The environment ministry’s decision to give priority to construction projects with green building ratings may help Lavasa, among others. Lavasa, the ambitious hill city project of HCC Chairman and Managing Director Ajit Gulabchand, has been stuck for long over green hurdles. Though the ministry’s initiative is meant to incentivise companies for integrating green norms into their building plans, experts said the move may give some advantage to projects like Lavasa. According to...

Gary Singh’s abduction ordeal illustrates the dangers faced by those who rely on smugglers to make their way overseas One day in 2006, 18-year-old Gubachan “Gary” Singh, an illegal immigrant in Manila, Philippines, was on his way to work when he was approached by four stocky Filipinos. One pulled out a gun, pressing the barrel into the small of his back, while another blindfolded him and shoved him into a van....

-The Times of India   After Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh faced agitating students at Tata Institute of Social Sciences protesting against the clearance to the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India has promised to make a presentation to the faculty and students at the Mumbai campus. NPCIL has also set up a committee under the head of the Bombay Natural History Society to study the marine ecology...

Chhattisgarh’s BJP government has decided to abstain from Planning Commission meetings in protest against the inclusion of Binayak Sen in its steering committee on health. Chief minister Raman Singh has told TV channels that an elected government cannot attend meetings where a “convict” will be present. Senior state officials, though, said that bureaucrats would be sent to plan panel meetings on financial matters such as outlays and projects. Skipping these meetings can...

Union minister Jairam Ramesh's order notwithstanding, the state forest department is unwilling to transfer the rights over harvesting bamboos to forest dwellers. The department currently holds the right to harvest bamboo in the state. Its contention is that allowing villagers to cut bamboo will affect the sustainability of the produce as forest dwellers do not know the proper rules of harvest. Instead, the officials are ready to send the cut...