Author: Akshay Deshmane
Why the Corporate Giant Faces Allegations of Ecological Damage over Mine Closure India’s second-largest coal-producing state, Jharkhand, has long been mired in coal-related controversies. While coal mining generates substantial revenues for both the state and the Centre, it has also left a trail of environmental damage and social disruption, ranging from pollution and land grabs to theft and organised crime. These darker externalities of the coal economy have also seeped into popular culture, most notably in the cult Hindi film Gangs of Wasseypur, which brought national attention to the nexus between coal mining and organised crime in the state. In…
In November 2025, former Chief Justice of India B R Gavai delivered a judgment with far-reaching environmental and financial implications. He directed that a May 2025 judgment of a bench of the Supreme Court, which had scrapped an amnesty for all violators of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, be recalled. The order was unusual and reopened a debate many believed had been decisively settled after May. When former CJI blinked In effect, ex-CJI Gavai asked his successor to reconsider review petitions filed by companies seeking the restoration of a controversial amnesty that allowed retrospective regularisation of projects implemented in…
The Adanis have found a powerful ally in their fight with the National Green Tribunal (NGT): the Modi government itself. In a courtroom alliance that blurs the line between regulator and regulated, the Union environment ministry has joined forces with Adani Power and NTPC to challenge the NGT. Their common cause: defending a 2020 coal policy struck down for favouring business over clean air. Now, the government and India’s biggest power producers are fighting side by side to bring it back. An unusual legal battle began to take shape in the Supreme Court of India during July and August this…
As Bihar gears up for the state elections, the Namami Gange Programme continues to be a politically charged and socially significant topic. The Ganga, India’s national river, flows over 400 kilometres through the state, yet previously undisclosed official documents reveal a sobering reality: the river remains far from achieving the programme’s stated goal of “Nirmal Dhara” (unpolluted flow). This is despite the central government having spent over Rs 3,900 crore in Bihar over the past decade under the initiative. The documents available with New Delhi Post make it clear that “Nirmal Dhara” in Bihar remains a distant goal largely because…
