Public not heard

Meeting with villagers on Vedanta's expansion plan a formality a public hearing on April 25 to obtain people's views on Vedanta's plans to expand its alumina refinery in Orissa ended abruptly following protests by the Kondh tribals. The meeting, organized by the state pollution control board (ospcb), was held in Belemba village and attended by 400 people.

Northeast scores in ecology

High on sustainability quotient MANIPUR, Sikkim and Tripura are the most environmentally sustainable states in India. Rich states with high gdp output like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana have fared poorly on the ecological front.

News Snippets

>> Delhi will host 48C, India's first public art festival between December 12 and 21. The theme of the exhibition is ecology and it will have a special focus on Delhi. The festival has been organized by the Delhi Government, Max Mueller Bhawan, GTZ, a Germany-based international group which works on sustainable development, and the Urban Resource Group, a team of architects from Delhi.

Future shock, this?

Prince Charles turns the heat on genetic modification

Neutrino in elephant's way

A proposed observatory in Nilgiri forests threatens to disturb wildlife movement

Spotlight Orissa

Two controversial projects in state cleared in a day. People vow to continue with the struggle on august 8, severe rains lashed tribal villages in Niyamgiri hill in Orissa. Far away in Delhi the tribals' last hopes of getting reprieve from a project that will take away their land were dashed as the Supreme Court cleared the decks for the controversial Vedanta project. Also cleared was another controversial project, Posco, in the same state. The verdicts are a huge blow to communities protesting against the projects.

Heavy metal

Fury over Vedanta, POSCO verdict the Supreme Court cleared two major projects in Orissa--Vedanta's bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri Hills and posco's steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district. posco will now be able to buy iron ore in the market as well as from Orissa Mining Corporation (omc) for the plant.

Fresh tremor

Vedanta's application to mine in Orissa hills renews agitation Recently, a notice was found pasted at the tehsil office at Paikmal, Bargarh district, Orissa. It mentioned Vedanta Alumina Limited had applied to mine bauxite from 1179.48 acres in the Gandhamardan hills; anybody wishing to object had to do so within 15 days of the notice's date. Word spread fast and a movement that successfully stopped balco from mining here two decades ago has resurfaced (see box Fatal attraction).

Kerala says no to GM crops

addressing a two-day seminar on gm Crops and Biodiversity, Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandan said that the state would not have a policy that would have any adverse impact on farmers and that included allowing gm crops.

FOR A GREEN EARTH

About 15 years ago, the people who run www.ecological-sustainability.info would have been derided as Malthusians. But the hazards of economic expansion and overpopulation are part of the research agenda in much of academia today.