Why Jayanthi Natarajan, our environment minister feels like a ‘mridangam’!   Jayanthi Natarajan New Delhi: there may be a very good argument for celebrating the World Industry day and the World Environment Day on the same day to highlight the day to day conflicts of both as well as the indispensability they inevitably share. In brief, we cannot do without either, and instead of generalized partisanship for either of them, we should develop the habit of examining every specific case before taking a decision or determining the nature of the acceptable trade off. Caught in a tussle... 

What is a forest, Uncle?: ‘don’t know, since Indian laws are yet to define it’! New Delhi: if the latest reports related to the World Environment Day with the forest as its theme are to be believed – we Indians lack a clear legal definition of a forest. Lost in the woods, the legal definition of a forest is still evolving within the confines of the environment ministry. According to the ministry, work is on to come up with an “ecologically sound and socially desirable definition of forests and forestry”. As Brij Mohan Singh Rathore, joint secretary... 

  Don’t fool around with the environment and get responsible, is Jairam Ramesh’s message The environment ministry has asked the Jharkhand government to proactively ensure that all operating mines obtain environmental clearance. The order issued on Thursday makes it clear that it is mandatory for all operating mines to seek environmental clearance. The directive comes in the aftermath of the show-cause notice issued to Vedanta in August for sourcing its bauxite from mines without environmental clearance. After stalling the illegal expansion plans of the refinery and captive power plant...