-The Times of India PANAJI: The Union mines ministry hasn't ruled out pollution hazards while handling mining dumps in Goa. Union mines minister Dinsha Patel told parliament on Tuesday, "Such possibilities (pollution hazards while moving dumps) cannot be ruled out, and the same has been brought to the notice of the state government by the Indian bureau of mines, a sub-ordinate office under the ministry of mines, for proper environmental clearances as...

-Frontline Farmers protest against the Central clearance for coal bed methane exploration in Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, as they fear it will devastate agriculture in Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts.  THE woes of the delta farmers of Tamil Nadu are far from over. While the Cauvery tangle continues unresolved, they fear the proposed multi-crore project for commercial exploration and exploitation of coal bed methane (CBM) in the Mannargudi block of Tiruvarur district will prove...

-Down to Earth An ecologist has been guarding seeds of more than 750 rare rice varieties for over a decade Lit by a kerosene lamp, the two-room hut just outside a sleepy hamlet in Odisha’s Rayagada district can easily pass off as any other farmer’s house in this tribal region. Step inside it, and one is taken aback by the hundreds of earthen pots labelled with coded stickers stacked in a corner...

-First Post Predictably, the recommendation by an experts’ panel appointed by the Supreme Court  - that trials of genetically modified (GM) crops should be halted for 10 years – has stirred a hornet’s nest. Such a moratorium would include ongoing trials and the court rejected it. This follows on the heels of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture’s 492-page report published in August which asked for the banning of GM food crops...

-Outlook Concerned over the health hazards likely to be caused by cell phone towers, the National Green Tribunal has restrained several telecom firms from setting them up without following mandatory provisions of law and taking permission from the competent authority. "Considering gravity of allegations levelled and health hazard likely to be caused, we direct that no construction of cell phone communication towers shall be made without following mandatory provisions of law and necessary...