Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
the process of drafting the proposed Scheduled Tribes and Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forests Rights) bill started with the first meeting of the technical support group (tsg) to the Union ministry of tribal affairs (mota) on February 7, 2005. The bill, being monitored by the prime minister's office and managed …
Uncontacted Ayoreo Indians in Paraguay's forests, whose native land has been snatched away by landholding companies, may soon find a respite. A bill to forcibly expropriate the land from the companies has been passed by Paraguay's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, and is now being considered by its Senate …
function map() { var popurl="image/20040731/25-map.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=500,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } function table() { var popurl="html/20040731_inout.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=500,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } function table1() { var popurl="html/20040731_bust.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=400,height=300,scrollbars=yes") } The India Eco-Development Project (IEDP) was a much-lauded experiment, and the World Bank and government's pet. But it was not a
Nimati Domohini village in the west of Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, is on a highway where a side road breaks off and leads to the reserve's Nimati range office seven kilometres away. But the village is miles away from realising the dreams dreamt by its 331-member eco-development committee (EDC) …
Both the Forestry Research Education and Extension Project (FREEP) and its later, larger avatar, the India Eco-development project (IEDP) had a single objective: conserve biodiversity. What also made it a different form of rural development, quite unlike anything government had hitherto done, was the equal emphasis on improving the lives …
IEDP's larger monitoring mechanism, too, seems to have been primarily meant for the government or Bank consumption. The Bank sent its supervisory missions and its supervisors wrote
There exists a document called Linking Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Livelihoods. It is the Indian government's initial salvo for a new eco-development project, expected to begin late 2005. It will cost approximately US $48 million (Rs 220 crore), with beneficiaries putting in US $2 million (Rs 9.20 crore). The remaining …
One stove, one pot What eco-development means to people in Nagarhole When forest department officials find a handful of tourists staying overnight in the Nagarhole forest they put on a video show in the evening. For the last two years the same cassette has been played: Nagarhole's magnificent wild animals …
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 Bankariyas, a forest-dweller community of central Nepal, have been uprooted from their traditional habitat and are living like refugees in their own country. Several other indigenous groups have suffered the same fate. The eight-year-old war between the Royal Nepal Army (rna) and Maoist rebels that has ravaged the country's …
in a landmark decision, the Tamil Nadu (tn) government has handed over complete charge of minor forest produce (mfp) to tribal people living in and around the forests of the state. Consequently, from July 1 onwards, not only have the tribals been given the right to collect mfp, they are …
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madhya Pradesh (mp) chief minister Digvijay Singh are playing the blame game over the settlement of tribal communities' claims to forestland. It may be noted that elections to the mp legislative assembly are due later this year, and the state has a sizeable tribal …
two recent developments augur well for the forest dwellers of Madhya Pradesh (mp). Firstly, under the joint forest management plan (jfm), forest protection committees in the villages will now receive all revenue collected from selling timber and bamboo. And secondly, the mp government has decided to deregulate the trade of …
• India has 16,000 recorded plant species. About 3,000 of these yield minor forest produce (MFP). • Nearly 500 million people living in and around forests in India depend on MFP for sustenance and as a supplement to their income • Studies in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar …
all herders and livestock, who had intruded into the 392-square-kilometre (sq km) Ranthambhore National Park in Sawai Madhopur district, Rajasthan, have been driven out ending one month of drama. The tension between 100-odd villages around the park and the forest department, however, can spark more trouble in the future. There …
the extensive drive of the Union ministry of environment and forests (mef) to evict encroachers from more than one million hectares of forestland across the country by September 30, 2002, is facing stiff resistance in a number of states. The recent mef notification (see box: Highlights) could affect approximately 350 …
"My idea of village swaraj is that it is a complete republic... The government of the village will be conducted by a panchayat of five persons annually elected by the adult villagers... this panchayat will be the legislature, judiciary and executive combined... Here there is perfect democracy based on individual …
