The chief conservator of forests of Thane circle, R.K. Pole, has withdrawn the forest clearance granted to the Navi Mumbai airport.

The National Commission for Integrated Water Resource Development Plan (IWRDP) had in a policy recommendation categorically stated that the “Himalayan river linking project was not feasible for the period of review up to 2050”.
The IWRDP was set up by the ministry of water resources and provided a detailed brief on the southern rivers also stating that there was no need to rewrite geography of the peninsula rivers as there was “no imperative necessity for such massive water transfer”.

Three more cities are switching over to Bharat Stage (BS)-4 emission norms from Thursday. These cities are Ankaleshwar in Gujarat, Hisar in Haryana and Bharatpur in Rajasthan.

States led by Kerala have expressed apprehension on the ambitious Interlinking of rivers (IRL). Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka and Sikkim point out that the entire issue of inter-basin water transfer needs to be studied in greater detail.
Kerala has taken the stand that long distance inter-basin water transfer will not work. The state’s rivers depend on the monsoon and Kerala needs water for its own network of channels, especially during summers.

Several states led by Kerala, as also water experts, have expressed apprehension on the
proposed inter linking of rivers mooted by the central government.

Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka and Sikkim say in

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is attending the hearing in the top court of a batch of 15 petitions filed by diverse groups of religious, political and social bodies challenging the Delhi high court’s decision to decriminalise same-sex relations between consenting adults with apprehension.

Concerned over the growing accusations in the use of electronic surveillance equipment and complaints that social media sites will have to pre-screen users posts, minister of state for science and technology Ashwani Kumar has ordered an expert group in the Planning Commission to look into the whole issue of the increasing invasion of an individual’s privacy.

The Foundation for Biotechnology and Awareness (FBA) has urged the government to lift the moratorium on Bt brinjal and accept the recommendations of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) which recommended its commercial release in 2009.

Civil society groups from Delhi were at the forefront in providing succour and support to the riot victims following the Godhra carnage.

Indiscriminate environmental clearances to projects in cement, coal mining, iron and steel and thermal power plant sectors are going to worsen the water crisis in the country.