Experts give them a miss

farmers do not disappear when they are not making news by protesting support prices or committing suicides (see Sweet victory)

Coal blocks revert

the ministry of coal has decided to de-allocate coal blocks that were handed over to power generation, cement and steel companies to meet their own requirement for coal, said a senior government official. Many of these companies have not started work on mines for captive consumption even after a decade, the official added. The ministry therefore wants to weed out non-serious holders of captive coal mines, the official said. The public sector National Thermal Power Corporation, Binani Cement, steelmakers Jindal Steel and Power

Highway subsides

ON AUGUST 8, a stretch of National Highway (NH)-33 caved in due to an underground coal fire. The road connects Ranchi in Jharkhand with Bihar's capital, Patna. The subsided half-kilometre stretch is near Kujju in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand. Another such underground fire is inching close to the Bermo-Chandrapura-Dhanbad highway and is threatening the railway tracks running parallel to it. Fire has been raging in the coalmine of the Central Coalfield Limited (CCL) for the past one decade and is spread on a three-kilometre stretch beneath the road. On August 20, the fire spread

Centre approves evacuation in fire zones

Adanis may have to leave Tadoba

MPs ask Manmohan Singh to prevent coal mining near tiger reserve politicians cutting across party lines have opposed coal mining near the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. Till recently they were pushing for fast-tracking clearance to the mining project proposed by the Adani Enterprises.

Dirty advance

Financial institutions push coal-fired power plants, not renewable energy, says US study 88 coal-fired power plants received funds from World Bank and other international public financial institutions in the past 15 years

Faceless workers

They work in our interest we have heard a great deal in recent years about the demand-supply chasm in India's electricity supply. Solemn discussions abound on whether India's newfound recognition as a nuclear power will plug this gap. Almost every participant to this debate seeks a clincher in the oft-repeated, if rather grubby, concept of "national interest". India's recent bonhomie with the US promises an end to the country's

Four murders and a power plant

Land purchase deals amid gunshots in Jharkhand village

Slow and unsteady

It is doubtful the master plan will see the light of the day

Clearing forests for coal

Maharashtra coal mining EIA dumps people, wildlife COAL mining is set to replace 3,350 hectares (ha), and perhaps more, of reserve forests in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra. This will affect people who are dependent on such forests for everyday needs like firewood. The Centre has given mining leases to three companies, of which Adani Enterprises has got 1,600 ha for its opencast mining project in western Lohara village.