Jayanthi Natarajan's tough stand ensures recognition abroad, but red-tapism & bureaucracy continue to delay approvals in India

Reticence can be a double-edged sword. For Jayanthi Natarajan, minister for environment and forests, her reserve has attracted much criticism from domestic detractors. Yet, on the high table of international climate diplomacy, it helped her ensure the voice of developing countries, particularly India, was heard at the global climate talks.

Mines in the western Indian state of Goa were ordered to close on Tuesday after a government-backed inquiry estimated illegal trade in iron ore had cost more than $6.0 billion in five years.

With the Goa government putting a blanket ban on mining, Vedanta group firm Sesa Goa on Tuesday said it has stopped extraction of iron ore from all its mines in the state, leading to 6 per cent fall in its stock price.

Following the suspension of works, all the mining operations of Sesa Goa, the largest private sector iron ore producer of the country, have come to a standstill. Sesa Goa’s operations in Karnataka have been closed for more than a year due to a Supreme Court imposed mining ban in the southern state. In December, 2010, it had discontinued operations in Odisha.

The five companies facing an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the coal allotment controversy might not face immediate de-allocation.

A high-level inter-ministerial group (IMG) is examining cases involving 28 blocks allotted to private companies and not the ones being probed by CBI, a senior government official said. After three months of preliminary enquiry, the CBI on September 4 registered cases against AMR Iron and Steel, JLD Yavatmal, Navbharat Power, Vini Iron and Steel and Jas Infrastructure under Sections 120B and 420 of the penal code, on criminal conspiracy and cheating.

Environment minister caught between India Inc pushing for green nods and environmentalists accusing her of not doing enough to save India’s forests

It probably wasn’t only in jest that a few months ago Jayanthi Natarajan likened herself to a mridangam, a percussion instrument that can be played from both sides. The minister for environment and forests revealed she felt caught between India Inc, pushing aggressively for environmental and forest clearances that will give it the land and resources to expand, and environmentalists who are accusing her of not doing enough to save India’s shrinking forests.

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has said the state was facing problems in getting environment clearances, in some cases taking years, for the proposed hydropower projects.

Attending a panel discussion on ‘Hydropower Projects in North-East’ at New Delhi yesterday, Tuki said the state was facing serious problems in getting Forest and Environment clearances, official sources said here today. Arunachal Pradesh has 40 per cent of the country’s total hydropower generation potential. Tuki requested the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to have a more positive role in hydropower development in the state.

Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that besides decentralisation and simplification in the mining sector in Madhya Pradesh, transparent arrangements have also been ensured.

On August 30, relay hunger strikes by villagers against a proposed 2,640MW coal-fired thermal power plant at Sompeta in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh would touch the 1,000-day mark.