In order to use tenanted land for setting up of projects for community or public purpose, the Goa government has introduced the Goa Land Use (Regulation) Bill, 2024 seeking amendment to Section 3 of Goa Land Use (Regulation) Act, 1991 so as to specify in the Right to Fair Compensation …
Even as the Maharashtra government faces flak for its inept handling of bubonic plague in Beed district, experts have denounced the state's earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation programme in the Marathwada region, following the devastation in September last year. In the first comprehensive review of the rehabilitation measures undertaken, A S …
Rajasthan's forest department warns that the Union ministry of environment and forest's (MEF) proposal to translocate Asiatic lions from the Gir sanctuary in Gujarat to habitats in Rajasthan, will increase the pressure on the state's sanctuaries. In August 1993, MEF had proposed the introduction of the animals at the Darrah, …
DEOLI had seen nothing like it. On April 25, over 500 villagers took out a rally through this small township in the Tonk district of Rajasthan, under the banner of the Samanvay Samiti, Bisalpur Bandh Doob Kshetra. They were protesting against the inadequacy of rehabilitation measures for the Bisalpur Drinking …
THERE was something questionable and baffling about the closure of the construction sluices on the Sardar Sarovar dam on February 23 this year. First, the suddenness of it: the Narmada Bachao Andolan says that 40 families were still present at Vadgam and were affected by the closure when the sluicedoors …
THE World Bank has commended the Chinese government's resettlement record - at "well over 30 million", the world's largest - as a "model" for most types of resettlements. A leaked report, in which the bank reviewed its own resettlement policy, said, "Over the past 40 years, tens of millions of …
JAPANESE environmentalists have objected to an Indian press report, which said Japanese non-governmental organisations had welcomed India's resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R;) package for oustees of the Sardar Sarovar Project. In fact, Yukio Tanaka, coordinator of the Narmada Action Committee of Japan, has denied this outright. The controversy erupted on February …
Tribals in Nagarahole National Park in Karnataka are opposing a state government plan to relocate them within the park, claiming it would adversely affect their way of life. According to the plan, the 6,145 tribals living in 54 settlements spread over the park are to be relocated in a 2,000-ha …
PASTORALISTS are a vanishing breed the world over. These herders of sheep and cattle have a key role to play in the rehabilitation and sustainable management of fragile ecosystems. India has 34 million pastoralists managing a livestock population of more than 50 million. Apart from producing milk, meat, leather and …
IN MANY agricultural ecosystems, manure is used to provide the nutrients and organic matter needed for soil fertility on cropland. Even where chemical fertilisers are available, organic matter such as that provided by manure is the key to sustainable cropping. Farmers and pastoralists often develop relationships centred around each other's …
CITIZENS' groups have flayed the World Bank's (WB's) new information policy -- Expanding Access to Bank Information (EABI) -- for keeping information in and people out. In a desperate attempt to shore up its sinking image and secure a $18 billion capital replenishment, WB had recently cobbled together the information …
Inhabitants of the Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) in Rajasthan are to be moved once again. The STR authorities have decided to relocate 20 villages inside the sanctuary to sites outside it because, they contend, the villagers are taking a heavy toll of the reserve forest, which is made up chiefly …
Vilasrao B Salunke, father of the pani panchayat concept in the drought-prone Marathwada region in Maharashtra, has evolved quake-resistant houses in areas affected by the September 30 earthquake. Salunke, convenor of the Pune-based Earthquake Disaster Management Group, advocates ferrocement technology to build new houses on existing foundations of the recently …
IN THEIR quest for cultivable land, tribals have cleared more than 2,025 ha of virgin forest in the Hadgarh sanctuary in Orissa's Keonjhar district in less than two years. According to the Antyodaya Chetana Kendra (ACK), a voluntary organisation that has been working in the area for nearly a decade, …
The VERY Special Arts (VSA) programme uses art to help children with various disabilities, especially those who are mentally handicapped. Art is used for education, emotional, social and economic rehabilitation and as a vocation. Says VSA's Moyna Singh, "The idea is to use art as a tool of rehabilitation." Hypersensitive …
In a severe indictment of the World Bank's (WB) record of resettlement of people affected by its projects in India, the bank's own Operations Evaluation Division (OED) has recommended that funding of projects involving forcible relocation of people should be stopped. OED says a February 1980 policy makes the bank …
IN THE eight or nine years she has spent building a resistance movement to the Narmada dam project, Medha Patkar has certainly learnt to state her case. And her ability in this direction was evident in Zee TV's Aap ki Adalat, where she fielded with considerable panache, host Rajat Sharma's …
IT IS THE economics of a dam and not the plight of the people it displaces that makes a good news report for national and international media and earns a quick invitation from the government for a dialogue. Citing the Sardar Sarovar as an example, a senior Union government official …
THOUGH under increasing pressure from conservation groups, Kathmandu is yet to impose a moratorium on giving away baby rhinoceroses to friendly countries as gifts. Animal lovers contend the government is actually selling the animals, because they are being shown as gifts against payments for rehabilitation and conservation. Conservation groups also …
CIVILISATIONS have grown by clearing jungles, draining swamps and reclaiming deserts to produce more food, build cities, mine the earth, establish a variety of infrastructure and develop industry. This displaces people who must obviously be compensated and resettled. And nothing displaces as many people as dams. Understandably these have attracted …
The relationship between water resources and population growth keeps changing with the adoption of new technologies. Has this been the case with India? Technology cannot increase the water content of the rivers, but it can improve harnessing and conservation techniques and so make more water available for individual consumption. The …
