Vedanta group firm Sesa Goa is hopeful of securing forest clearances in a “matter of days” to resume operations in Karnataka, a top company official said.

New Delhi: Rejection of big-ticket mining proposals such as Vedanta has been a rare exception in the UPA’s nine-year reign. The UPA has given clearance to cut a whopping six lakh hectares of forests — of these more than 2.5 lakh hectares were for mining — since it came to power in mid-2004.

The data, accessed by TOI from the environment ministry, shows that the inprinciple and final clearances add up to the combined area of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore, or roughly the equivalent of three large tiger reserves.

The Supreme Court’s decision to let gram sabhas decide the fate of Vedanta’s Niyamgiri mining project will make it difficult for the government to divert forestland for industry without the consent of tribals and local population.

The apex court’s ruling on Thursday puts gram sabhas or village assemblies virtually at par with statutory and regulatory bodies, and gives a broader prism of rights to indigenous communities by defining the Forest Rights Act as more than just heritable property rights.

New Delhi: The government’s plan to detach tribal rights from clearances to projects requiring forestlands partially boomeranged after the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that the gram sabha shou

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Vedanta Group's bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa will have to get the gram sabha's clearance on whether it affects the cultural a

The environment ministry is likely to decide on a second set of key changes in green norms meant for SEZs, roads and the real estate sector, especially multi-storey buildings, next week.

Says they should be allowed to choose facilities such as roads, schools, hospitals and electricity

The Supreme Court has sought the Centre’s view on inclusion of tribal people in the mainstream, saying they should be allowed to choose facilities such as roads, schools, hospitals and electricity in the wider debate over preservation of their habitat. The remarks were made by a three-judge bench on Wednesday in response to Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran’s opposition to the Odisha government’s plan to mine the Niyamgiri hills for bauxite, the raw material that Anil Aggarwal-led Vedanta Group wants for its plant at Lanjigarh.

Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (NSS), an outfit of tribals agitating against the alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminium (VAL) at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, on Tuesday sought Congress vice-president