Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Akhilesh Kumar Vs State of Uttar Pradesh & Others dated 23/05/2025. The matter related to illegal mining activites carried out by Jai Maa Chandrika Enterprises, Rajendra Nagar, village Kabari, district Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh. The applicant also alleged about illegal sale …
A boriginal people in Western Australia and the mining giant, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), are involved in a tit for tat for controlling land in the Australian state. The latest salvo in the two-month battle is the use of videos. The mining company wants access to land in Pilbara for …
This is an EIA report that Nirma Limited (NL) proposes to set up a cement plant (cement plant 1.91 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), 1.5 MTPA clinker), coke oven (capacity 1.5 Lakh TPA) and a captive power plant (capacity 50 MW) at village Padhiarka, 15 km from Taluka headquarters Mahuva …
IN DHINKIA village in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, residents gathered around fragile bamboo gates, armed with sticks, brooms and lathis. The gates and improvised weapons were meant to keep government officials out. The residents expected a visit from them any day after the Union environment ministry gave environmental clearance to South …
If one were to compare steel consumption figures, Indians lag far behind the rest of the world. Against the world average of 215 kg, per person steel consumption in India is just 50 kg a year. This consumption gap is likely to reduce in coming years. With rapid economic growth, …
A blanket of smog envelopes Kuarmunda and Bonai subdivisions of Odisha’s Sundargarh district every morning. Area residents attribute it to emissions from sponge iron factories nearby that switch off their emission control devices—electrostatic precipitators (ESPs)—at night. The reason these factories get away with such offences is weak rules and weaker …
Sometime in June 2009, the West Bengal chief minister’s office forwarded a complaint to the state pollution control board (SPCB) about three sponge iron factories in West Medinipur district. A team was dispatched to Jhargram subdivision. It found a thick layer of grey dust coating trees and pathways, and noted …
Why a song on mining? I am a trained environmental engineer, so I always wanted to write a song on environmental degradation caused by mining in Australia. I am not sure why I did not write it before, but it is an opportune time as mining is expanding in the …
CHOOSING economic growth over protection of rich forests, the ministry of coal has written to the Cabinet secretary against demarcation of coal-bearing mines as “go” and “no-go” zones. In June, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) had set rich forests as out of bounds for mining. As a preliminary …
Twenty six-year-old Soyam Hunga has stayed in the Errabore Salwa Judum camp in Chhattisgarh for six years. He is from village Morguda in Dantewada district and moved to the camp, 30 kilometres away, to escape Naxalites. For the first five years, Soyam and his wife did not need to work …
THE DEATH of a tiger last month, two and a half years after it was brought to Sariska, proves the National Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan is not safe for the big cat. The death also brought to light little action has been taken on the recommendations of the Tiger Task …
A Union environment ministry panel has recommended temporary withdrawal of the forest clearance given to South Korean giant POSCO's proposed US $12 billion integrated steel plant in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district. On November 18 the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) said the project violates the Forest Rights Act (FRA). FAC is an …
Sand dredgers will soon be back in business along the Bankot creek bordering coastal Raigad and Ratnagiri districts in Maharashtra. They had been silent for over a month after the Bombay High Court banned sand mining in the state on September 24, after people who mine sand manually filed a …
A COMMITTEE set up by the government to investigate POSCO India’s compliance with the forest rights act (FRA) in its steel plant in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district has presented two divergent perceptions in its report. The committee, constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to examine the company’s proposal for …
MINING companies may now find it difficult to sign deals with governments of mineral-rich states. The Union Ministry of Mines has issued draft guidelines that would make it mandatory for states to sign agreements with private mining companies in a transparent way and notify them on state websites. The draft …
The rich green fields of Darramuda village in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh were almost peaceful. A JCB backhoe loader whirred on as it dug in and pulled out lumps of wet brown earth. The crane inched along carving a neat road on the fertile fields. The people of Darramuda, in …
