A proposed amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act envisages benefit-sharing with people in forests who are displaced by mining. It has been suggested that mining companies give 26 per cent of their equity or their profits to communities. The proposed law is revolutionary in its implications.
Lakshman Oraon and his wife Sarla are no ordinary farmers. On less than an acre of land, they grow paddy, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. Their crop of paddy has just been harvested and you can see the dry remnants sticking out of the soil. But they are getting ready for a second major crop. It could be wheat with mustard and pulses in the margins.
Delhi is a city so crazy about cars that it puts some 270,000 new ones on its streets each year. In Lajpat Nagar you will find hardcore worshippers of combustion engines. There are families that own two and three cars with a scooter and a motorcycle thrown in for good measure. It is here that the Reva, the world's most popular electric car, has finally made a full-fledged debut in its flamboyant colours. The Reva has at least a thousand takers in London and is getting noticed and picked up in other environmentally conscious cities of Europe where it has been test marketed.
A project meant to carve out a bus corridor and give pedestrians and cyclists designated space on a 16 km stretch of road in Delhi has resulted in outbursts of anger and acrimony by middle class car owners. Called the bus rapid transit system or the BRT, the roject is aimed at making it easier to move around in Delhi, where traffic is unruly.
