Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Are missing palm trees causing more lighting deaths in Bihar appearing in ‘The Times of India’ dated 29.05.2025". The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Are missing palm trees causing …
Looking at the verdant landscape, you'd agree with the spirited voices chanting, " Brikshyo bina jeevan nahi, brikshyo aamaro jeevan bhai '. Around 100 kinds of trees, shrubs, herbs and climbers thrive here and major species include sal, piashal, asana, bandhana, amla, mahua, kendu and satabari. This has also revived …
The new policy initiatives of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests aim at improving the forest cover in such a way as to benefit all the stakeholders - the forest departments, local communities and investors. The world over sustainable forest management has become a buzz word, thanks to the …
When national leaders from all over the world gathered at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Earth Summit, 1992, management and protection of the world’s forests was among the most contentious issues on their agenda. Since then, the term sustainable forest management (sfm) has become a matter of multilateral bedlam. Simply …
When deliberations began on May 13, 2004 the world's forest policy-makers thought that all was well at the fourth UN Forum on Forest meet (UNFF-4). But by midnight everything had collapsed: two resolutions were dropped and another significantly watered down. By next afternoon, the delegates were on their way home, …
seeking to strike a balance between the surging demand for timber and sustainable development methods, Bhutan adopted a forest management code on January 15. The comprehensive document is entitled the Code of Best Practices (cbp). It lays down the roadmap for the country's national forest policy and would be binding …
Madhya Pradesh started its Joint Forest Management (jfm) programme in the early 1990s. Its stated intentions were quite noble: village-level institutions were to be involved in forest management; elaborate benefit sharing mechanisms were outlined; non-governmental organisations (ngos) were identified to provide an interface between forest departments and village communities. These …
in the wake of strong protests by community forest user groups (cfugs) and conservationists, the Nepal government has reduced the controversial forest product fee
the us congress has reportedly approved a us $5-million waiver, thereby quantifying the debt-for-nature swap offer made to Sri Lanka more than two years ago. It is widely believed that this sum is peanuts, considering that Sri Lanka owes the us close to us $1 billion and that the latter …
on august 1, 2003, Madhya Pradesh (mp) made a plea in the Supreme Court (sc) seeking a fund-generating mechanism for forest protection. Earlier, in June, Himachal Pradesh (hp) and Arunachal Pradesh (ap) asked the Union government to provide them annual reimbursement amounting to Rs 200 crore and Rs 250 crore, …
Kunwar Singh Jonko, 34, belongs to the Ho people, a Scheduled Tribe. His village Katamba is deep inside the forest, 60-odd km west of Chaibasa, the headquarters of East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. In the Forest Department (FD) register, his house, his fields and the entire Katamba village is an …
February 2, 2001, is a date etched in blood in Tapkara. It was the first major incident of violence in about three decades of protest against the proposed Koel-Karo dam in the Torpa block of Ranchi district, Jharkhand. Police opened fire on 2,000 tribal people (or 5,000, depending on the …
Andhra Pradesh (AP) is the best place to learn how to use a tribal welfare machinery to subvert tribal interests and then use it to counter the polity at large that defends those interests. Three years ago, the state used a body mandated by the constitution
Democracy and self-rule remain elusive in tribal India. The main reason: India has no policy for its tribal people. Though the constitution acknowledged the special situation of tribal communities, it did nothing more than create some special windows of representation according to the population proportion. Result: the overall approach of …
You talk about a paradigm shift in tribal affairs. What do you mean? At the time of India's independence, tribal people in central India were seen as backward, superstitious, naive and poor. Even well meaning people concentrated on relief and improving their physical conditions. After 1947, the so-called mainstream had …
Chekkottu Kariyan (C K) Janu is an adivasi leader in Kerala. She is on bail after she was imprisoned for more than 40 days for leading an agitation demanding tribal rights over the Muthanga Wild Life Sanctuary in Wayanad district in Kerala (See: The truth about Muthanga). C K Janu …
What are the most important issues for tribals in your area? I would say education, poor living standards, the need for sound water management, and improvement in the communications infrastructure. There is a lot of discontentment among tribals in Jharkhand against the forest department over the issue of unsettled claims …
What are the most important issues for tribals in your region? Are they the same as they were 50 years ago? Tribals need development, like the rest of the country. I don't look at tribals with a separate perspective. We have been segregating them since independence. That's why they are …
You publicly demanded regularisation of land taken over by the tribals in Singhbhum. You made it a precondition for joining the Arjun Munda cabinet Yes. It is their land. They have their ancestors' tombstones to prove it. I have been demanding a resolution to this issue for a long time. …
Why are there so many disputes over forestland in the state? Why are tribals pitted against the forest department? Land is not an issue in tribal areas. The issue is development and exploitation of the region by the government of Bihar. There are no roads, water employment. Land is not …
