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 …
This paper presents a brief overview of pastoral systems, analyses the rationale behind mobility as a strategy to cope with scarce and variable resource endowment, and finally addresses the rights concerning the access to and the control of resources in the context of climate change. The historical and geographical dimensions …
south Korean steel giant posco continues to face stiff public resistance in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district where the company is setting up a 12 million tonne steel plant. On April 1, protesters violated the district administration's prohibition orders and entered the Balitutha bridge near the plant site. "This is our land …
Kudremukh was notified a national park in 2001. Protests have ensued ever since and the demand for denotification of the park has intensified over the years. The tribals fear they will be forced out of the park and relocated elsewhere. The state's relocation plans, however, haven't taken off yet. But …
The tsunami relief effort was based on the recognition that out of disaster an opportunity can be created to rebuild, expand and improve upon services, correct imbalances and meet the needs of vulnerable groups. But in housing, this case study from Tamil Nadu shows that even three years after the …
Step into Jharkahnd's Tentoposi village in Seraikela district and you will be greeted with hostile glances. Sitting on rich mineral reserves of iron ore, residents of this village are constantly under the fear of displacement and loss of livelihood sources. Tata Steel has already announced that it will set up …
"Agriculture can do more than just focus on production," says Bob Watson, director of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), the project that he hopes will change agriculture forever when the final draft of its report is published on 15 April. "Farming can help supply …
On February 11, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development had issued advertisements inviting comments on the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill by February 22. The deadline for comments was very short. Activists were justifiably worried and suspicious. The committee looked like it was in …
This paper is set in the context of a larger development policy debate pertaining to regional inequalities in India. Historically some regions had experienced agricultural prosperity due to their resource endowments especially water. The complementarity between modern inputs and water has boosted the public investments in these regions in order …
it was the biggest feature of the union budget, and was played to the maximum effect. Waiver of small and marginal farmers' loans amounting to Rs 60,000 crore triggered a virtual stampede among political parties to claim credit for it; the ruling United Progressive Alliance (upa) termed the decision
the Maharashtra government has given away about 40 hectares (ha) of grazing land to Dow Chemicals for a research and development facility in Shendi village, 30 km from Pune. Villagers say they were kept in the dark about the Rs 400-crore facility and their dairy business suffered huge losses. Activists …
with protests against land acquisition spreading across the country, state governments have realized that they cannot do without a dialogue with farmers
The government's 11th Five-Year Plan initiative to spread micro-land ownership across the country has the potential to help 50 lakh people (or 1 lakh families) to secure land over the next five years, according to the Rural Development Institute (RDI). The RDI is an international non-profit organisation working closely with …
This article chronicles the peaceful struggle and eventual success of the people of Alibag, Maharashtra, against the attempts by corporate bodies, with the help of the state government, to grab land for a number of coal-based power plants in the area. Had the plants come up, it would have been …
The Zimbabwean government has reclaimed about 1,450 farms from resettled farmers, also known as A2 farmers, after a recent land audit revealed that the new farmers were not using their farms productively. Talking to the state-owned newspaper Herald, the land reform and resettlement minister, Didymus Mutasa, said "his ministry is …
A dispute over the rights of tribals to forestland in Gujarat took a violent turn on February 13 when two tribals were killed and three others injured in a police firing at Polo in Sabarkantha district's Vijaynagar taluka. Trouble began when agitated people in the area say the police picked …
uncertainty continues in Chengara village in south Kerala's Pathanamthitta district where about 10,000 landless people forcibly settled in a rubber plantation in August 2007. The settlers, mostly dalits and tribal people, say that the government's indifference to their repeated demands for land triggered the current struggle. "Land to landless adivasis …
the Naxalite attack at Orissa's Nayagarh town is not a wake-up call for the state. It is a big slap on its face. The busy township, hardly 100 kilometres from the state capital, is not a usual target for Naxalites. It could not be dismissed as a stray incident as …
India's states have employed several land reform measures, including reforming tenancy, imposing land ceilings, distributing government wasteland, and allocating house sites and homestead plots. With relatively modest revisions, some of the existing laws and policies can further their original intent of increasing the poor's access to rural land and providing …
In the past, research on land distribution in rural India has pointed out that the surveys by the National Sample Survey Organisation have yielded underestimates of the extent of land inequality and landlessness. In a fresh analysis, this paper, using household level data from the 48th and 59th rounds (1992 …
The national economy is growing at near double-digit rates but neither industry nor non-agricultural activities in rural India have been able to provide livelihoods for millions of rural workers. It is this failure that underlies the spurt in rural violence that has highlighted once again the issue of the poor's …
