Supreme Court lawyer and anti-corruption activist Prashant Bhushan has said the Maheshwar dam project, the country's first privately-financed hydropower project, mired in financial irregularities, is unviable.

Mr. Bhushan was addressing in Maheshwar on Sunday a rally, taken out by oustees of the project against the recent decision of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) allowing raising the water level in the reservoir up to 154 metres.

Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh will be touring 12 backward districts in Madhya Pradesh over the next four months to review the working of the flagship schemes of the Central government.

Speaking at a State-level party program here, Mr. Ramesh assured leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Ajay Singh that he would personally tour districts such as Jhabua and Sidhi among others to review the working of the flagship schemes.

In a case of illegal drug trial, a man from Indore “discovered” through local newspapers that he was an uninformed guinea-pig for a German drug firm. The newspapers reported the matter after it was raised in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.

Dhananjay Shrivastava did not know trials of Olodaterol — a drug for respiratory ailments — were conducted on him, till his name figured on the list of 1,112 victims of illegal drug trials made public by the Assembly in response to a question from MLA Bala Bachchan on March 1.

Madhya Pradesh, once famous as the “Tiger State,” lost 453 animals over the last decade. And how many culprits did the government bring to book? Just two. Recently accessed documents reveal only two cases of poaching reached their logical conclusion of conviction during this period, as of March 2012.

Sample the facts: according to the conservation programme ‘Project Tiger', the population of big cats in Madhya Pradesh in 2001-02 stood at 710. However, the 2011 census revealed there were only 257 tigers left in its six reserves — Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Bori-Satpura, Sanjay Dubri and Pench.

The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has opposed the Madhya Pradesh government's move to fill up the Maheshwar dam up to a height of 154 metres and has warned of a “ jal satyagraha” if the government goes ahead with the decision.

The State government, along with the Maheshwar project promoter Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Ltd (SMHPCL), has asked permission from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to fill up the dam up to 154 metres.

Recommends several measures to reduce high rate of maternal mortality
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the State Government to ensure maternal safety through proper implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

The HC order was passed last Saturday by a bench comprising Justices Sanjay Yadav and Ajit Singh in the “Sandesh Bansal vs Union of India and others” public interest litigation.

Three years after the entire tiger population of the Panna Tiger Reserve was decimated, the Madhya Pradesh government has neither been able to fix responsibility for the disaster, nor has it handed over the enquiry to the Central Bureau of Investigation inspite of requests from the Ministry of Environment and forests and even the Prime Minister's Office.

The results of the vulture census in the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) will definitely provide wildlife enthusiasts with a reason to cheer. The count in the third annual estimation exercise that concluded on Monday has registered an increase of 39 per cent over the last year's figures.

While the maximum vulture population this year stood at 1797 (as against 1340 in 2011), the minimum number was 1054 (814 last year) while the average count recorded was 1510 (1079 last year)

There is good news for vulture enthusiasts and bird watchers as the Panna Tiger Reserve will be initiating a three-day “vulture estimation” exercise in the reserve from January 21.

The avian scavenger is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife protection Act, 1972. Nine vulture species are found in the country — Oriental White-backed Vulture, Long-billed Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Indian Griffon Vulture, Himalayan Griffon, Cinereous Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture, Red-Headed Vulture and Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier. Of these, the first six are found in the Panna Tiger Reserve, including the endangered White-backed Vulture and the Long-billed Vulture.

On the 27th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy on Saturday, victims and survivors, still waiting for relief, will register their protest by launching an indefinite rail roko andolan (stop trains).

“On December 3, please don't travel by train. Change your reservations now. We are sorry to cause you inconvenience but stopping the trains is the only effective way we can think of to get our urgent and important message through to the Prime Minister and the government,” read a notice on the Bhopal.net website, which is endorsed by five survivor organisations.