-The Hindu Activists seek halt to degradation of rivers Karur (Tamil Nadu): Environment activists here are seeking an immediate halt to the degradation due to Sand mining in the rivers as mining continues in violation of norms stipulated by the Madras High Court. According to activists, three major violations are obvious. Loading contractors retained by the Public Works Department were breaching the rules governing number of excavators to be deployed in a quarry;...

-The Hindu     This is because new Environment Minister Moily has decided to invite comments from CMs The new Environment Minister Veerappa Moily's decision to invite comments from six Chief Ministers on the High-Level Working Group on the Western Ghats has put the final notification of the Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) covering over 59,940 square km of the hills under indefinite suspension. Before Mr. Moily took over, the Ministry already prepared the draft notification...

-The Hindu On the day that Veerappa Moily took over reins, the Environment Ministry eased environmental clearance norms for select industries, including brick kiln owners and river Sand miners. On December 24, the Ministry took a decision to exempt a slew of different types of industrial and mining projects from either providing environmental impact assessment reports or holding public hearings when they are approved by the state government. Categorising these set of...

-The Hindu RAMANATHAPURAM (Tamil Nadu): Claiming that ‘Madurai Malli' which was recently given the coveted Geographical Indication (GI) tag, had its origin in Ramanathapuram, farmers have urged the district administration to help them secure GI mark also for the plants raised in the district and which produced ‘Madurai Malli.' Farmers from Mandapam region, who raised the issue at a farmers' grievance meeting, chaired by District Collector K. Nanthakumar here on Friday, said...

-The Hindu The camps were set up in the aftermath of September's communal violence MUZAFFARNAGAR: Three months after the high-profile visits of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi to various relief camps, riot-affected Muslims belonging to at least half-a-dozen villages are still to return to their native villages. Large scale violence that erupted in this sugarcane belt in August-September this year has a left deep scar on the psyche of these...