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 policy note analyses current European agrofuel policies in terms of their effects on nature and poverty. It argues that agrofuels are exacerbating climate change and that their development is infringing on the land rights of the poor, thus exacerbating poverty. Agrofuels are infringing on the intrinsic existence right of …
SHACHI CHATURVEDI On January 31, in the community hall of South Goa’s famous Shantadurga temple a public hearing is convened to discuss the renewal of mining lease to Shakti Bauxite Mine. The company currently operates on a small part of its concession area: some 26 ha. It has applied to …
Faced by mounting protests and a 110-day-long hunger strike by a jailed indigenous rights activist, Chile's government has agreed to create a high commission for the rights of the indigenous Mapuche communities. The commission will work with the parliament to achieve full constitutional recognition of the native people. Activist Patricia …
Bihar's fall from a state with healthy socio-economic indices to now being one of India's least developed states has been drastic. The major failures lie in governance, and in the downfall of the agricultural sector. A study of the perennial story of flooding and relief measures and the consequent failure …
Big, bigger Almost a third of the entire Nagpur district, that is 3,780 sq km, will be brought under the metropolitan region. Of this 1,520 sq km will be taken up under the first phase of development. About 70 per cent of this is agricultural land. The plan to expand …
An innovative Australian play highlights the dire status of Australia's indigenous people. Ngapartji Ngapartji, staged at the Sydney Theatre festival held in the third week of January, is based on the forced removal of people from their traditional land in the Central Desert for British atomic weapons testing during the …
The forest rights act was delivered a near-death blow in the supreme court on January 8, 2008. The court was hearing the Orissa government's plea for regularization of tribal settlement on forestland. But this petition was based on the 1990 Ministry of Environment and Forests' (MoEF's) notification reviewed and amended …
some people in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district, in a complete turnaround from their earlier stand, agreed to give up land for the posco steel plant on January 5, but with conditions. They have asked for a 5 per cent share in the profits of the company, among other demands. In another …
The public hearing for Jindal group's fourth coal mine in Tamnar block in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, was conducted amidst protests on January 5. People claimed they were not informed of the hearing and they did not have the environmental impact assessment report or its executive summary
the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (moef) cleared a controversial mining project by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited in Meghalaya last month, triggering fresh protests by local human rights and student groups in the state. The Rs 814 crore proposed Kylleng Pyndengso-hiong opencast uranium mining and processing project …
January 2, 2006. At least 13 tribal people and a policeman were killed in a clash at the Kalinganagar steel complex in Orissa's Jajpur district. The tribal people were protesting the construction of a boundary wall for a proposed mega steel plant by Tata Steel when the violence broke out …
The notification of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (forest rights act) and rules brings a long process to close. But the real challenge is now. There are two extreme positions on the act. One holds that historical injustice has been done …
the Goa chief minister's unwillingness to allow special economic zones (sez s)in his state must have mildly zapped his central colleagues (see p 24). Has he become a socialist? Doesn't he aspire for his state? But what Digambar Kamat did was to please his electorate; his energy has deflated the …
From the highway the gravestones were visible. Thirteen headstones, rough and blunt, carved with names of each dead tribal. Each stone was placed so that together they formed a semi-circle looking down at us. In front of the 13-stone platform was a fenced area with scattered burnt sticks lying as …
An argument over a Valentine's Day gift leads shubhranshu choudhary to the politics of an aluminium ladder On the eve of Valentine's Day, a friend of my son persuades me to take my wife "out for dinner and buy her a nice gift'. I thank her for the idea but …
the centre will recruit around 37,000 personnel under the Indian Reserve battalion scheme for deployment in Naxal-affected states. The decision comes after prime minister Manmohan Singh urged states to "choke Naxal infrastructure and cripple their activities' in a two-day chief minister's conference on internal security in the capital on December …
tribal villagers in West Bengal's West Midnapore district chopped down around 6,600 young eucalyptus trees on a six-hectare state forest department plantation recently. The residents claim the land in the district's Chandra forest range is theirs and they want it back. Forest department officials rubbish the claims and are preparing …
The objective of the recently enacted Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act is to undo the effects of the historical injustice that has been suffered by communities that reside in and depend upon forests for their bona fide livelihood needs. The provisions of the …
The "tigers vs. tribals' debate is getting murkier. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2006, passed by Parliament, does not do much to clear the air on whether the bill will aid or undermine conservation. This bill is very belated. Forest-dwelling communities have …
