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 …
a proposed constitutional amendment and the shifting allegiances of the governor of the state of Roraima threaten to deprive Brazil's indigenous Macuxi people of nearly 1.6 million hectares of contiguous land in the state. The change in statute, scheduled to be voted on soon, decrees that no more than 50 …
after 48 days of struggle by the Adivasi-Dalit Samara Samithi, the Kerala government agreed to assign around two hectares of land in the estate areas of Sugandhagiri and Pookot to each tribal family on October 16, 2001. In other areas, 0.4-2 hectares of land was to be given, depending on …
in a district where not toting a double-barrelled gun or revolver is considered a violation of the dress code, the word ‘fraud’ was redefined with astounding audacity. Without firing a single shot (quite uncommon in this trigger-happy territory), three junior officials of Bijnor defrauded the government of Rs 100 crore …
ever since 2000, Bastar district in the fledgling state of Chhattisgarh has been on the boil. The reason for the growing unrest: a State government proposal to set up a Rs 300-crore steel plant project of the National Mineral Development Corporation (nmdc) in the Nagarnar area of the district . …
the National Human Rights Commission (nhrc) has directed the Union rural development ministry to include provisions for the resettlement and rehabilitation of people displaced by land acquisitions for various projects in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. They could also be formulated by a separate legislation, said nhrc . In 1994, …
the C P Ramaswamy Iyer Memorial Park in Nagercoil, the district headquarters of Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, is under threat from more quarters than can be imagined. The park is 1.8-hectares park is right in the heart of the city and was inaugurated on December 19, 1943, to commemorate the 60th …
the Kerala government has finally promulgated the Kerala Forest (Vesting and management of ecologically sensitive lands) Ordinance, 2000, which gives it the power to take ownership of all lands considered
Barely a week after passing a constitutional amendment that empowered Zimbabwe to seize land owned by the whites without paying compensation, the government has done a volte face after renewed pledges by Western donors to provide finance for land redistribution. Over the past two months black squatters have been invading …
after the abolition of the zamindari system in Uttar Pradesh in 1954, land consolidation has been one of the mammoth administrative exercises conducted to put in place land reforms. Begun in the early sixties, its main objective was to consolidate the small agricultural plots into one or two large holdings, …
The Supreme Court has held that land falling within the green belt area cannot be put to auction by development authorities since serious public interests are involved in it. The court also nullified an auction made by the Delhi Development Authority (dda ) in 1985. The dda auctioned a part …
In Kesharpur, a tiny village in the foothills of Orissa’s Nayagarh district, villagers search for a baton in their frontyard every morning. Two families find a baton each. The batons decide their day’s work
In every village, a committee is elected by the people. There is a blanket ban on felling and stray grazing. The committee supervises these bans and resolves all conflicts. It also collects fines, decided by the villagers, for any violation of the protection rules. Similarly, it decides the village peoples' …
Orissa's forest protection movement, which started in different places at different times, has become so strong that neither do forest officials find it easy to enter the forests protected by communities nor has the government been able to implement its conservation programmes. But the government refuses to acknowledge their efforts. …
What is your concept of conservation when the state is facing severe degradation of the forests and other environmental problems? My concept is very clear: there has to be a fine balance between development and ecology. But whatever policies we formulate must be accepted by the people. We need development …
A poll issue Villagers put forward a charter of six demands to political leaders, from village to state-level, seeking rights over the forests they have created it's a battle between the haves and the have-nots. At stake is 400,000 hectares (ha) of forest land in Orissa
1920s: The British introduced railway lines in Orissa. Commercial exploitation of forests began in a big way. 1930s: In Dhenkanal, people revolted against the king for rights over the forests they traditionally protected. Lapanga village in Sambalpur became the first recorded village to protect forests.The king of Mayurbhanj initiated JFM …
with an enormous land mass and a population of only about 17 million, few countries have a better chance of providing the answers for a sustainable economy and a fair society than Australia. But when Eddie Marbo, leader of the Mariyam people, an aboriginal community from Murray Island just off …
The Egyptian government scrapped controls on rents for farmland in October after a gap of five years. Egypt's 9,04,000 tenant farmers have become subject to a 1992 law allowing landowners to charge market-level rents and denying tenants the right to pass rented land on to their children. Effects of the …
