Forests Jairam Ramesh's ambitious plan to redesign the institutions of environmental governance has come up against serious resistance from environmental experts who say the concept does not address fundamental problems.
The recent helicopter crash near Kedarnath, in which seven lives were lost, has proven yet again that aviation regulatory authorities have not learnt lessons from similar air mishaps in the challenging Kedar valley and have done little to improve flying conditions.
Data from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change reveals that 30 cities recorded an increase in PM10 levels compared to 2017-18 (FY18), indicating deteriorating air quality.
'The global climate system doesn't look at where the carbon dioxide is coming from. 'It may be emitted by the US, but it will not remain above the US alone but covers the whole world.'
Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, India's 52nd chief justice and its first Buddhist one, has played a key role in shaping the judicial landscape, penning about 300 verdicts, including landmark rulings on constitutional issues, liberty, and perhaps most important against the executive's 'bulldozer justice'.
The environment ministry on Thursday gave its nod to a plan for constructing a grand statue for Maratha warrior king Shivaji in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai.
The central government's Great Nicobar development project, proposed around an unprecedented transhipment port, will be executed to keep environmental impact minimal, and is essential as it is of national importance, the government has said amid calls to abort the controversial project due to ecological concerns, the Centre said in an official statement.
The immediate trigger is the environment ministry's latest policy of asking corporates to mandatorily commit five per cent of project investments in environment protection measures.
The environment ministry is likely to soon issue regulations that will mandate automakers to recycle a specified percentage of steel from old vehicles, starting from the next financial year, according to people familiar with the matter. "We recently held a meeting with members of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam). "The final regulations are likely to be issued in the next 10 days," a government source informed.
'The pollution has increased. We are facing breathing problems and irritation in the eyes'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for enhancing trade and investment ties between their countries and committed to further deepening their engagement in the Indo-Pacific. They discussed a full spectrum of bilateral relations, including key global and regional issues, and stressed the urgent need for reform in the United Nations Security Council. The leaders also underscored their commitment to ensuring the global AI sector can drive positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
The fact that the government has no specific deadline to impose this policy was revealed through a response to an RTI application in February 2017.
The draft environment impact assessment (EIA) notification, 2020, which involves the procedure of issuing environmental clearances to various projects, was issued by the Environment Ministry in March this year and has received thousands of suggestions from the public.
Says pre-1991 licence raj should not return, clearance process to be overhauled.
With the expert panel's recommendations, the project comes a step closer to getting the environment clearance (EC), to be given by the Union Environment Minister.
After six years of probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed the closure report before a special court last week as it could not find enough evidence in the case to proceed with prosecution, the officials said.
Amid a growing chorus in the party for his elevation, Tamil Nadu sports minister and son of Chief Minister M K Stalin, Udhayanidhi, was elevated as the deputy CM on Saturday with additional responsibility, in a cabinet reshuffle that saw the return of V Senthil Balaji to the council of ministers two days after securing bail in a money laundering case.
Rules for mining, roads, power and irrigation projects relaxed.
A committee set up by the Environment Ministry to look into forest and environment issues involving the Korean steel giant Posco's Rs 54,000- crore (Rs 540 billion) project in Orissa will submit its report on October 18.
Nitin Gadkari and Prakash Javdekar lobbied Jual Oram to change process, that may now open a Pandora's box.
A group of 91 retired bureaucrats has appealed to the Centre to withdraw the Green Credits programme, which they claimed may facilitate diversion of forest land to private entities. "Quick, smooth and easy diversion of our forest lands in favour of user agencies is apparently the sole intention of this set of Green Credits rules. "We urge the MOEFCC to recognise this danger and withdraw the Green Credits notification expeditiously," the group of former civil servants wrote in an open letter to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
In its reply to the MoEF dated August 13, the department of forest and environment has categorically stated that there are no traditional forest dwellers at the Posco site. It has also clarified that there are no claimants under the Forest Rights Act and certain land records pertaining to the erstwhile Bardhaman estate are not authentic.
With a 50 per cent increase in the last four years, Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number (785) of tigers in the country, followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444), according to the data.
Prakash Javadekar's one year as India's minister of state (independent charge) of environment, forests and climate change has been an unmitigated disaster, says activist Himanshu Thakkar.
The Environment Ministry had earlier this month termed as "incorrect" claims that Adani Port and SEZ was spared a hefty fine of Rs 200 crore.
The Centre on Monday earmarked a separate Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres to tackle air pollution and announced the much-awaited voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and polluting vehicles, even as it shrunk the budgetary allocation for the environment ministry from the last fiscal by nearly eight percent. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech for 2021-22, announced a total of Rs 2869.93 crore for the ministry, Rs 230 crore less than the last fiscal. Officials said the outlay has been lesser this time as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has protested, on behalf of the corporate sector, against the Union environment and forests ministry's 'unreasonable environment regulations' being clamped on the industrial projects.
The Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, an autonomous institute under the ministry of environment and forests, invites applications for its post-graduate programme in forestry management.
As per revised rules every four tribals is likely to be displaced or affected by projects, as their habitations were rich in natural resources
The Madhya Pradesh forest department has refused to provide information under the Right to Information Act on management of cheetahs brought from Africa and their cubs born in India.
Local officials said no casualties have been reported due to Wednesday's quake that hit the Madoi County in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province of northwest China at 3:44 pm (Beijing time), tremors for which were also felt in north-eastern Nepal.
Pitamber Pant National Environment Fellowship (2006) and B P Pal National Environment Fellowship for Biodiversity (2006) invite applications from Indian nationals for fellowships in Research and Development.
Delhi's crime rate against women stood at 144.4 in 2022 -- the highest among all states and Union Territories.
The conflict between development and environment should not cause unnecessary delays, says Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh.
The home minister held discussions with chief secretary and other state officials on the situation arising due to the forest fire and offered all assistance from the Centre.
Currently, major port projects have to get clearances under the Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 1991 and an environmental clearance from the central government.
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on Monday expressed concern over the law and order situation in the state and said if he was the state home minister, 'things would be different', remarks seen as direct criticism of Vangalapudi Anitha, who is holding the department currently.
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
Forest law vests overall control over the productive assets of the jungles in the forest bureaucracy.
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