-The Hindu As power lines and roads slice up forest cover, it becomes clear that a knowledge economy must tackle development with a wider perspective than that of mere short-term gains In just two meetings in August 2014 and January 2015, the National Board for Wildlife considered projects involving over 2,300 hectares of land in and around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. In four meetings between September and December 2014, the Forest...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Maneka Gandhi has asked non-profit organisations to move beyond stereotypical skills like stitching and tailoring to "specific vocations" while applying for funds to train women and warned of a crackdown if the course didn't lead to employment. Sources in Maneka's women and child development ministry said the advisory, sent to all NGOs working with the department, had basically two objectives: weed out fraudulent applicants and impart skills with...

The India Country Report 2015 on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) comes at a time when the Union Budget 2015-16 allegedly cut expenditure on several social sector schemes and programmes. This year's MDG country report says that India will fail to achieve two important targets pertaining to reducing hunger and maternal mortality by 2015, among others. Released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the report says that India is...

-The Indian Express   New Delhi: Told to "place the correct picture" before the Supreme Court on the "critical need" for hydel projects in Uttarakhand, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) first contradicted the recommendations of its own panel, which ruled against six hydel projects, and is now unable to submit it in writing to the court. The ministry, which was asked by the Supreme Court on December 16 to examine the...

-The Indian Express In a last-ditch effort to stop moves that it says will "entirely defeat the purpose" of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has strongly objected to the revised guidelines for forest clearance that the government is in a hurry to notify. Prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) after a push from the Prime Minister's Office, the new rules will ease the...