Ranchi, April 24: Reclaimed from Maoists, the natural reserves of Saranda are up against unscrupulous adversaries. At least four mining firms have been extracting iron ore and manganese against their sanctioned capacities in this West Singhbhum region since 2008 right under the nose of the mines department and Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB).

In a blow to SAIL’s efforts for raw material security, a high level committee of the Union environment ministry has refused to accord green clearances for the steel major’s three key iron ore mines in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. The move could deprive the firm of over 80,000 million tonne of ore annually.

A pair of elephant tusks, weighing approximately 32kg, were recovered late last night from Dalma sanctuary with the help of a sniffer dog and forest officials believe they have scuttled an attempt to smuggle out the ivory valued at Rs 40 lakh in the open market. While the forest department did not think the recovery was a pointer to an established poaching racket in the sanctuary, officials are, however, fairly certain there must have been an attempt to smuggle the tusks since they had been sawed off and later found 4km away from where they had spotted a dead elephant on January 29.

ROURKELA: Armed with the Saranda Action Plan, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday detailed his much-hyped ‘peace offensive’ to curb insurgency along the Odisha-Jharkhand border. On his second visit to the Maoist-infested Saranda forest region in the neighbouring Jharkhand, Ramesh laid the foundation stone for the Integrated Development Centre at the remote Digha village of West Singhbhum district, about 16 km from Odisha border and addressed villagers.

New Delhi, Jan. 4: Jharkhand had asked for a longer rope to meet the plan of providing drinking water to every village under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). But Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, who also holds the drinking water and sanitation portfolio, in a missive to chief minister Arjun Munda has set a January 15 deadline for the state to get its act together. If Jharkhand fails, it may risk losing central funds to the tune of more than Rs 83 crore.

State has been directed to set up a separate development authority

The Centre has asked the Jharkhand government to show urgency on both security and development matters in the Left-Wing-Extremism-affected Saranda forest. The State has been directed to set up a separate development authority to carry forward its initiative to provide basic amenities to 7,000 tribal families in the forest, and demanded early allocation of land for setting up 24 more CRPF camps in and around the region.

Last year, the panacea for the elephant menace was burning cow dung cakes mixed with red chillies. Last week, it was deploying village vigilantes armed with cellphones. Right now, it is a proposal to hire around 20 “professional elephant drivers” from Bengal.

Seraikela division’s forest officials hope that the latest move to minimise man-animal conflict will succeed.
By engaging the elephant drivers, they hope that 45 elephants migrating from Dalma to Saranda’s forests, will be safety steered to their destination without damaging paddy or property along the way.

Organic silk drapes for the classes, affordable and eco-friendly bamboo homes for the masses.
Jharcraft and IIT-Delhi team up to design low-cost bamboo homes for the underprivileged, an initiative that will begin within a week.

IIT-Delhi associate professor (chemical engineering) Dr Sanat Mohanty had an elaborate discussion on this with Jharcraft managing director Dhirendra Kumar in Ranchi on Monday.

ArcelorMittal India, the local unit of the world’s largest steelmaker, has started drilling operations at the Seregarha coal block in Latehaar district of Jharkhand, signalling that work toward setting up the proposed 3 million tonne steel plant may have finally started. ArcelorMittal has already applied for permission to the Jharkhand government for commencing drilling operations at the Karampada iron ore mines in West Singhbhum district.

Sukra Oraon tenderly attends to the lush green paddy crop that covers his three-and-a-half acre plot along the highway near Tupudana, 15 km from Jharkhand capital Ranchi.

Two months from now, Oraon hopes to earn at least Rs 30,000 from the yield. “That’s huge money for us,” says Oraon who does not need to migrate outside the state in search of work this year.
While in the last two years, paddy crops had shriveled due to drought, heavy rainfall this time has boosted paddy sowing — up to 98 per cent.