Village in Bhubaneswar keeps its pond alive

Prime Minister's trophy for steel plant overrides pollution concerns

At a glittering ceremony on August 27, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave away the annual trophy for the best integrated steel plant to SAIL's flagship company, Bhilai Steel Plant, in Chhattisgarh for the year 2009-10. Tata Steel Jamshedpur plant in Jharkhand had won the award the previous year. The awards were given in recognition of efforts to achieve "international standards of efficiency, quality and economy". But do these plants really make the cut?

Mansagar's fate hangs in balance

Publishing biggies target Delhi University photocopy shop

A court case against a small photocopy shop in Delhi University's North Campus has triggered protests and a debate on rights of students to access study material. The shop, Rameshwari Photocopy Service, was a lifeline for students surviving on shoestring budgets. They could buy photocopies of books and compilation of extracts from books, which they otherwise could ill  afford, from this shop located in the Delhi School of Economics precincts.

Supreme Court declines to stay fuel loading in Kudankulam nuclear plant

Even as the anti-nuclear protestors continued their agitation against fuel loading in Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP), the Supreme Court of India refused to grant immediate stay against making the plant operational. On September 13, the protestors formed a human chain and entered in the sea water off the Idinthakarai coast in Chennai.

High Court allows sale of PoP Ganesh idols in Nagpur

Nagpur city will have to wait for another year to be finally rid of plaster of Paris (PoP) Ganesha idols that have been polluting its lakes. With just over a week to go for the popular Ganesh Chaturthi festival, the Nagpur bench of the Mumbai High Court on Tuesday, deferred the city municipal corporation’s proposed ban on these idols till the end of this year’s festival season.

Rajasthan drafts its own wildlife tourism guidelines

Madhya Pradesh government cracks down on Indira Sagar dam oustees

People protesting displacement caused by the Indira Sagar dam on the river Narmada got a shock on Wednesday when the Madhya Pradesh government used police force to crack down on them. The dam oustees were holding a jal satyagraha by sitting in neck deep water and were hoping that their grievances would be redressed as happened in the case of Omkareshwar dam oustees  downstream. 

High court restores BRT lane to buses

Restoring sanity amid chaos, a division bench of the Delhi Court has issued an interim order in the ongoing public interest litigation relating to the Delhi BRT road corridor on Tuesday. It has issued an interim order, stating: “till the time the writ petition is decided, the traffic flow would revert to its movement/flow as per the BRT corridor traffic flow system to restore the BRT corridor… by September 15”.

Delhi imposes blanket ban on plastic carry bags

The Delhi government has issued a blanket ban on the use of plastic carry bags across the city on Tuesday. The ban covers not just the use of plastic bags but also its manufacture, sale and storage. While hailing the decision, activists say that to make the ban effective there is a need for change in the public mind-set.