Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
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, …
forest protection groups of Orissa emerged as a force to reckon with in the build-up to the general and assembly elections in the state. The Orissa Jangal Manch (ojm)
the Union government is reconsidering its decision to curtail central support to states for projects under the Integrated Forest Protection Scheme (ifps). The new arrangement, which requires the centre to provide 75 per cent of the ventures' cost instead of bearing the entire expenses, has caused a lot of resentment …
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 …
The sacred does sell. A community in Mawphlang, Meghalaya is showing the way. It has put up a toll barrier on the road leading to the Ka Law Kyntang or sacred grove. You pay a minor but valuable sum to enter the grove. Close by in Makarwat, which falls in …
on december 3, us President George W Bush gave the green light to the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, declaring that it would "help to prevent catastrophic wildfires'. But the legislation, requiring us $760 million to be spent annually, is described by environmental groups as a giveaway to the timber industry. …
the period between 1999 and 2003 has seen a sudden spurt in the diversion of forestland for non-forestry purposes. A recent collation of data of the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) spotlights this retrogressive pattern. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led coalition has also held the reins of power at …
Bhutan is moving to regulate the use of its natural resources. A new law, introduced in the revised Forest and Nature Conservation Rules, requires individuals and companies to procure a licence to collect and sell sand, soil, gravel, rocks and peat from government land. The licence would be awarded through …
the very outsiders for whom forests were cleared to enable them to settle in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, are now being expected to play a pivotal role in protecting the union territory's (ut) rapidly receding green cover. The ut is set to adopt the Joint Forest Management (jfm) programme …
Conservationists are up in arms at the Nepal government's new policy of handing over management of some national parks, as well as other protected areas, to non-governmental organisations and private institutions. The forestland in question comprises 79 per cent of the country's total protected area. The perception is that only …
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, …
India has the largest tribal population in the world. Tribals number 8.6 per cent of its total population. They are also among the country's most marginalised. Why has India's political democracy not given its tribals their due? What is in India's political system that prevents the tribal voice from being …
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 …
