Women-led and women’s rights organizations are on the frontlines of today’s humanitarian crises—but many are at risk of disappearing. As global needs rise due to conflict, climate change, and displacement, deep cuts to foreign aid are threatening organizations that provide life-saving services for women and girls. In March 2025, UN …
The brouhaha over the Bakun hydroelectric project in Malaysia continues. Recently, the Bakun Region People's Committee (BRPC) met to discuss the various issues which affected the people in connection with implementation of the project. The committee called upon the government to "seriously reconsider and/or review its decision to implement the …
a proposal to give state forest lands to industry as captive plantations is creating a storm. The Madhya Pradesh (mp) state ministry of environment and forests has
FOR Tehri townsfolk, May proved to be the cruellest month, beginning with confusion and protests. The prevailing mood is that of widespread scepticism about eviction notices that came as a bolt from the blue, warning of inundation of the town. So, with a mere 13 per cent voter turnout for …
The Singrauli region, which produces 10% of India's electric power, has experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization over the last 30 years. Along with this growth has come environmental degradation in terms of coal cycle and industrial pollution, displacement of populations, housing and occupational hazards, related health effects, and land degradation. …
THE Environmental Activists' Handbook edited by Gayatri Singh, Keban Anklesharia and Colin Gonsalves carries the pic an old fdic of a woman, named Sunderbai, on its cover. coptim below reads - "Sunderbai, twice displaced by 0 Am project, eventually died of starvation on 21.1.93". nor picture provoked many questions in …
MAKAR Sankranti, January 14, is an auspicious day for Hindus. In Rajasthan, it is the day of reconciliation. This year, a motley group of 15-odd people set out that day on a 15,000 km walkathon through 18 sanctuaries and national parks (NPs) spread over 5 states. Their moving force was …
The Bhairu Lok Abhyaranya Dakav in Bhanwta, near Sariska, Rajasthan, is a sanctuary with a difference. It is a sanctuary declared, protected and managed by the people. "We call it the sonchidi, since it is as precious as a sone ki chidiya (the golden bird)," says Kanhaiyalal Gujjar, a member …
Our syllabi (for training forest officials) still have manuals written during the Raj S K Mukherjee Acting director, Wildlife Institute, Dehradun Why do you still train foresters in horseriding and shooting, 5 decades after the British have left? Surely, that's teaching them to charge against us. Nanakram Gujjar, a villager …
UPROOTED 4 times in 3 decades. Thirty thousand villagers of Madhya Pradesh were first displaced during the construction of the Rihand dam (late '50s); later, again, when coal was found in the mid-70s; a third time, to make room for industry; and finally, when the Singrauli mega thermal power station …
Democracy entails statutory safeguards against infringement of the inalienable rights of the people. But in the country today, the state of legislations protecting the people from wanton development is abysmal. Only Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Maharashtra have some kind of an act regarding resettlement and rehabilitation. In Karnataka, the Act …
What do you give to oustees who have been cleared away in the name of a developmental project? Take land, give land, says the government, without, however, seeming too eager to stick by its own cryptic formula. The Sardar Sarovar Project, for instance, guarantees every displaced adult (defined as a …
"We were thrown out in July 1974, during the rains. They didn't give us houses, or even money to build them. We took shelter under the trees," says Khudyan Singh Moravi, a Baiga tribal from Lonadhar, Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh. Moravi's only fault was that he had been staying within …
...cried the NGOs, oustees, social scientists and mass leaders in unison. Neither the secretive methods of the government nor the general policies laid down in the draft were acceptable to them. "It is a matter of shame that this draft policy is being formulated more for satisfying the conditions laid …
The lion can be heard prowling at night, near the livestock enclosure. In the morning, we are woken up by blasting in the limestone mines surrounding the fields. The lion eats only when it is hungry. But the factory (the Ambuja Cement Factory beyond the mines) never stops eating. --- …
Conflict between the local population in Gir and the conservation authorities can be traced back to the formation of the wildlife sanctuary in 1965. Revenue wastelands and grazing land on the Gir forest periphery were declared reserved and protected forests without the villagers knowledge. This land was previously kept outside …
Intensive management of Kuno forests is required before lions can be introduced in the area, claim Wildlife Institute of India researchers. Because the population of herbivores such as chital, nilgai, sambar and blackbuck is too low to sustain the lions, it is planned to introduce over 5 years 500 of …
Supplementing efforts to preserve the Asiatic lion, albeit in captivity, the Sakkarbaug Zoo in Junagadh has bred about 150 lions since the '50s. These have been sent to zoos in India and abroad and form the only pure-bred population of the cat in captivity. Sakkarbaug zoo officer R D Katara …
Jan-Feb 1995 •Preparation for relocation and rehabilitation of the local people from proposed national park area in Kuno with their consent. •Translocation of captured nilgai, sambar and other ungulates that form the prey for the lion. March-July •Shifting of villagers from core areas of proposed Park and starting rehabilitation work …
ANIMAL welfare activists in India have never adopted the path of physical violence taken by a section of those who protested against live cattle exports in England earlier this February. They do, however, subscribe to a moral militancy whose right - eousness is always dismissive of the problems faced by …
THE conflict between people and the managers of national parks is growing in leaps and bounds. Van Gujjars, a nomadic tribe practising transhumance living in hilly northern Uttar Pradesh, were deprived of their winter headquarters in the forests of the Shivalik foot hills. This rather callous administrative step in the …
