‘Forest department is the encroacher’
When V Kishore Chandra Deo became the Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs three months ago, both the ministries were in inertia.…
Wealth of forests withheld
Forest departments across the country owe millions of rupees to communities. For 20 years communities toiled under the Joint Forest Management …
How government is subverting Forest Rights Act
Does this official data betray a conspiracy? Only 1.6 per cent of the 2.9 million claims approved under the Forest Rights Act recognise community …
Rights without benefits
Over 1.3 million tribals and forest dwellers have got rights over the land they had been using for years under the Forest Rights Act. This can, …
Bamboo rising
Five years after it was implemented, the Forest Rights Act finally takes root. Communities across the country rush to claim rights over forests …
Polavaram fraud
The Polavaram dam on the Godavari could displace 400,000 people and submerge nearly 4,000 hectares of forestland. Most of the people threatened …
How a conversion ‘mistake’ made Maharashtra top forest rights performer for a decade
State’s ‘stellar achievement’ turns out to be a simple mathematical mistake raises doubt over government data
Forest titles only on paper
Officials deny tribal village its forest management rights
Lies, deceit and relocation
People shifted from Sariska tiger reserve allege they have been deprived of forest rights
Bamboo freed
Maharashtra village India’s first to win right to harvest bamboo. Eyes now on other forest produce
Forest alert
Saxena panel report on Niyamgiri puts states under watch for forest, tribal rights violations
‘Someone should speak on behalf of environment’
Shibani Ghosh, the author of Indian Environmental Law: Key Concepts and Principles, speaks to Down To Earth on the role judiciary plays in …
Uttar Pradesh grants 3 forest villages revenue status under FRA
Kaluwala, Sodhinagar and Bhagwatpur were given the revenue status, which means that the inhabitants, Tongia tribals, will now have access to …
Baiga Tribes Get Habitat Rights for the first time in Independent India
Ramesh Sharma, Convener, Ekta Parishad gives an insight about the indigenous primitive tribes of India. Out of 76 primitive tribes Baigas …
Madhya Pradesh's call to bamboo investors reignites debate over forest access
Agreements for planting bamboo over 36,000 sq km of forestland take away the rights of the community, say forest rights activists
Election boycott over mining
Residents protest iron mining in Maharashtra tehsil; authorities blame murder for boycott
Walk the village talk
After raising the political profile of village councils, government wants to downsize them
Protectors dubbed criminals
Tribals in Madhya Pradesh celebrate festival to reclaim forests; officials say they are encroaching land
It’s a hot potato for PepsiCo and farmers
The corporate giant claims that the farmers are cultivating their proprietary FC5 potatoes without permission
Chhattisgarh govt keeps poll promise, starts review of rejected FRA claims
The step is a reflection of how issues related to FRA have become politically relevant, say activists
Civil society criticises Centre’s Global Wildlife Programme, doubts minister’s claims
The Global Wildlife Programme has been launched in partnership with World Bank and United Nations Development Programme to curb illegal wildlife …
Forest paradox
To give forest dwellers their due rights, forest governance must go beyond the environment and include the communities at stake
Let’s talk
On February 24, Centre for Science and Environment raised the curtains for the Anil Agarwal Dialogues on green clearances. The two-day conclave …
Disowned 100,000
Taungyas have lived in Uttar Pradesh for decades but law does not recognise them. FRA gives hope
Indigenous civil engineers
Traditional earth diggers and masons, who mined the Bhatti area of the Aravallis for decades, dig in their heels as the Delhi administration …