-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Vedanta Group's bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa will have to get the gram sabha's clearance on whether it affects the cultural and religious rights of the tribals and forest dwellers living in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. While the gram sabha's nod is compulsory under the Forest Rights Act, the court made it clear that the Act confers...

-Live Mint Vedanta can mine bauxite in Orissa with gram sabha nod, some Karnataka iron ore mines to reopen Two key judgements passed by the Supreme Court on Thursday bode well for India's troubled natural resources sector, keeping alive Vedanta Resources Plc's hopes of mining bauxite in Orissa and promising an alleviation of raw material shortages at steel makers by partly lifting a ban on iron ore mining in Karnataka. The country's top...

-The Times of India In the continuing 'Congress vs Congress' green battle, the Union tribal ministryhas once again rebuffed the Andhra government's attempt to start mining in tribal pockets of Vishakhapatnam, rejecting the claim that ban on sale or lease of tribal land to non-tribals was not applicable to state corporations. Reiteration of the illegality came after Andhra mounted a fresh defence of the bauxite mining lease - after a meeting in...

-The Hindu Thirteen people of the Ror community have been arrested and heavy security deployed in Pabnawa village of Kaithal district in Haryana, after a 400-strong mob allegedly launched an attack on 150 Dalits on Saturday, causing some 200 Dalit families to flee the village. Their houses were allegedly looted and women humiliated. The attack was a sequel to Dalit boy Suryakant's marriage with Ror community girl Meena on April 10. The...

-The Times of India Several laws have been enacted and commissions set up for the protection of scheduled castes and tribes. Yet violence and discrimination against underprivileged communities go on with impunity. The latest in the long list of such incidents took place in Haryana, where over 200 dalit families were forced to migrate from Pabnawa village following attacks on them by upper caste Ror community members. The reason for...