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Showing posts from May 1, 2011

SC forms joint team to survey ‘illegal mining’ areas in K’taka

Supreme Court on Friday set up a team to conduct survey and demarcation of 99 iron ore mines in Bellary-Hospet forest region of Karnataka to identify sites of alleged illegal mining and directed that violators will have to stop work in their entire lease area.A special forest bench headed by Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia ordered forming of the joint team of representative of the Forest Department and the Mines and Geology Department of State government besides those of Karnataka Lokayukta and the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC). The team would conduct survey and demarcation of the leased mines in the presence of representatives of the mining firms and if any encroachment was found, the mining in the entire leased area would stop, the bench said. The apex court directed the joint team to visit the site of all the 99 mines to carry out demarcation.“If that team comes to conclusion that there has been illegal mining in the area outside the demarcated leased boundary, L

Vadilal launched the ‘Badabite’

With the latest extrusion-based technology, Vadilal has launched the ‘Badabite’ brand in the high-end candies segment, a premium product range with innovation. Vadilal Industries Ltd. has undertaken an aggressive campaign on all fronts to increase its over-all market share as well as capture a larger pie of the premium ice cream market. New mega brands, installation of latest state-of-the-art machines, aggressive advertising and significant expansion in production facilities will combine to make Vadilal an even stronger force to reckon with in the domestic ice cream market. Vadilal is already the second largest ice cream maker in the country. Elaborating on their new brands, Devanshu Gandhi, MD of Vadilal Industries Ltd, said, “With the latest extrusion technology, the Badabite candies will have less over-run (air insertion), better texture, creamier and coating of pure chocolate enriched with cocoa butter. Vadilal ‘Gourmet’ is the other new brand being introduced with a high-end

Revoke the illegal forest clearance to POSCO

Indian Government has finally granted forest clearance to the POSCO project in Orissa shows once again that the MoEF lacks the political will to implement the Forest Rights Act in right earnest; in fact, the clearance letter issued today by the Minister of Environment and Forests, Mr Jairam Ramesh, makes explicit that the Government will not pay even scant heed to the laws of the land. The way our respected Minister interprets law is turning into a bad joke; his explanations for rejecting POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti’s (PPSS) contention that the Palli Sabha gave no consent to the projects are incredibly naïve—so naïve that it is impossible to believe that he himself believes that! Mr Ramesh is welcome to his beliefs and disbelief: he states in bold that his belief in Orissa Government’s version of events stems from his belief in federalism (whatever that may mean) and that he therefore believes there are no legitimately convened Palli Sabhas in the project area, and hence the pr

Wikileaks: US force close to Osma Pak security tipped O

Pakistans security services tipped Osama off whenever US troops approached, according to claims made in leaked US government documents obtained by Wikileaks.Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID) also allegedly smuggled al-Qaeda terrorists through airport security to help them avoid capture and sent a unit into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban, the Wikileaks cables obtained by Britain's 'Daily Telegraph' show.The claims, the daily said, will add to questions over Pakistan's capacity to fight the dreaded terror outift al-Qaeda. In December 2009, the government of Tajikistan warned the US that efforts to catch bin Laden were being thwarted by corrupt Pakistani spies.According to a US diplomatic dispatch, General Abdullo Sadulloevich Nazarov, a senior Tajik counter-terrorism official, told the Americans that "many" inside Pakistan knew where bin Laden was.The document stated: "In Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden wasn't an invisible

Ensuing UP Assembly election Sharad reach Lucknow

State assembly election this year plus ensuing UP Assembly election in the year 2012 is big event in the Indian political coalition permutation and combination for next General Election 2014:Most of the political outfits from Congress,BJP,SP and ruling BSP will play their assertive role in coming days and months to prove their mettle.Branded political big wigs are likely to appoint their professional to give rosy touch to their outfits and their performance and in this process quantity of muck to be tossed by various politicians remains interesting features.(PTI) Kickstarting the party's preparations for 2012 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Janta Dal United president Sharad Yadav will visit Lucknow tomorrow to hold a two-day session with party workers. Sources in the party said JD-U wants to contest elections in Uttar Pradesh as part of NDA and would be looking forward to getting reasonable number of seats from BJP, which ruled the state a decade ago but whose fortunes are now o

CWG projects under CT examination of CVC

Chief Technical Examination wing of the CVC, higher rates, poor quality control and substandard material, among others, were observed in the PWD-approved projects worth Rs 1,315.66 crore.The anti-corruption watchdog has found deficiencies in 26 works worth Rs 3,316.58 crore which were carried out by central and Delhi governments' civic and construction agencies. The report lists four works costing Rs 364.11 crore carried out by the MCD, three valuing Rs 221.22 crore by NDMC and two each worth Rs 379.93 crore and Rs 105.80 crore respectively by CPWD and Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), among others, for serious deficiencies.The CVC found serious irregularities in two projects worth Rs 193.16 crore implemented by the DDA and one valuing Rs 18.37 crore by RITES, a Government of India enterprise.CVC wing blamed the Suresh Kalmadi-led Games Organising Committee for "wrongfully moulding eligibility criteria" in tenders to pave the way for certain private firms t