A Bill that seeks to amend the existing law governing exploration and production of oil and gas as well as delink petroleum operations from mining operations was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (March 12, 2025). The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, is aimed at boosting investment …
The Union environment ministry's decision to ask states to treat bamboo as a minor forest produce (MFP) has given millions of poor tribals and forest dwellers hope for a new source of income. In a letter to the chief ministers of all states on March 21, environment minister Jairam Ramesh, …
Call it the fallout of seven years of severe drought or government inaction, a silent revolution is brewing in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Communities are getting united and digging channels to bring water from government canals to their fields. Some are volunteering labour, while those belonging to Scheduled castes …
FRESH guidelines by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to identify inviolate areas for wildlife have bypassed the Forest Rights Act of 2006. They threaten the interests of forest dwellers. Issued on February 7, they empower the Divisional Forest Officer and the Park Manager to arbitrarily identify areas in and …
The Ministry of Environment and Forests has withdrawn its latest guidelines for creating inviolate space for wildlife. The guidelines for creating Critical wildlife Habitat (CWH), issued on February 7, violated the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and threatened the interests of the forest dwellers (see: ‘Misguided rules’). The ministry also asked …
New Delhi: The environment ministry has decided to look into how it plans to relocate thousands of people out of the 600 plus national parks and sanctuaries in the country. TOI had reported how the new guidelines issued by the environment ministry fell foul of the Forest Rights Act. The …
Top forest officials and members of the National Forest Rights Act Committee are on a collision course after the panel submitted its report to the government and stated that the Act was not implemented in its true spirit. A war of words ensued after the panel, formed by the environment …
A National seminar on the FRA was organised by the Council for Social Development on 26–27 April, 2010. Most of the participants reported that all of the key features of this legislation have been undermined by a combination of apathy and sabotage during the process of implementation. In the current …
The National Advisory Council (NAC) recognizes that the Scheduled Tribes & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers( Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 was a landmark legislation that aimed to undo the historial injustice done to tribals and other forest dwellers by non-recognition of their forest rights. However, it has not yet …
Supreme Court has asked the states to evict illegal occupants of village commons. This a report by Down to Earth on the apex court judgement which said that transfer of village community land for private & commercial use is illegal and asked all state governments to prepare schemes for eviction …
The gram sabha of Cavelossim Village Panchayat on Sunday opposed the land acquisition proposal of the Fisheries Department for the proposed construction of ship building, docking and repairs of boats at Mobor. Sarpanch Edwin Cardozo said the proposal to acquired 17800 square metres for the proposed ship building project has …
JAGPAL SINGH and Dev Singh of Jagir Rohar village in Patiala have little idea that their enmity has resulted in a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court that would bear implications for the rural population of the country. In its January 28 decision in the case concerning encroachment of common …
Velim gram sabha demands scraping of land acquisition jetty expansion Velim villagers on Sunday told the panchayat in no uncertain terms to immediately write to the district Collector, South to completely scrap the land acquisition proceedings and the fisheries department proposal for the Cutbona jetty expansion project. At the Sunday …
THE Union government is reviewing its landmark initiative, the Forest Rights Act, four years after enacting it. The aim is to find how to strengthen the law which was legislated to ensure the traditional rights of 100 million forest dwelling people in the country. Two high-level groups submitted their assessment …
The late Rajiv Gandhi famously, or infamously, once claimed that only 15 per cent of the funds allocated to welfare programmes ever reached the intended beneficiaries. The rest leaked enroute, entering the pockets of an assortment of intermediaries. This is a thought that the Union finance minister must always remember, …
Allotment of gram sabha land to private persons illegal Ponds, tanks which served communities for years encroached upon Taking a serious view of illegal and unauthorised encroachments on government poromboke land, the Supreme Court has directed all the State governments to prepare schemes for eviction of such occupants of gram …
This document discusses the status of Panchayats and approach to roadmap, strengthening democratic functioning of the Panchayats, functions of the Panchayats, functionaries of the Panchayats, Panchayat finances and accounting, e-Panchayat, Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled areas) Act, decentralized governance in the north east states, legal framework & the road ahead.
