BHOPAL: Union government continues to short-change gas victims and favour interests of Dow Chemical Company (Dow), alleged NGOs working for the Bhopal gas victims, realising a new set of documents from WikiLeaks 'Kissinger Cables' at a press conference here on Wednesday.

Citing extracts from leaked cables the activists said union minister Kamal Nath and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia welcomed Dow investments in India and contradicted the Government of India's stated position on Dow's liabilities in India.

Around 200 survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster held demonstrations in front of the Dow Chemical’s office in Vikroli in suburban Mumbai on Tuesday, demanding that the company take up the criminal, civilian and environmental liability of Union Carbide, which they now own.

The demonstrators said they were protesting against Dow Chemical’s continuing business in hazardous chemicals when the survivors were dying in Bhopal and the next generation was facing health problems.

Meeting will give rein to hazardous industries, says Coalition for GM-free India

The Union Ministry of Agriculture has no intention of keeping off a conference it has supported despite the Coalition for GM-free India having taken umbrage at the Government associating with an event organised by the agro-chemical industry to be addressed by speakers known for being promoters of genetically modified (GM) crops as an answer to food security.

Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) will start collecting hazardous waste from industrial units in Bangalore. K.S. Vamanacharya, Chairman, KSPCB, said in a release, “The board in way to reach to the industries is to make them aware of the pollution which is being caused by indiscriminate disposal of hazardous waste particularly from Small and Medium scale Industries (MSME’s).”

In Bangalore, the board has taken the initiative to establish closed loop system to collect hazardous waste from the industries’ doorsteps in association with used oil reprocessing company Arun Industries, No.193, III Phase, PIA, Bangalore-58, which is operating within the Peenya Industrial Area, and hazardous waste incineration facility by Bangalore Incinerators Ltd, Plot No 28, KIADB Industrial Area, Tumkur.

In a turnaround, the state forest department has decided to prepare eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) proposals around protected areas (PAs) as per the 10km norm, deciding on case-by-case basis and dependin

A Bench of the Lok Adalat has observed that the use of banned pesticides has led to cervical and breast cancer among female agriculture labourers in six districts which fall under the Gulbarga revenue division.

The Bench comprising Justice D V Shylendra Kumar of the High Court and A N Yellappa Reddy, a member of the Lok Adalat, in its sitting in Bangalore on Saturday, directed the departments of health and agriculture to conduct a survey among labourers and suggest remedial measures.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has urged local authorities to be more transparent when providing information related to the environment, especially data regarding potentially hazardous co