A self-certification benefit for polluting industries and a three-year exemption from certain procedural norms for those seeking environmental clearance at the state level are among the sweeping changes proposed by the Manmohan Singh government in what is seen as an election-eve gift to industry.

Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group in Delhi and international non-profit grain recently came up with a brochure, which highlights redressal mechanisms as well as biases and lacunae in the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The brochure, Offences, Disputes and Remedies under India

THE lush green hill tracts of the Eastern Ghats may soon be blighted by smoke belched out by two bauxite units, each worth Rs 4,000 crore. While one refinery unit with a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes per annum is being set up by JSW Alumina Limited at Boddavara village bordering Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts, the other, almost with the same capacity, is being established by the Dubai-based Ras al Khaima at Ramannapalem and Rachapalli villages in Makavarapalem mandal in Visakhapatnam district.

It is aimed at creating public awareness about the city's ecological units

Thanks to consumerism and globalisation, today we have secluded ourselves from the mother nature. We consume our leisure while hanging out in multiplexes and theatre. Now, picnic and trekking are not often planned out by peer groups or families on holidays,' says Tasneem Balasinorwala, a member of Pune Tree and Kalpvriksh.

Windstorms and heavy rainfall often leave Lutyens' Delhi littered with uprooted trees and fallen branches. New Delhi Municipal Council says

Since 1980, different pieces of legislation have been enacted for environmental conservation. These include the Forest (Conservation) Act (FCA), 1980, the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), 1986 and the Biological Diversity Act (BDA), 2002. These have the potential to strengthen the conservation agenda. But they are at best being used to