Order of the High Court of Uttarakhand (WPPIL No. 202 OF 2024 with WPPIL NO.174 OF 2024) in the matter of mining operations in Bageshwar district, Uttarakhand. The order was passed by the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court Guhanathan Narendar and Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari. In compliance with the …
Vishnubhai Patel was an operator-cum-fitter with Green Environment Services Co-operative Society Ltd. He claims he was sacked in August 2006, a little over a year after exposing the society's fraudulent effluent treatment practices. Society officials, however, say he was relieved off his duties because he stole imported machine parts worth …
I wrote last fortnight about how mining in Goa for iron ore was ripping its forests and devastating its people. I wrote of the violence and protests I saw in its villages, where miners were pitted against people angry at the loss of their cultivable lands and their water bodies. …
on february 13, 2007, Dow Chemical Co was fined us $325,000 by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (sec) on bribery charges against one of its Indian subsidiaries, De-Nocil. Dow wholly owns De-Nocil, which was rechristened Dow AgroSciences India Pvt Ltd on January 13, 2005. According to sec, De-Nocil …
for years corruption and irregularities in the pesticide registration system in India has been a well-documented norm. Unfortunately, it has taken action from us authorities, which has, for the first time, indicted a pesticide manufacturer for paying bribes in India, opening a particularly noisome can of worms. Dow Chemical Company …
it is clear that the Delhi Master Plan has been written by lobbies of traders that don't want their commercial establishments operating out of residential areas to be sealed, as ordered by the Supreme Court. A citizens' outfit has already gone to the court against the plan. The court is …
A forest officer "Untouchability has not been eradicated from the country. There still exist classes of people who have to perform chores for their lords with unquestioning servility. Any attempt at protesting means a long exile in jungles with very little facilities for families of the banished,' says a forest …
The Turkmenistan government has dismissed five regional governors in the face of unrest caused by a severe food crisis. Though the country faces a crop failure this winter, the government says the severity of the bread shortage has been exacerbated by falsified data submitted by the regional governors. A recent …
GUARANTEES for social services have been kicking in of late. After guarantees for rural employment and education, people will find it easier to get an anganwadi on demand. On December 13, 2006, the Supreme Court has ordered the government to set up 8 lakh more anganwadi centres in the next …
THE National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (nrega) promised to provide livelihoods in villages by providing a minimum of 100 days of employment to every household. It was envisaged that this would be done by initiating projects that would ensure long-term security by creating productive assets. That's not exactly how things …
Illegal logging is massively widespread - more than 50 per cent of all timber in some countries - and hugely damaging, yet how can it be tackled without causing poverty in local communities? Written by the world's foremost experts, this book examines the key issues including law and enforcement, supply …
At a media-studded book release function, a leading editor was recounting a recent incident. He was travelling with a top Uttar Pradesh politician (who we will not name but call Mr A) in his brand new plane. The politician told him that the plane was a gift from a leading …
Forests are the mainstay of tribals in Tripura, and in many other parts of the country as well. But of late, tribals have been displaced from forestlands. The bill on tribal rights over forestlands will be re-tabled in parliament. What are your views on this issue? Yes, tribals have had …
During six months before the survey 41 per cent of the report's customer respondents made more than one small payment (US $0.45 on average) to doctor meters into lowering bills, 30 per cent made more than one small payment (around US $1.90) to expedite repair work and 12 per cent …
More than US $2 billion has been defrauded in Hurricane Katrina and Rita relief operations. The amount is nearly 11 per cent of the total funds spent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on relief and rehabilitation for the hurricanes that hit the US in mid-June 2005. Federal prosecutors have …
the Assam government has sounded a health alert across the state following an outbreak of malaria that has claimed at least 35 lives and affected more than 20,000 people over the past month. Unofficial estimates put the toll at around 80. Behind the outbreak is the laxity of the administration …
Imampur village is in Nagar taluka of Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, a rain shadow area. For more than two years now, the agriculture department has been implementing a watershed project here, using egs money. But when dte visited Imampur, it found out that while an entire hillock was covered with continuous …
