New Delhi: More than 190 countries decided it would build up to a $100 billion kitty by 2020 to fight climate change globally but the Green Climate Fund looks set to remain an empty pot as the US and other developed countries have refused to commit the needed money or even set timelines for contributions.

In a meeting of the UN fund held in Berlin, the US and other developed countries refused to discuss a burden-sharing formula for contributions or set any calendar to schedule the initial funding. By December 2012, only $5.7 million was committed by the rich world to the fund. India was represented at the meeting by Dipak Dasgupta, principle economic advisor to the finance ministry.

New Delhi: The government doesn’t want to be legally obliged to provide subsidized rations to the poor — under the National Food Security Bill — when they need them most such as during droughts, floods, fire, cyclones, earthquakes and other natural calamities.

In the proposed bill, the government has inserted a special provision to suspend its legal commitment to provide subsidized grains to the
poor whenever it — along with the Planning Commission — decides that such calamities have occurred.

New Delhi: The government has provided a back-door entry for contractors and the food industry to corner the lucrative ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) food supply budget through the Na

New Delhi: The UPA government is likely to reintroduce the Land Acquisition Bill with a mammoth 157 amendments in the budget session of Parliament.

The 26 ‘substantive’ measures the government plans to push through include a provision that in case of acquisition for urbanization purposes, 20% of the developed land would be reserved and offered to the original owners at a price equal to the cost of acquisition and development.

New Delhi: The environment ministry is likely to ease green norms for the real estate sector, giving a boost to developers wanting to construct high-rise buildings. The relaxation is expected to allow builders to put up higher buildings on smaller roads and lanes in cities.

In February 2012, the environment ministry had laid down rules linking the height of a building with the width of the road it was to be built on as well as the distance from the nearest fire station. The rules had the realty sector up in arms.

Dilutes Its Stand In Vedanta Case Affidavit

New Delhi: The government has diluted its stand on requiring consent from tribals before handing over their forestlands for projects in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on the Vedanta case. The changed policy cited in the affidavit of the government, contrary to existing regulations, could now make it easy for hundreds of other projects as well which require formal consent from tribals who have rights over forestlands under the Forest Rights Act.

New Delhi: The UPA is set to redraft the National Food Security Bill with greater benefits than what the government had earlier offered or the parliamentary standing committee had recently recommended.

The move comes after the intervention of the Congress high command to ensure that the bill does not fall short of the benchmark the National Advisory Council (NAC) had once set for UPA’s grand scheme.

Nod For Road, Rail Projects To Be Fast-Tracked

New Delhi: With environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan insisting that rights of tribals cannot be overlooked while clearing projects in forest areas, government has now decided against changing the norms for forest clearances, except in the case of rail tracks, roads and power lines – called linear projects. The decision came following a meeting called by PM Manmohan Singh with Natarajan and tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo after the two had voiced opposition to a PMO report asking for severe dilution to the rules requiring consent from gram sabhas (village councils) for projects in forests where tribals dwell traditionally.

NEW DELHI: Differing from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Union tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo has stood firm on tribal rights granted over forestlands through the Forest Rights Act (FRA) as the government sought more time from the Supreme Court to finalize its position.

The government's plea in the Vedanta case comes in the backdrop of differences on the consent clauses involving gram sabhas. Deo told TOI that "I have previously stood in favour of the August 2009 order (of the environment ministry) and I am against any dilution in the order. The core of the order and this issue lies in the constitutional provisions safeguarding tribal rights."

Wants Tribal Consent Clause Toned Down

New Delhi: The PMO has stepped in yet again to push for dilution of the green clearance procedures, this time asking the environment ministry to render the need for projects to comply with the Forest Rights Act (FRA) almost redundant. The recommendation comes as the latest in a series of moves that the PMO has made to alter the environment and forest clearance process for projects even as it failed to fashion the National Investment Board as an over-arching regulator to supersede the environment ministry. The latest recommendation, substantially denting the importance of what was once UPA’s flagship scheme for tribals — the FRA — has again shown the hands-on approach the PMO has taken to tackle the environmental clearance process.