Category: News

RJD calls for Bihar bandh over sand mining

Patna: The RJD has called for a statewide bandh on December 21 to protest against the sand mining policy of the state government.

According to RJD leaders, the ongoing crackdown on sand mining has forced the builders to slow down the construction work in Bihar which has led to “job crisis among daily wage construction workers”.

Speaking on the issue RJD Chief Lalu Yadav said that “the state government is not concerned about the plight of the general public which is facing lots of hardship due to their policies. We will continue our fight and expose the failures of the government”.

The JD(U)-BJP government after coming to power in July came up with a new policy to regulate the trade and also to end illegal sand mining in Bihar.

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Courtesy: The Asian Age

Exclusive – In search of sparkle: is corporate inaction on mica condemning Indian children to death?

GIRIDIH, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Since 12-year-old Laxmi Kumari was buried alive in a mica mine eight months ago, her family’s grief has turned to despair on realizing promises by global companies to end child labor in the mines in eastern India have so far led to nothing.

Just over a year ago, a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation found children in India were dying in the depths of crumbling, illegal mines for the prized mineral that puts the sparkle in make-up and car paint – but their deaths covered up.

The discovery that seven children had died in two months alone prompted pledges by multinationals sourcing mica from India to clean up their supply chains, and state authorities vowed to accelerate plans to legalize and regulate the sector.

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Courtesy: Reuters

GSPCB drops notices against mining cos

PANAJI: Goa state pollution control board (GSPCB) on Wednesday took a decision to drop six showcause notices issued to mining leases in Sonshi obtained under the 2006 EIA notification, paving the way for consent to be granted for them, in the near future.

“The showcause notices have become infructuous because their consent to operate has expired. It had to be dropped first to take any further action in the matter. It is a technicality. Consent cannot be granted unless the notices are dropped,” an official said.

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Courtesy: The Times of India

Bio–mining to remediate hazardous waste in Pammal

The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal has directed the Commissioner of Pammal municipality to start bio-mining of hazardous waste dumped in private land in four survey numbers in Pammal Village by January 2018.

In bio-mining, micro-organisms are used to leach and remove metals from their growth medium.

Judicial member Justice M.S. Nambiar also directed that the process of installation of the machinery should be completed within 90 days, before March 31, 2018, and the entire bio-mining process should be finished by December 31, 2018.

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Courtesy: The Hindu

Why energy transitions are the key to environmental progress

At the United Nations’ climate talks in Paris in 2015, US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi both emphasised the need to find climate solutions that advance, rather than undermine, India’s development prospects.

This article originally appeared in Issue 5 2016 of our print magazine. The digital version of the full magazine can be read online or downloaded free of charge.

But, the reality of what both nations are doing on climate change does not live up to the rhetoric. The overwhelming focus of US-Indian government climate efforts is on expanding renewables and increasing energy efficiency. Both have merit, but should be third in the list of priorities and not topmost.

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Courtesy: ESI Africa

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