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The Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), a top Delhi-based advocacy group, has said that an analysis of 52 project finance deals comprising loan component across coal-fired power and renewable energy projects (hydroelectric, geothermal, wave, wind and solar power projects), shows that 80 per cent of the project money went to renewables last year.
Pointing out that coal received just 20 per cent of the project finance, the analysis said, of the total lending to coal power projects (Rs 6,081 crore), Rs 3,938 crore came from majority government-owned financial institutions. On the other hand, of the total lending to renewable power projects (Rs 24,442 crore), Rs 18,263 crore came from majority privately-owned commercial banks. The CFA analysis asserted that this trend is consistent with findings from 2017, adding, the deals were identified via investigation of subscription-based financial databases provided by Bloomberg Professional, IJGlobal, Thomson Reuters and market disclosu…

“Hellaro”, a Gujarati feature film produced by Saarthi Productions in association with Harfanmaula Films (Ahmedabad) was declared as the Best Feature Film at the National Film Awards which was conferred by the Government of India. The film also won the Special Jury Award for the Best Actress to all the 13 actresses of the film.

In a statement in Lucknow one day after the Uttar Pradesh government barring eight activists from addressing scribes in Ayodhya, senior Magsaysay award winning social activist Sandeep Pandey and advocate Mohammad Shoaib have wondered, "Why is the government so afraid of us holding meetings?"

The Uttar Pradesh government has barred Magsaysay award winning social activist Sandeep Pandey and others to hold press conference at the Ram Janki temple in Saryu Kunj, Vasishtha Kund, Ayodhya.

Senior environmentalist Rohit Prajapati has served legal notice to the authorities of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar, and the Vadodara Municipal Corporation for allegedly violating the Construction and Demolition Rules and Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Prajapati demanded clear-cut explanation within 15 days as to why "irreversible" structures were allowed along the river Vishwamitri and the riverbed was to turned into a dumping site for debris, which led to one of the worst floods in the city a fortnight ago.
Talking to media, Prajapati said in Vadodara, legal actions will have to be taken against the authorities concerned for this state of affairs, pointing out the “smart city" Vadodara does not have full time municipal Ccommissioner for about a month and an "experienced-qualified" town planner since 2006. Administrative inertia led to waterlogging and flood, he added.
According to Prajapati, time has come that p…

The All India Peoples' Forum (AIPF), a civil rights organization, following its National Council meeting in Durg, Chhattisgarh, has decided to launch a nationwide campaign against the "unconstitutional" move to abrogate Article 370 and "other undemocratic" moves of the Central government next month, culminating on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2.

In a statement, four authors of 'Kashmir Caged’ report, Kavita Krishnan, Jean Drèze, Maimoona Abbas Mollah, Vimal Bhai, have said that they stand by the statement that permission to screen this short video report at the Press Club of India (PCI) on 14 August was denied, “reportedly under pressure”. However, they say, their quarrel “is not and was not with the PCI, but with the Government of India that is seeking to censor such spaces.”

A new report, “Enemies of the State?: How governments and businesses silence land and environmental defenders”, published by Global Witness, a human rights organization based in London, has said that India saw the third highest number of activists killed, 23, in 2018 following Philippines 30 and Columbia 24.

Well-known political scientist Shamsul Islam has quoted the English organ of the RSS, "Organiser", in its issue dated August 14, 1947, as stating, "The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it will never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country."
In the same issue of the RSS English organ, Prof Islam, formerly with the Delhi University, says, it had condemned the "birth of democratic-secular Independent India" in the following words:
"Let us no longer allow ourselves to be influenced by false notions of nationhood. Much of the mental confusion and the present and future troubles can be removed by the ready recognition of the simple fact that in Hindusthan only the Hindus form the nation and the national structure must be built on that safe and sound fou…