BHUBANESWAR: In what can be seen as a missive to embarrass Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the tribal issue, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday alleged that a large number of ‘adivasis’ are in jail in Odisha, for no reason whatsoever, and they should be freed at the earliest.

Dharwad-based non-government organisation, Samaj Parivartan Samudaya (SPS), which is the main petitioner in the public interest litigation (writ petition No. 562 of 2009) on illegal mining in Karnataka at the Supreme Court, has alleged that D K Shivakumar, former Karnataka minister, was involved in illegal mining activity.

The NGO is filing an interlocutory application in the Supreme Court on serious illegalities, irregularities and criminalities indulged in during the period 2000-2005 by Shivakumar and eight iron ore trading companies.

Even before educational institutions are officially directed to conduct admissions for the weaker sections, as under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2009), activists have begun lining up outside schools demanding that poor students be taken in. Given that the government is yet to spell out how and when the schools should implement the 25% quota, expertsadvise activists against undue haste.

SHILLONG: The State Government is preparing its written submission on the jinxed Umiam-Jorabat four-lane road project to be submitted before the Gauhati High Court, following a direction from the court.

The Gauhati High Court asked the State Government to file the written submission on the basis of a PIL filed by the landowners and an NGO in opposition to the recent decision of the State Government to construct the proposed four-lane road through the Umsning Bypass.

Bauxite-rich East Coast region hasn’t seen a single mine open in 30 years. The East Coast region, home to 74% of the total bauxite reserves, continues to be one of the most-neglected regions in the country, as not a single bauxite mine has been opened in the past three decades.

HENGBUNG (MANIPUR), May 22 – The Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Dr S Ayyappan has announced plans to initiate schemes to enhance profitability and productivity to bring back the people by making agriculture prestigious and profitable. He also promised that the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Hengbung village in Manipur’s Senapati district would be equipped with a seed processing unit to supply quality seed to the needy farmers in the region.

Forest officers in the district are all set to participate in the three-day synchronised elephant census that will begin across six states on Tuesday.

Chamarajanagar district has the distinction of having the highest density of elephant population in the State. Bandipur National Park, Biligiriranganathaswamy Tiger Reserve Forest, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and Kollegal Forest Division are other important habitats for elephants in the State. More than 600 enumerators, including forest watchers, students of forestry colleges, volunteers and representatives of NGOs working in the field of wildlife will take part in the census in the district’s forest region.