The Morena administration in Madhya Pradesh has banned sand mining and transportation from the Chambal River, along with restricting fuel sales to unregistered vehicles, following criticism from the Supreme Court regarding illegal mining activities.
The real estate sector in Maharashtra foresees a loss of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) due to the ban on extraction of sand by the Bombay High Court. The realty industry has sought the intervention of the state government to tackle the crisis.
The top court said a balanced approach of sustainable development ensuring environmental safeguards needs to be resorted to while dealing with the issue of sand mining.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday reluctantly admitted before the National Green Tribunal that illegal sand mining was going on in the state and not even a single environmental clearance had been granted for it in Gautam Budh Nagar district.
The demand for minerals, boulders and sand is so great that it has fueled a black market and the goons who control this trade do not hesitate to kill law enforcement officers and reporters who have tried to expose them.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has revoked restrictions imposed under GRAP 3 in Delhi-NCR following improvements in air quality. Non-essential construction and demolition activities are now allowed to restart, and restrictions on vehicles have been lifted.
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the south, and Rajasthan and Gujarat in the west, are the country's top producers of limestone
The Centre has issued a fifth draft notification to declare over 56,800 square kilometres of the Western Ghats across six states, including 13 villages in Kerala's landslide-hit Wayanad, Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA), inviting suggestions and objections within 60 days.
'It was a professional relationship with Jayalalithaa.' 'Being a businessman, I have to be in touch with the ruling party.'
The 17 rare earth elements that are at the centre of the current crisis are critical components of everyday products -- from cars to jet engines to electronics like smartphones and flat-screen TVs.
Experts believe the surge in illegal mining is due to vested interests of politicians
Officials said the three were arrested on Monday under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after they were called for questioning by the ED in Chennai.
Parliament has cleared the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023, recently. The objective of the Act is to invite investments from the private sector, including foreign companies, for mining minerals such as lithium and other critical minerals. Other than lithium, some of these minerals were classified as atomic minerals, including beryl and beryllium, niobium, titanium, tantalum and zirconium.
The BJP is certain that the TMC will divide the Opposition votes, leaving it free to cruise through the polls.
'The larger story of systematic destruction, which can and has been quantified, goes mysteriously missing from any political and/or public discourse about the ongoing devastation in the Ghats,' notes Prem Panicker.
The problem, say experts, is not so much the use of plastic as the lack of effort to recycle and reuse it.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has arrested two persons in Chennai for alleged illegal exchange of Rs 6 crore in old notes "in connivance with" sand-mining baron J Sekhar Reddy as part of its money laundering probe post demonetisation.
Sector analysts opined that the northern, central and eastern markets were particularly hit
Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tall claims that no one has served nature more than India, some of the steps taken by his BJP government proves that the ground reality is exactly opposite, says Devanik Saha.
Want to know about the hidden lakes in the urban sprawl of the National Capital Region? The author, Geetanjali Krishna goes on a trail in their search.
'Most of the agitations are staged by the Opposition to disturb the peace of the state.'
Back of the envelope calculations put government expense on each of the new schemes promised by the DMK and the AIADMK at tens of thousands of crores. But then, neither party has said how they are going to also address the mounting debt burden either, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'We see different people bringing different resentments and we feel this is the result of the deprivation of an identity because of the reintroduction of Hindi, the Hindutva overtones in the national discourse, the betrayal of the Dravidian parties and even small things like the Devanagiri script in the Rs 2,000 note.'
If international crude oil prices zoom past the current level of about $90 per barrel and move towards $100 and beyond, middle-class consumers are not going to keep quiet about their discomfort, points out Arun Balakrishnan, former chairman and managing director, Hindustan Petroleum.
'Two have already sacrificed their lives.' 'How many more shall need to sacrifice before the government listens?' 'Four, five or six? They are ready, waiting.' After Ganga campaigner G D Agrawal's death, a Haridwar ashram's sadhus are on a relay fast unto death.
'The present government swears by Hinduism. But we lost three of our sants during earlier BJP regimes.'
India loses 333 acres of prime forest every day. Instead of working to conserve India's forests and water resources, the environment minister has set up a committee to 'dismantle' the five key laws that provide environmental protection.
Considering that the Supreme Court has now included two, rather three, new variable to the tribunal's findings, it could imply that whenever the current order comes in for review, the two states could raise specific issues flowing from them, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Says he knew of SMS exchanges between bookmaker and players before the scam broke out
The spot-fixing scandal happened in August 2010 during Pakistan's tour of England and then captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned by the ICC for their involvement.
Why did such a 'socially conscientious' people adapt to cash-for-votes and the like, as fish to water? N Sathiya Moorthy offers an explanation.
Internal documents suggest the city may not require a Metro till 2025
Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Opposition parties on Wednesday alleged that selective leak of information on demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes to 'friends of BJP' and demanded making public the names of those who had bought gold and foreign exchange of over Rs 1 crore since April.
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