The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and the Goa government on a plea which alleged that the state government, in violation of its order, had allowed export of iron ores, purportedly extracted from Maharashtra.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Aftab Alam, sought the replies of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and various private companies to the allegation.

Newly-formed corporation will take up Rs 30,000 crore worth of projects to rehabilitate areas damaged by rampant illegal mining

The Karnataka government has proposed to incorporate a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to formulate and implement projects under the Comprehensive Environment Plan for Mining Impact Zone (CEPMIZ). The Supreme Court, on the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), had directed the state government to form the SPV.

The Forest Department will launch a special drive to increase green cover and eradicate lantana weed in the hill state. Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmauri today said the drive would initially start from Rampur and Chamba forest circles and later be extended to other parts of the state.

The department would also work on war-footing to remove lantana and other obnoxious weeds and plant fodder species for the benefit of sheep breeders and farming community.

A Rs 2.53 crore project for improving power supply in the town has been sanctioned, which will be implemented by October 31. This was stated by Bilaspur Sadar MLA Bambar Thakur while talking to mediapersons here today.

Bambar said 10 new transformers would be installed and three transformers would be updated from 25 KV to 65 KV. He said 600m of new broader conductor would replace old conductors to reduce power losses.

SC stipulated that a max of 25 mn tn of iron ore can be extracted annually from Bellary district, 5 mn tn from Chitradurga, Tumkur district

Faced with the constraints on granting new mining leases in view of the cap on extraction of iron ore at 30 million tonne per annum, the Karnataka government has appealed to the Supreme Court to withdraw its order on limiting iron ore production. The state government, in a fresh appeal before the Apex Court recently, stated that the cap of 30 million tonnes per annum from the three mining districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur would jeopardize setting up of new steel mills in the state.

The Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill is an attempt to circumvent the hurdles before acquisition, such as rehabilitation of land losers, without much increasing the cost of lan

Interview with Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister for Rural Development.

Rehabilitation scheme for endosulfan victims

Senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran has called upon Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to convene a meeting to review the progress of the government initiative for relief and rehabilitation schemes for endosulfan victims.

“There have been complaints that the government-announced packages are not reaching the victims. The Chief Minister should hold a review meeting with people’s representatives and activists of various voluntary organisations that have been fighting for the cause of endosulfan victims,” Mr. Sudheeran told reporters here on Monday. The participation of activists of voluntary organisations in the review meeting is essential to assess the problems faced by endosulfan victims and their families, he said.

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday assured the Supreme Court that it would strive to bring in a new law to abolish manual scavenging across the country and peg it on right to dignity and life to make it mandatory for the states to implement it.

Repeated adjournments sought by the Union government for getting the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012, had irked a bench headed by Justice H L Dattu so much that it had observed on last Friday that if the Bill was not getting through the legislative process, the government must bring in an ordinance to put an end to manual scavenging.

Attorney-General assures expeditious passage of Bill

The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed serious concern at the inordinate delay in Parliament passing the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill. A Bench of Justices H.L. Datu and Ranjan Gogoi shared the concern of counsel Santosh Paul and counsel Meera Mathew, appearing for A. Narayanan, and told Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati: “We are very much concerned about this issue.”