Order of the National Green Tribunal (Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata) in the matter of Giri Gobardhan Forest Committee Vs State of Odisha & Others dated 15/05/2025. The Applicant Giri Gobardhan Forest Committee has filed the application alleging illegal felling of trees over an area of around 5 acres within the …
India’s maiden planned hill city that made news for bending rules and undertaking unauthorised construction may get the Centre’s nod, after all. The buzz is the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) may give conditional clearance to Lavasa, which is being developed in the Western Ghats, 65 km from …
The Bombay High Court has given Lavasa Corporation Ltd six weeks' time to submit documents demanded by the Union ministry of environment and forests. Lavasa has time till March 10 to pacify the ministry, which had ordered the corporation to stop work on November 25 last year saying the township …
This report takes stock of the current status of forest rights and tenure globally, assesses the key issues and events of 2010 that shape possibilities to improve local rights and livelihoods, and identifies key questions and challenges that the world will face in 2011.
When patdehri (chief priest) Halu Thanapati, 68, gets possessed, he hastily dives into the badan khaal—the yoni of Goddess Duarseni, the supreme deity of his tribe—as though to suck the rare wisdom that ensures ‘existence’ on earth. The yoni is actually the mouth of a natural tunnel, which is independent …
This study provides an overview of the national-level controversy surrounding SEZs, before turning to a detailed account of the acquisition process and impacts of one SEZ in Polepally, Andhra Pradesh. Based on an extensive field survey, this case study reveals how evictions were not based on informed consent, but forced; …
This research analysis is focused on the identification of the agricultural water use and land scaling effects to rural livelihoods in Indo-Gangetic basin (IGB) with emphasis to Bihar state. In particular, water use and landholding factors are widely acknowledged as major determinants of agricultural development and hence rural wealth in …
The influence of John Locke’s theory of property on the policies governing India’s landscape is examined in this paper. Locke’s concept of wasteland, as opposed to value-producing land, constituted a founding binary opposition that constructed how landscapes were categorised. The period under study covers the Permanent Settlement (1793), the Ryotwari …
As a welfare state, the Government of Haryana recognises that acquisition of land under the statute and the alienation of landowners from their source of livelihood could be a painful process, notwithstanding the payment of compensation for the same as per law. Therefore, it intends to minimise this pain of …
An updated status of state-wise implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 for the period ending 31st August, 2010. As per the information collected , more than 28.73 claims have been filed and more than 10.13 lakh titles have been distributed. …
THE Union government has proposed giving conclusive ownership titles to landholders across India through the Land Titling Bill 2010. The draft bill, open for public comment till August 31, envisages a transition from registration of sale deeds to registration of ownership, thus ensuring the registration is proof of ownership. At …
The study attempts to locate the intersection between gender and tribe within the broader framework of land rights in forest areas. The lands demarcated for claims have been on women
This paper attempts a decomposition analysis of Poverty scenario in UP during 1993-94 and 2004-05. It was found that poverty has decreased but inequality has increased between these years. The main problems in the state are stark inter-region and intra-region differences. A positive observation is that the poorest region in …
Advocates of foreign ownership of agricultural land say it brings wealth, infrastructure and new farming techniques; opponents say that displaced and deskilled smallholders are often the result. When people talk about land-grabbing the immediate focus tends to be on issues like food security, land sovereignty and worries about a new, …
This study of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 in the Western Ghats of Kerala identifies the main constraints to the working of the legislation. Community rights and conservation provisions seem to be ignored. The paper also highlights the importance of integrating the implementation of the fra with …
The mainstream development literature tries to understand the changes in land relations through the lens of land reforms alone. Kerala provides an appropriate setting to understand how far radical redistributive land reforms have succeeded in transforming inequity in landownership. Our findings based on a micro-level village study show that the …
Standards to support the design and implementation of government-led REDD+ programs that respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and generate significant social and environmental benefits.
This report examines a range of business models that can be used to structure agricultural investments in lower- and middle-income countries, and that provide an alternative to large-scale land acquisitions (plantations that are wholly owned by, or on long leases to, investors without inclusion of smallholders or small enterprises in …
This paper examines land tenure in informal urban settlements in India from a gender perspective through field research conducted in Ahmedabad in collaboration with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). The author describes the formal and informal tenure arrangements that were in place in these settlements and analyses their implications for …
Customary land rightsPalm oil firm loses to Kayans A native community in Malaysia won a 12-year legal battle against the Sarawak state government and palm oil giant ioi Pelita after the state’s apex court recognized their customary land rights. The court ruled that the government had unconstitutionally granted the native …
