The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
GADCHIROLI in Maharashtra may have acquired the model district status for clearing a record number of community forest rights (CFR) claims, but its 298 villages are angry with the forest department for stripping them of the basic right to manage forest produce. The department has also burdened them with conditions, …
Establishing claims of tribals on their land is the essential prerequisite for effective implementation of any land reform, tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo told FE. He clarified that for the implementation of the proposed land acquisition law or even the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulatory Authority Bill, claims …
Up and coming development projects, increasing pressure from tourism and pilgrimage, increasing number of hotels and conflicts with local communities are the major threats faced by the three tiger reserves in the State. The weaknesses include inadequate trained and competent staff in the tiger reserves, disturbance due to human settlements …
Not a comprehensive draft, says Medha Patkar The first major opposition to the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 will be in the form of a three-day dharna here beginning on Wednesday by the project-affected people. Various peoples' movements under the banner of SANGHARSH have decided …
There have been problems with the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, a landmark legislation of the UPA-I government. The problems have been to a great extent on account of discrepancy in rules. By nature, rules are supposed to supplement and complement the law. I will resolve these discrepancies. For …
In ten forest hotspot countries across Africa and South Asia, the IIED-steered Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG) has been working since 2003 on ways to shift power over forests towards those who enable and pursue sustainable forest-linked livelihoods. This report aims to capture the current thinking and plans of FGLG. …
This refers to the editorial “When business rules our kitchens” (June 16-30, 2011). Do we want to sensationalise the issue of poor food safety regulations and use big companies as a whipping boy or work on the solutions? How are we going to deal with the fundamental issue of feeding …
The Khandadhar waterfalls is a favourite picnic destination of many college students in Odisha. But it may soon be a pleasure of the past. The falls spring out from the Khandadhar hills that are home to 69 working sponge iron units. And with more than 150 mining projects approved, the …
LIVING a legally non-existent life for more than six decades, the Taungya forest-dwellers in Gorakhpur and Maharajganj districts of Uttar Pradesh finally got their share of rights on forestland. On July 25, state forest minister Fateh Bahadur Singh distributed land titles to 651 Taungya families in six villages of the …
This draft Bill seeks to balance the need for facilitating land acquisition for various public purposes including infrastructure development, industrialisation and urbanisation, while at the same time meaningfully addressing the concerns of farmers and those whose livelihoods are dependent on the land being acquired.The issue of who acquires land is …
Read B K Chaturvedi committee report on the tussle regarding the ‘no-go’ issue in mining. It recommends diluting environmental regulations to fasten growth of the coal sector and has been questioned. Report of the committee constituted by Group of Ministers to suggest solutions on coal and other development issues See …
CUTTACK: Posco India Ltd has told the Orissa High Court that no illegalities were committed either by the Centre or Orissa in giving forest clearance and diverting forest land for the South Korean company. Senior advocate Sanjit Mohanty arguing during adjudication of a batch of PILs challenging land acquisition and …
The environment ministry made a specious argument before the Cuttack bench of Orissa high court, defending its decision to clear Posco without verifying if the Forest Rights Act had been violated or not in diverting forest land to the Rs 54,000 crore integrated steel plant. It said the law
On the morning of June 13, 2011, Sukhdev Sahoo of Nuagaon in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district woke up in horror. The state administration had demolished his betel farm. The betel vines were in the way of India’s largest foreign direct investment: the US $12 billion POSCO project. Sahoo was threatened: “If …
This brief presents some preliminary results of a legal analysis conducted by RRI to provide a fuller picture of Indigenous Peoples and community forest tenure rights globally. This analysis unpacks the collective rights to forestland and forest resources held by communities and codified in law. RRI has developed a database …
Section 38V of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 provides that Tiger Reserve should be inviolate. 643 sq km area of Nagarhole National Park is declared as core critical tiger habitat, prior to the promulgation of the "The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006". Though …
The (Draft) Guidelines for Ecotourism in and around Protected Areas were issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on June 2, 2011 and comments invited by June 30, 2011. Through detailed comments and documentation, Equations have recommended that the Ministry recognise the primacy of the Gram Sabha and the …
