Another SEZ exemption

On 27 April, the environment ministry issued an Office Memorandum (OM) clarifying how projects operating within existing industrial estates, parks ...

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Sand mining is still a menace

The mining of sand from riverbeds and beaches is now a globally recognised emergency.  In February 2017, the Guardian carried ...

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Onus on govt for land acquired

When people’s movements and researchers welcomed India’s new land acquisition law in 2013, it came with one caveat. The colonial ...

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NGT puts real estate on notice

In December the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) principal bench delivered a flurry of final hearings and judgments. The chairperson, Justice Swatanter ...

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After POSCO left

SIlence can mean different things. It could mean that all is well. Or that you didn’t hear the noise.We don’t ...

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EIAs are slipshod

Poor environment impact assessment (EIA) reports are an old story now. The environment ministry acknowledged this a long time ago. ...

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Unused land isn’t returned

Ever since India enacted the new land acquisition law in 2013, people have been debating its clauses related to repatriation ...

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Why 5 June is a pretence

It’s just gone by, 5 June or World Environment Day. Once again there were email alerts, text messages and announcements ...

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The biodiversity riddle

Is the law facilitative or regulatory? asks a representative. Regulatory, replies another, with conservation and sustainable use as its focus. Two ...

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Strange green ideas

Will the Narendra Modi government’s flagship projects like Sagarmala — an ambitious port modernisation plan — and the interlinking of ...

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EIA needed for real estate

Just 12 years after building and construction projects first came under the purview of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) regulation ...

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Tracking sand mining

The illegal removal of sand from riverbeds and beachfronts has triggered debate on the many legal challenges of regulating a ...

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Behind green messaging

Is it frustrating or simply boring to see newspapers filled with ‘Let’s plant a tree’ and ‘Save the environment’ ads ...

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Goodbye to POSCO

In 2005, I began following the POSCO (Pohang Steel Company) story closely. The legislation for setting up Special Economic Zones ...

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Perils of quick approvals

It was with great pride that the Union ministry of environment’s achievement to reduce the time taken for environmental approvals ...

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Return to Niyamgiri

Niyamgiri is back in the news. That tired question, whether or not the bauxite deposits that lie underneath its forest ...

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Gaps in sand mining law

The mining of sand and gravel has emerged as a major regulatory concern in the last decade, especially because of ...

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A forest in limbo

In mid-December, the international environmental discourse was bustling with analyses of the good and the bad of the Paris climate ...

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Questions on Renuka Dam

On 2 February, there were ecstatic news reports about how the latest decision of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) would ...

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