Coal companies exempted from public hearing for expansion

Reservoir of dams

Once you reach Lower Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, you know you have stepped into the shadowy side of "shining" India--the cell phone stops catching signals, the roads are worn out and the electricity supply, erratic. If you drive 40 km out of its district headquarters Roing to Nizam Ghat and then trek for three hours in Mishmi hills, you will reach Pather Camp, a nowhere destination in absolute wilderness. A helipad is the last thing you will expect here. Yet there it stands, a testimony to the importance of this place.

Mining firms set up shop in Orissa

The key element in this story is bauxite, the principal raw material for a much-in-demand metal—aluminium. Widely used in construction, as packaging material and for making automobile and aircraft bodies, global aluminium consumption increased from 32 million tonnes in 2005 to 35 million tonnes in 2006. It is expected to grow at similar levels in 2007, spurred largely by Chinese demand.

Deep waters

  By Arnab Pratim Dutta and Sujit Kumar Singh

Tipaimukh Dam in Manipur driving a wedge?

The proposed 164-m-high dam will come up 500 m downstream of the confluence of the Barak and Tuivai rivers. Its reservoir will have a storage capacity of 15,900 million cubic m with a maximum depth of 1,725.5 m.

SEZ, how special?

Roughshod riding SEZs will trample on farmers' rights A farmer in Cheete Kalan village in Amritsar, Harjeet Singh Hundal, has big plans. For the past year, he has been using organic manure on his fertile and irrigated agricultural land and he can't stop talking about it.

Short circuit

STRAIT FORWARD A 150-year-old dream acquires shape

Discontent

More than 150 villagers -- from Sanu, Ragva and Joga villages in tehsil Ramgarh in Jaisalmer district-- have gathered here. More wanted to come, but could not, for the meeting is being held more than 60 km from the project area and so from the villages the project already affects (a mine already exists) and will affect (a new one is to come up). Only one bus is available daily from the project area to the public hearing venue.

Wash out

Detergents, their environment concerns and the regulations to control them have evolved side by side in the developed world. Detergents were developed during the Second World War. They became popular in the late 1950s and the first regulation to control their environmental impact was enacted in 1961 in Germany. So what's there in detergents that harms the environment? Detergents are not easily biodegradable; more so the detergents of the 1950s.

United Colours of Industry

Colours are inescapably embedded in everyday life. So it's critical to know, and to regulate, the way they operate. Having said that, it's not easy to recognise the problems associated with their use. Adulteration in food colours, or allergic reactions to elements in fabric apart, consumers are unaware of problems caused by agents and vehicles of colour. But a look at the tailpipe in any industrial zone can cure that.Colour problem comes from two types of industries: