Order of the Supreme Court in the matter of Sugra Adiwasi & Others Vs Pathranand & Others dated 29/04/2025. The bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the state of Madhya Pradesh as well as the central government through the the Ministries of Tribal Affairs and …
When the Karnataka government announced substantial reservation of seats for the "backward and the oppressed classes" in the state's panchayats in 1992, it was welcomed by most experts and analysts. They felt grassroots democracy in India would flourish if the weaker sections of society were guaranteed representation. However, when panchayat …
AFTER the reserved forests surrounding Bhimashankar, a pilgrim spot in Pune district, were converted in 1985 to what is now known as the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS), the 3,000 tribals living around it have been victims of animal terror. Wild boars, attacking in herds of upto 25, damage more crop …
A PROPOSED Australian law that allows aborigines to claim land has been criticised by the country's business community, which fears it could curb mining. The proposed native land-title legislation arose from a 1992 high court ruling that recognised the native title to land under the country's common law. The ruling, …
SUNLIGHT has been used for thousands of years to heat or cool buildings. Originally a matter of mere survival, it has since become an expression of the human need to harness solar energy and create a better world for themselves. Historical records suggest the formidable powers of the sun, both …
The recent death in police firing of 15-year-old Rahimat Punya Vasave, a tribal from Surung village in Dhule district in Maharashtra, created ripples of protest all the way to the Capital. Three other tribals were injured in the firing when villagers of Akrani taluk in Dhule district -- one of …
The sixth general meeting of the Indian Council of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, which began in Delhi on November 15, sounded a strong warning in its inaugural session on the persisting trend of displacement of indigenous people in India. "The argument that this (displacement) is necessary for development has been …
ANYBODY reading the national media would have thought that environmental issues had precious little to do with the current round of elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. But the stories that our reporters have brought back show that nothing could be farther …
Elders of the Navajo tribe still recount the legend of how the Bear, a great medicine being (What on earth does this mean?), instructed them to use a forest root for treating parasites, stomach problems and infections. There is now growing scientific evidence that this and other legends are based …
INDIA'S conservation laws have become the scourge of local communities in and around national parks and sanctuaries. The restrictions governing these protected areas curtail the indigenous peoples' access to natural resources to the extent their very survival becomes threatened. On the other hand, several cases have come to light of …
DESPITE being warned about the pitiable plight of the Uru Eu Wau Wau Indians in northwest Brazil, the World Bank (WB) did not stop to consider the effect on the tribals of a road construction project it was financing in the region. And now, unfortunately, the warnings are coming true. …
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, …
A SCIENTIST employed with the Girijan Cooperative Corporation Ltd in Visakhapatnam, Y Durga Prasad, has isolated the world's first biological substance, which can bind with about 18 toxic metals, many of them found in industrial wastes. Significantly, the substance, found in the seeds of a nut (Strychnos potatorum) traditionally used …
Shifting cultivation has been criticised as unscientific and blamed for the environmental problems in the hills. Do you agree? On the contrary, shifting agriculture is a fine example of how a production system can be adapted to an ecological niche. Very often shifting cultivation is talked about as a single …
The Kerala High Court has blocked the state government's highly-publicised distribution of 28,588 ha of forest land to migrant farmers who occupied the land prior to 1977. On September 15, the court stayed the distribution of title deeds for land either occupied originally by tribals or included in the Idukki …
IN BRAZIL'S worst such incident in nearly a century, gold miners illegally prospecting on the Yanomami reservation are believed to have massacred, with machetes and guns, 73 Indian tribals. Brazilian President Itamar Franco called in the country's military leadership to control the miners and set up a special ministry for …
FEMALE foeticide and infanticide are not unique to India -- they are prevalent almost globally. They were practised in ancient Greece and were prevalent among certain Arabian tribes until recently. The Yanomani Indians of Brazil still practise it. In India, female infanticide is often attributed to poverty, but the rich, …
"I WAS A labourer, but now, because of the project, I am free. I cannot explain what this means to me," says Dadabhau Jadhav, a frail, small-built Thakkar Adivasi of Mothewadi village in the foothills of Maharashtra's Sahyadri range. For generations, the Thakkar Adivasis have worked as contract and even …
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 …
FIRST, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha began a highly publicised fast to back her state's claims to Cauvery water. Then, a flustered Union government came up with a proposal that presumably satisfied Jayalalitha, because she called off her fast. And, finally, Karnataka chief minister Veerappa Moily ungallantly played the …
LAST MONTH, 40 Aztec Indians led a march from downtown Vienna to the Austria Centre, venue of the World Conference on Human Rights, to highlight the plight of the world's 300 million indigenous people. Lobbying for the rights of indigenous people at the conference was appropriate, 1993 being the Year …
