Legislation

Mining bill gets it right

Sustainable mining is an oxymoron. Environmentalists will tell you this. Mining—coal to limestone—takes away forests, devastates mountains and leaves the land pockmarked. It also destroys livelihoods of people and displaces them. Worse, modern, mechanised mining takes away livelihood based on land but does not replace it with local employment—all estimates show that direct employment in the mining sector has fallen sharply. It provides wealth, but not for local development.

EU to certify buildings for energy efficiency from 2006

As per a new directive, the eu will certify buildings for energy efficiency from 2006 onwards. The European Climate Change Programme, established in 2000 to meet Kyoto Protocol targets, has identified the construction sector as providing the largest potential for carbon dioxide emission reduction.

Buildings already account for up to 40 per cent of the eu's energy consumption. And southern European countries are buying more air-conditioning units, further disturbing the energy balance.

Endosulfan Conspiracy

A link was established between the unusually high incidence of deformities and diseases in Padre â€' a village in Kerala’s Kasaragod district â€' and endosulfan, an organochlorine pesticide.

Coke in hot water

The Kerala High Court has ordered status quo to be maintained on the cancellation of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Limited's licence to operate its bottling plant at Plachimada in Kerala. The licence had been cancelled by the Perumatty gram panchayat in Palakkad district of Kerala, following complaints that the company was creating water scarcity in the area by overexploiting groundwater.

Heavy metal

Vaccines with mercury can cause autism, but removing the metal is uneconomical for developing countries such as India

Farmers concoct pesticides out of colas

There is never any end to learning. And so, surprises. We have learnt, over 20 years, that environmental governance in India is lackadaisical.

Endosulfan Conspiracy

It was in February 2001 that Down To Earth broke the story.

Battle for the Internet

By Latha Jishnu and Arnab Pratim Dutta

As the Internet turns into the public square and the marketplace of our world, it is increasingly becoming a contested terrain. Governments, corporations and even seemingly innocuous social networking sites want to control and influence the way it operates 

India signs nuclear convention

By: Savvy Soumya Misra

Intended as gift to Obama

India signed the international convention on compensating nuclear accident victims on October 27. The convention, to a large extent, shields suppliers of nuclear energy technology from paying damages.

How government is subverting forest right act

By: Richard Mahapatra, Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava, Sumana Narayanan, Aparna Pallavi

Two tribal villages in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra—Mendha Lekha and Marda— savoured victory when they won community rights over their forest resources in August last year. The rights conferred under the Forest Rights Act of 2006 include the right to collect and sell minor forest produce (MFP). These include tendu leaves used in beedis, and bamboo that have high commercial value and were under the forest department’s control. Winning the right to manage these resources meant economic liberation to the two villages.