Hidden behind all the administrative scandals that rocked India in 2010, illegal mining is an unnoticed beast that has been eating into the country's soul.   While corruption in spectrum allocation and the conduct of the Commonwealth Games are primarily about monetary loot, illegal mining is about invaluable non-renewable natural resources.   In at least five major states, there were more than 20,000 complaints of illegal mining filed, but the perpetrators carried on with...

Many endosulfan sufferers in Kerala still not recognised NARAYANA Vokalliga from Belur village in Kasaragod breathed his last on November 20 just as his son was explaining how his father had suffered from exposure to endosulfan for 30 years. The former employee of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala used to spray the toxic pesticide manually in the corporation’s cashew plantations at Nanjamparamba estate. When the corporation switched to aerial spraying, Narayan prepared...

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lags far behind his ministerial colleagues in his wealth, details of which were made public on Monday. Details of the assets of 30 Bihar ministers, including Kumar's were uploaded in the government websites as a step towards ending corruption and promised by the chief minister. Kumar's moveable assets include Rs 31,760 in cash, Rs 57,770 in bank account, a Santro car of 2003 model, an old TV...

More than half of the nation's forests could be moved out of exclusive state control if Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has his way. “We need a complete paradigm shift in the way we look at forest management. Our model is based on the primacy of the state, but we must shift to a three-fold model of state, communities, and partnership between the two,” Mr. Ramesh told...

Over two years after the issue rocked the state, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today again raised the issue of returning land to “unwilling” Singur farmers. The issue had compelled Ratan Tata to pull out from West Bengal with the ambitious Nano project. Referring to his September 2008 meeting at Raj Bhawan with Mamata Banerjee, the CM said, he is still ready to return 100 acres of land to the unwilling farmers and...