Bid to prevent captive mine owners from selling byproducts; make them add value to ore. The Centre has moved to clear any ambiguity that could be misused by captive mine owners to sell iron ore fines in the open market. The move comes after the Jharkhand High Court in February stayed the State from banning exports, but relaxed it later to allow a one-time domestic sale of iron ore fines from the captive mines of Usha Martin and Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

The state’s maiden vulture breeding centre in Muta, 22km from Ranchi, may not have taken wing as yet, but Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ormanjhi, closer to the capital, may soon boast a special winged guest. Forest officials and wildlife experts in Hazaribagh have nursed back to health a two-year-old Himalayan Griffon Vulture (Gyps himalayensis), which was found in a village 8km from town two weeks ago, and plan to give it a new home at Birsa zoo.

Interview with A.R. Ansari, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation.

New Delhi: Even as the central government is pushing states for mandatory implementation of open access (OA) for bulk power consumers, an analysis by a regulators’ body has revealed that contrary to expectations, the consumers in 12 states have had to pay more for power under the new regime.

OA at various levels is the hallmark of electricity reforms and the regime has been effective in 20 states since January 2009 on an optional basis. Under the OA regime, bulk consumers enter into bilateral deals with discoms and stay outside the ambit of the regulated tariff system.

New Delhi The government is set to consider a proposal for a complete ban on private-public joint ventures (JVs) for developing mineral blocks allocated to state-run corporations and public sector undertakings under a special dispensation. The move would hit the plans of Adani Mining, Moser Baer, Vedanta, Monnet Ispat and the Jaypee Group, among others, in the minerals and metals business.

The fisheries sector in Jharkhand has been witnessing a phenomenal growth after Jharkhand became a separate state bifurcating Bihar in 2000. When in 2001-02, the production of fish in the state had been only 14,000 metric tones. In 2010-11, eighty government fish firms produced 71,886 metric tones.

The fish seed production was increased from 32 crore to 67 crore, along with construction of 116 new fish seed hatcheries in private and government sector. The department of fisheries aims to produce fish of 1,40,000 tones during 12th plan.

Environmentalist Vandana Shiva on Chipko movement

The Naxalites are expanding their tentacles into the tiger territory. Thirty per cent of India’s tiger reserves are already under their control.

Indian forest officials, from the states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, present at the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), complained of increasing Naxal infiltration in India’s heartland. The tiger reserves comprising Valmiki in Bihar, Palamau in Jharkhand, Indravati in Chhattisgarh, Buxa in West Bengal and Simplipal in Orissa are some of the reserves bearing the brunt of the Naxal menace.