The Environment Ministry has removed its private secretary and two additional private secretaries through three separate orders issued on July 3. While one was removed on "administrative grounds" and another "prematurely repatriated," the appointment of the third was terminated, with no specific reasons publicly stated for these significant personnel changes.
The Union environment ministry's expert panel has approved a fourth underground coal mining project in Madhya Pradesh's Umaria district, close to the vital Bandhavgarh-Achanakmar tiger corridor. These clearances, granted since July, raise concerns about biodiversity and tiger movement, despite conditions for wildlife conservation plans and compensatory afforestation. The projects involve significant forest land diversion and pose risks like land subsidence and habitat disturbance for Schedule-I species.
What makes the tiger the undisputed king of the jungle?
The Environment Ministry has designated the Natural History Museum (NHM) in Mizoram as India's 21st designated repository, significantly enhancing the country's biodiversity conservation and scientific infrastructure, particularly within the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot.
The Environment Ministry's expert appraisal committee (EAC) has cleared the expansion of the Magadh opencast coal mine in Jharkhand, operated by Central Coalfields Limited, despite pending court cases regarding alleged encroachment of forest land.
The Supreme Court has established a high-powered committee, chaired by Kanchan Devi, Director General of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), to independently review the Centre's report on the definition and delineation of the Aravalli hill range, aiming to resolve 'critical ambiguities' in its findings.
The Supreme Court has emphasised that the expert committee tasked with defining the Aravalli hills and ranges must consult domain experts and other stakeholders to ensure public input is heard.
The Supreme Court has expressed concern over mining activities in the Aravalli hills and range, deferring any orders in favour of mining lease holders until it is fully satisfied with the environmental impact.
Janardan Choudhary, a key advisor to Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), was named as one of the seven non-institutional members by the Union Environment Ministry when it reconstituted the Expert Appraisal Committee for hydroelectricity and river valley projects in September.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh recalls writing to Narendra Modi in 2010 about conserving the Great Indian Bustard, amid recent announcements of successful conservation efforts.
The Centre has rejected claims that the new definition of the Aravalli range will allow large-scale mining, asserting that 90 per cent of the region will remain protected and citing a Supreme Court-ordered freeze on new mining leases.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav accuses the Congress of spreading misinformation regarding the new definition of the Aravallis and defends the government's commitment to protecting the mountain range while allowing limited, legal mining.
'The natural barrier that is Aravalli, you are demolishing it, then who will stop the desert?' 'In future, I predict that people will roam around with oxygen cylinders in Delhi because they won't be able to breathe.'
Sonia Gandhi criticizes the Modi government's environmental policies, claiming they endanger the Aravalli hills and disregard environmental protection.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and insisted on demands pertaining to the state, including on Fair Recovery Price of sugarcane, All India Institute of Medical Sciences for Raichur, the release of flood relief among others.
The project will involve scanning lakhs of pages into electronic format, the official said. At present, all sections of the ministry headquarters at Paryavaran Bhawan were full of records. A single wing of Vigyan Sadan at R K Puram has been converted into a record room for files of various divisions.
India's new climate pledge to the UN could be weakened by its growing use of coal, even as the country plans a 2035 roadmap to cut emissions and boost clean energy.
The 31-storey Adrash Housing Society building should be demolished within three months, the Environment Ministry recommended on Sunday while holding that the scam-tainted project in Mumbai's upmarket Colaba was "unauthorised" and violated the spirit of coastal regulations.
The Environment Ministry was hit by controversies in the year gone by which saw clearances for two big ticket projects -- POSCO and Lavasa -- and exit of Jairam Ramesh as the green minister.
The Comptroller of Auditor General (CAG) on Friday came down heavily on the environment ministry for lapses in implementation of its green schemes whether it was for afforestation, biodiversity, pollution control or creating awareness.
Some more files pertaining to the controversial Mumbai's Adarsh Housing Society have gone missing, this time from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in New Delhi, a senior Central Bureau of Investigation official said on Saturday.
Citing poor attendance at the International Yoga Day event on June 21, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) issued a warning on Monday, saying this month's salaries of the employees who skipped the programme without prior intimation would be withheld, but withdrew the order within hours.
A day after the Union ministry of environment and forest suspended the environmental clearances for all the 93 mining leases in Goa, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that he will appeal to prime minister to "set things right" in the green ministry headed by Jayanti Natarajan.
A no-nonsense high profile minister, Ramesh, an IIT alumnus and an environmentalist, was perhaps the country's first independent thinking environment minister
The last decision by Jairam Ramesh as environment minister was to ban the use of bulls as performing animals. This means that bulls can no longer be used in jallikattu, a bull-taming sport played in Tamil Nadu during Pongal celebrations.
Fresh smoke was witnessed on Monday at the Deonar dumping ground, where the fire which has been raging for three days now intensified last evening even as people living in the vicinity complained of discomfort due to the fumes emanating from the site.
'It concerns the sea and the security of the nation. What has happened is a big tragedy.'
The environment ministry on Thursday gave its nod to a plan for constructing a grand statue for Maratha warrior king Shivaji in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai.
Maldives police have arrested two serving ministers for allegedly performing black magic on President Mohamed Muizzu, local media reported on Thursday.
Ministry sources told Business Standard that necessary action would be taken to amend the Act to include penalty for non-compliance and modify the procedure to decide the penalty and punishment under the Act.
The environment ministry is likely to soon issue regulations that will mandate automakers to recycle a specified percentage of steel from old vehicles, starting from the next financial year, according to people familiar with the matter. "We recently held a meeting with members of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam). "The final regulations are likely to be issued in the next 10 days," a government source informed.
Posco's mega steel plant in Orissa is inching forward with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests clearing a proposal under which Posco will plant trees on an area equivalent in size to the forest land where the project is coming up.
Stating that Adarsh Housing Society had brazenly violated the law, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on Monday ruled out the possibility of regularizing the 31-storey building, at a hearing before the Bombay High Court.
Aasked to specify such projects which are passing through tiger corridor or forest areas, Jairam Ramesh said that one is in Madhya Pradesh and the other is in Assam.
Forests Jairam Ramesh's ambitious plan to redesign the institutions of environmental governance has come up against serious resistance from environmental experts who say the concept does not address fundamental problems.
The increased outlay, the ministry says, will be used for river and lake cleaning and pollution control.
The Madhya Pradesh forest department has refused to provide information under the Right to Information Act on management of cheetahs brought from Africa and their cubs born in India.
'With technology advancing, we should go all out and put up solar, wind, pumped storage, and battery, and make India go green.'
'When there are no good roads and no buses plying to villages, your spending on development is skewed.'
'Modi knows the people here are opposed to this project, but he is using the might of government to push this port down our throats.'
