As many as 172 roads in the new areas of Chennai Corporation will be taken up for integrated redevelopment. Stormwater drains, pavements, streetlights and ducts for electrical cables would be provided besides re-laying of the roads under the project. The new initiative would cover 112 km of roads in the …
CHENNAI: The Nagapattinam Port in Tamil Nadu would be upgraded as an all-weather, deep-water green field port, at a cost of Rs 380 crore, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today announced. "In the first year of its operations after upgradation, the port can handle 10 lakh tonnes of cargo which will yield …
The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) would soon undertake a survey for preparing a detailed project report (DPR) to make the chief minister's dream project~ beautification of banks along the river Hooghly~ successful. The state urban development minister, Mr Firhad Hakim, today held a meeting with the mayor and officials …
Are environment and forest clearances a hindrance to development in the country? No, says a study by Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment. The study analyses the environment and forest clearances granted during the 11th Five Year Plan, from April 2007 till August 2011. The pace of such clearances …
Next year, in June, world leaders will get together in the joyful city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to mark 20 years of UNCED—the Earth Summit (see Down to Earth, May 15, 1992). Unbelievably, it will be 40 years since the Stockholm conference, when the question of the environment first …
NEWS Bad for people, bad for environment Claims by the government and industry that environmental regulations are throttling India's economic growth are belied by the latest study by Delhi-based non-profit, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Read more OVERVIEW Growth at what cost? The diversion of forestland for development projects …
Claims by the government and industry that environmental regulations are throttling India's economic growth are belied by the latest study by Delhi-based non-profit, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The assessment which comprehensively analysed forest clearances granted by the Indian government in the 11th Five-Year-Plan—2007 to 2011—shows that rate of …
The Centre has decided to modify flagship rural development schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) to suit the needs of naxal-affected districts. While the schemes will be made more flexible, funds allocated to them will also increase. The decision was taken at a day-long consultation held …
Sustainable mining is an oxymoron. Environmentalists will tell you this. Mining—coal to limestone—takes away forests, devastates mountains and leaves the land pockmarked. It also destroys livelihoods of people and displaces them. Worse, modern, mechanised mining takes away livelihood based on land but does not replace it with local employment—all estimates …
Government and non-government groups have not always been on the best of terms and this relationship has been redefined over the years with changing social and political scenario. The showdown over the Lokpal bill marks a new low. Read this analysis by Down to Earth. Arguably, this is the hottest …
Just over three months ago, Jantar Mantar became the epicentre of a nationwide frenzy against corruption. Social activist Anna Hazare was on a fast-unto-death over his single-point demand of enacting a stringent Lokpal Bill, which would establish an institution to deal with cases of corruption in high offices. Hazare was …
The Morse committee has asked the World Bank to step back from the Sardar Sarovar project. Whether the bank complies or not, the committee has undoubtedly delivered a resounding indictment of all those involved in the project—from the governments of Gujarat and India to the mighty World Bank. There is …
Former chief minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi, recovering from a historic drubbing in the recent assembly polls, might find solace in the superlative his home constituency earned during the election. Kilvelur assembly constituency in Nagapattinam district has recorded the highest turnout of women voters in the state—95.57 per cent. …
WITH financial institutions of emerging economies like India and China getting big time into development lending, the World Bank plans reforms to attract its borrowing countries. Some of the important plans are to disburse loans faster and on flexible terms. Bank watchers and civil society groups say the reforms, expected …
The sight on television was heartbreaking: children lying in rows in the searing sun to be human shields against the takeover of their land for Korean giant POSCO’s mega bucks project. Facing them were armed police sent by the state government to assist in the operation. The steel plant and …
A High Powered Committee set up by the Central government has suggested that allocation of natural resources should go to the highest bidder. This 13-member committee, headed by former finance secretary Ashok Chawla, submitted its recommendations in the first week of June. It was set up in January in the …
My position on the need to re-position forests in development (see ‘Rethink growth with forest capital’, Down To Earth, May 16-31) has brought me a huge response. On the one hand are those who argue that functions of forests already include conservation vital to life; they need to be valued …
Can you love tigers but hate forests? This is the question that troubled me as I visited the middle of India last fortnight. I was in Nagpur, where local politicians, conservationists and officials were discussing what needed to be done in this chronically poor and backward region endowed with forests …
WITHIN six months of its implementation, the Integrated Action Plan (IAP), intended to boost development in Naxalite-affected regions, is heading for a change. At present, the plan is being directed by district-level committees with no public participation. The Planning Commission wants to alter this arrangement by imposing conditions on release …
We were on a beach. Somewhere close to Puducherry. The sight was surreal: half-smashed houses with wide open fronts, people still living in them. The devastation was caused not by a sea storm or a cyclone, but by the eroded beach. The sea had crept up to the village; there …
