In its report on India’s coal sector, Pune-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Prayas Energy Group has made a strong pitch for the setting up of an independent regulator to improve the performance and accountability of coal companies and provide a level-playing field. An independent regulator, however, needs to be responsible not only for issues such as pricing, quality and contract adherence, but also meeting production targets, safety, mine restoration and compliance to environmental norms.

Rehabilitation programmes stalled owing to severe financial crunch

Left high and dry by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the State Forest department has been forced to approach the State government in the hopes of getting funds for rehabilitation projects under Project Tiger in Karnataka. The department, the nodal agency responsible for Project Tiger, claims it is in the throes of a financial crisis as it has suffered a poor flow of funds for rehabilitation projects aimed at reducing human presence in tiger habitats.

Say they have not been paid compensation

Sixteen families relocated from the Kottamkara hamlet inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary are planning to reoccupy the deserted place on Saturday in protest against the alleged negligence of the State government in paying them compensation. The families, 11 of them tribal, will stage the protest under the aegis of the Wayanad Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Rehabilitation Action Council, S. Shobhankumar, convener of the council, said here on Thursday.

Championing the cause of all coal bearing states, which have been demanding allocation of a portion of the power produced by the thermal projects coming up their respective states free of cost, the Odisha government has urged the Planning Commission to take a call on the issue at the earliest.

Odisha had demanded 25 per cent free power from coal-based project while its claim for such largesse from the plants based on coal washery rejects was pegged at 33 per cent.

The GB Pant Children’s Hospital, which is the only hospital catering to children of the Kashmir valley, is setting up a special facility for the undernourished children of the region.

A 65-strong group of natives of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — all of them former manual scavengers — is on a nation-wide tour educating the masses on the need to do away with manual scavenging. The National Maila Mukti Yatra (National Dignity Campaign) plans to travel 10,000 km across 200 districts in 18 States.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Sanjay Dumane of the National Dignity Campaign said despite statutory provisions, scavengers are still employed to remove human excreta from railway tracks and open spaces. According to the 2011 census, there are 7,94,390 dry latrines in the country, where human excreta is cleaned by humans.

The Union Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) has recommended against filling the Maheshwar dam reservoir up to 154 metres since the project promoters, Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporat

To ensure livelihood of tribals, says member