Akshay Deshmane

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Recent Work

Mongabay Environmental News •

The long road to regulating earth use for highways and railways

Ordinary earth is among the most essential natural resources for national development and environmental conservation, yet poorly regulated and managed.

Used widely as a raw material in infrastructure projects such as highways and railway lines, its unregulated and excessive extraction can pollute groundwater and strip fertile topsoil vital for agriculture.

Over the last five years, the governance of ordinary earth has triggered multiple legal battles between environmentalists and infrastructur...
Mongabay Environmental News •

India’s Thermal Power Giants Revive Controversial Govt Memo Which Promotes Domestic Coal Mining

The Supreme Court (SC) has put on hold a recent order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that had cancelled a government decision that allowed thermal power plants to change their coal source without getting fresh environmental clearance (EC). This stay temporarily allows power plants to continue switching coal sources, without new ECs. The issue has been under scrutiny for the past five years.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), through a series of office memora...
Mongabay Environmental News •

How Real Estate & Mining Firms Have Been Affected By A Recent Supreme Court Judgment

On May 16, a Supreme Court judgment struck down two amnesties issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) for violators of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification.

One amnesty was notified in 2017 and another in 2021, both drafted by the environment ministry to regularise projects that had started without prior environmental clearance (EC) or had extended beyond approved clearances. The court criticised the 2017 notification and the 2021 Offi...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Tata Steel, CREDAI & Others Have Been Trying To Revive Modi Govt's Dubious Amnesty For Violators Of Green Law

In early April, the Supreme Court of India concluded hearings in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that challenges a government-issued procedure for handling environmental violations. Experts say the case could significantly impact the country’s environmental rule of law.

“Submissions are heard. Judgment is reserved,” said the order, passed on April 2 by Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan. This order brought a more than year-long legal battle closer to the finishing line.

It began...
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Investigations

OCCRP •

Inside Indian Energy and Mining Giant Vedanta's Campaign to Weaken Key Environmental Regulations

It was 2021 and the COVID-19 pandemic was ripping through India, crippling the country’s health system and bringing the economy to a standstill. But for Anil Agarwal, chairman of the energy and mining giant Vedanta Resources Ltd, the crisis presented an opportunity.The government could add “impetus” to India’s “rapid” economic recovery by allowing mining companies to boost production by up to 50 percent without having to secure new environmental clearances, he wrote in a letter to the then envir...
Climate Home News •

Indian coal giants pushed for lax pollution rules while ramping up production

The Indian government weakened rules to curb pollution caused by its expanding coal industry after lobbying by top producers, even as it agreed internationally to phase down the use of coal, an investigation by Climate Home has found. 
India’s coal giants pushed back hard against environmental regulation meant to tighten up the disposal of fly ash – a byproduct of coal-fired power plants known to harm both humans and the environment if not managed properly.  
Letters sent by coal companies to th...
BBC •

How a just transition can make India's coal history

IIn the dusty coal town of Jharia in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, the ground has been on fire for more than 100 years. Fires that began accidentally early in the 20th Century are still steadily burning their way through the town's underground coal reserves, releasing toxic fumes and destroying homes. Efforts to put out the fires have so far failed.
Jharia is perhaps the worst casualty of coal in Jharkhand, which has the largest known coal reserves in India. Despite its coal resources,...
The Morning Context •

How one official helped Tata Steel and Vedanta get away with flouting green law

We rarely make our stories free to read. This one is, so make the most of it.We publish over 500 original, detailed stories every year on startups, corporates, stock markets and economic current affairs.Limited time offer $125 $99 for 1 year

We rarely make our stories free to read. This one is, so make the most of it.

We publish over 500 original, detailed stories every year on startups, corporates, stock markets and economic current affairs.

Limited time offer $125 $99 for 1 year
The Morning Context •

Letter from industrialist prompts minister to scrap environment policy

We rarely make our stories free to read. This one is, so make the most of it.We publish over 500 original, detailed stories every year on startups, corporates, stock markets and economic current affairs.Limited time offer $125 $99 for 1 year

We rarely make our stories free to read. This one is, so make the most of it.

We publish over 500 original, detailed stories every year on startups, corporates, stock markets and economic current affairs.

Limited time offer $125 $99 for 1 year
HuffPost •

Documents Show How Modi, Jaitley Gamed World Bank's Doing Business Rankings

On 3 November, for instance, Modi said, the rankings are an "indicator of India's strengthening economy and quick progress". He said this while answering a question posed by a BJP volunteer from Korba, Chattisgarh, who wanted to know the relevance of the rankings in the life of the 'common man'. Modi further said that the improvement in rankings over four years by almost half —going from 142 in 2014 to 77 in 2018—shows the Indian economy had improved twice over ever since his government was swor...
Frontline •

Under close watch

ON December 22, the office of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, issued a statement that he had “submitted his resignation to the Government of India”. Political circles in the national capital were taken by surprise and speculation peaked about the possible causes for the unexpected decision, as the statement did not mention any reason for his resignation. Curiously, according to senior officials, Jung had not sent his resignation letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) or...