Centre urged to back out of deep-sea sand mining projects
In a press release, Green Movement general secretary T.V. Rajan said the move would result in the collapse of sea walls, thereby raising the chance of coastal erosion. It would also restrict the right of States in the coastal area to just fishing, he added.
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India Gazette
28 minutes ago
- India Gazette
Explorations in India is now
ANI 08 Jul 2025, 18:33 GMT+10 New Delhi [India], July 8 (ANI): Union Minister Hardeep Puri on Tuesday highlighted Central Government's series of sweeping policy reforms under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accelerate oil & gas exploration. These reforms, aimed at promoting exploration & production in the field of oil and gas. The government believes that these changes to increase the ease of doing business for our exploration and production (E&P) operators are being made after stakeholder consultation at every minister, noted via a social media post on X that the recent amendments to the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948, which took place in March 2025, are a cornerstone of the new regulatory overhaul. The changes have also introduced new Petroleum & Natural Gas (PNG) rules within a short span of three months.'As a part of our focus to accelerate oil & gas exploration under the leadership of PM @narendramodi Ji, a series of pathbreaking policy reforms are being implemented to promote exploration & production. These changes to increase the ease of doing business for our E&P operators are being made after stakeholder consultation at every level.' posted Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948 was amended in March 2025 and new PNG rules have come within 3 months in the run up to OALP Round X which is the largest such exploration & production bidding round globally,' posted by Union Minister Hardeep Puri on social media 'X'.The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (@PetroleumMin) has also invited feedback and suggestions on the Draft Petroleum & Natural Gas Rules, Model Revenue Sharing Contract (MRSC), and Petroleum Lease are given time to submit their inputs by July 17, 2025, via email to [email protected] Puri emphasized the timing and importance of these reforms, calling it a 'great time' for industry leaders and entrepreneurs to consider opportunities in India's oil and gas sector. He added that exploration in India is now 'easier, faster, and more profitable than ever before.' (ANI)
Time of India
33 minutes ago
- Time of India
ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women and girls
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for the Taliban's supreme leader and the head of Afghanistan's Supreme Court on charges of persecuting women and girls since seizing power nearly four years warrants also accuse the leaders of persecuting "other persons non-conforming with the Taliban's policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as 'allies of girls and women.'"The warrants were issued against Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhunzada and the head of the Supreme Court, Abdul Hakim warrants came just hours after the United Nations adopted a resolution Monday over U.S. objections that called on the Taliban to reverse their worsening oppression of women and girls and eliminate all terrorist are the latest high profile suspects named in arrest warrants issued by the Hague-based court that also has sought the arrest of other leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures, banning women from public places and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. Last week, Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban's court said in a statement that the Taliban have "severely deprived, through decrees and edicts, girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion. In addition, other persons were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity were regarded as inconsistent with the Taliban's policy on gender."The court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought the warrants in January, saying that they recognized that "Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban."Global advocacy group Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision."Senior Taliban leaders are now wanted men for their alleged persecution of women, girls, and gender non-conforming people. The international community should fully back the ICC in its critical work in Afghanistan and globally, including through concerted efforts to enforce the court's warrants," Liz Evenson, the group's international justice director, said in a judges approved a request in 2022 from the prosecutor to reopen an investigation into Afghanistan. The probe was shelved after Kabul said it could handle the said he wanted to reopen the inquiry because under the Taliban, there was "no longer the prospect of genuine and effective domestic investigations" in predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, got approval in 2020 to start looking at offenses allegedly committed by Afghan government forces, the Taliban, American troops and U.S. foreign intelligence operatives dating back to 2002. When Khan reopened the probe, he said he would focus on crimes committed by the Taliban and the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State group. He said he would "deprioritize" other aspects of the investigation, such as crimes committed by warrants for Taliban leaders were issued while Khan has stepped down temporarily pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. Khan has categorically denied accusations that he tried for more than a year to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship and groped her against her will.
India Gazette
33 minutes ago
- India Gazette
No order to block X accounts of international news channels, says IT Ministry
New Delhi [India], July 8 (ANI): The Union Government on Tuesday denied issuing any fresh order to block the X handles of certain international news networks. 'The Government has not issued any fresh blocking order on 3rd July, 2025 and has no intention to block any prominent international news channels including Reuters and Reuters World. The moment Reuters and Reuters World were blocked on X platform in India, immediately the government wrote to 'X' to unblock them,' a statement from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said. 'The Government continuously engaged and vigorously pursued with 'X' from the late night of 5th July 2025. 'X' has unnecessarily exploited technicalities involved in the process and did not unblock the URLs. However, after lot of follow up on hourly basis, X has finally unblocked Reuters and other URLs after 9 pm on 6th July 2025. They took more than 21 hours to unblock Reuters,' the statement added. The clarification from the Government follows a post from X's Global Government Affairs team on Tuesday which claimed that it had been ordered to block accounts in India including those of news outlets like Reuters. 'On July 3, 2025, the Indian government ordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like @Reuters and @ReutersWorld , under Section 69A of the IT Act. Non-compliance risked criminal liability. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology demanded immediate action- within one hour- without providing justification, and required the accounts to remain blocked until further notice. After public outcry, the government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld,' the statement read. 'We are deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders. X is exploring all legal options available. Unlike users located in India, X is restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legal challenges against these executive orders. We urge affected users to pursue legal remedies through the courts,' the statement further read. The X accounts of UK-based news agency Reuters, Turkish broadcaster TRT World, and China's English language newspaper Global Times were restored in India on the evening of July 6, after users reported that they were unable to access them. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology stated that the Indian government had not sought to withhold the Reuters account on the social media platform X, and was 'working with X to resolve the problem'. An official spokesperson for the Ministry had said, 'There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle. We are continuously working with X to resolve the problem. ' Earlier, people in India were unable to access the X handle of Reuters with a message stating that its account has been withheld in India 'in response to a legal demand.' The X handles of TRT World and Global Times also encountered the same 'account withheld' message. On its help centre page, the Elon Musk-owned platform X explained that such messages 'about country withheld content' mean that X was compelled to withhold the entire account specified or posts in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order or local laws. The Reuters X handle, as well as those of TRT and Global Times, continue to be accessible in India after the Centre intervened. (ANI)
