Publications
Rio in Bunderland – diamonds or dust?
Mining giant Rio Tinto expects to reap massive profits from its new Indian venture at Bunder in the Chhatarpur district of Bundelkhand region, Madhya Pradesh state. The company describes this as: “[t]he most advanced diamond project worldwide (sic) and the most...
Impacts on Water – Some Examples from India
This is a quick and not so dirty compilation of some of the work we have been doing in the recent past to understand the implications of mining on water resources. The overview and examples have been put together to provide an agenda point for discussions for the ICN...
India: Development at a Price
Increasing Transparency and Accountability in the Extractive Industries - Authors Ritwick Dutta, R. Sreedhar and Shibani Ghosh Summary The extractive industry in India is expanding due to liberal government policies, high rates of return, low investment risks and...
Developing Code of Ethics for Indian Industry
Second decade of this new millennium mega trend is ‘responsible business’. The consumer movement and human rights activists have become increasingly empowered, and they actively publicize news of unethical conduct of companies. These in turn have tremendous political...
Mining Matters
Our country is endowed with huge resources of many metallic and non-metallic minerals. The mining activities are extremely poorly regulated despite the fact that as early as 1948, the founding fathers of the constitution realized this need. Over 80000 mines operate...
Western Ghats – Environmental and Forest Right Concerns
The Western Ghats range extends from river Tapti in Gujarat in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, approximately 1,600 km in length and passes through six states of the Indian Union covering an area of about 1,62,000 sq. kms...
Polavaram Dam – A Critical View on Ecological Governance
Seventy years have passed since the first proposal to make a dam on the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh was conceived. In all these years it has developed more controversies and conflicts. The project is still a matter of several litigations....
Land and other Resources Requisition and Reparations Bill
It is commonly recognised that the existing Land Acquisition Act and its earlier amendments too are strongly colonial in nature. For a Sovereign Secular Socialist Democratic Republic the perspective and tone of the bill is incongruent to the current realities. In...
Climate Vulnerability in North Western Himalayas
Global warming induced climate change has triggered events such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels and changing weather patterns.This in turn has lead to storms, droughts, flash floods, cloudbursts, change in vegetation. Growing body of scientific evidence has...
Cement Plants in Chhattisgarh – Report of A Joint Visit by Environics and NTUI
The State of Chhattisgarh, formerly a part of Madhya Pradesh was formed on November 1, 2000 as the 26th state of the Indian Union. The districts of the state are Koriya, Sarguja, Jashpur, Bilaspur, Korba, Raigarh, Champa, Mahasamund, Raipur, Kawardha, Durg,...