of town and country planning, Faridabad and the forest department of Haryana by...
More »Down a slippery slope in Uttarakhand-Bishnu Prasad Das
-The Hindu The devastating landslips were caused by the undercutting of fragile hillsides for highways rather than by dams, which actually helped mitigate the floods The natural calamity of June 16 through 19 that devastated the whole of Uttarakhand and large areas of Himachal Pradesh and western Uttar Pradesh - an area of almost 20,000 sq.km. - was one of extremely rare severity among all the hydro-meteorological disasters to have struck India. Intense...
More »12th gram sabha too votes against Vedanta mining-Santosh Patnaik
-The Hindu "It is time now for Vedanta to gracefully respect public sentiment and pack off its establishment" JARAPA (ODISHA): Efforts of Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), belonging to London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, to mine bauxite ore in Niyamgiri hills in Odisha received a severe blow on Monday with the 12th palli (gram) sabha also voting against mining there. This is the first time an environmental referendum is conducted on a directive by the...
More »Now, a high-level committee to map status of tribals-Smita Gupta
-The Hindu Eminent sociologist Virginius Xaxa will be chairman of committee If UPA-I constituted the Sachar Committee to map the condition of Muslims in the country, on Saturday, UPA-II set up a high level committee on Saturday to prepare a position paper on the current socio-economic, health and educational status of tribals that will also "suggest policy initiatives as well as effective outcome-oriented measures to improve development indicators and strengthen public service...
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