Is Rally for Rivers based on impractical ideas?
Isha Foundation's Rally for Rivers initiative to plant trees alongside river banks appears impractical and lacks scientific rigour
Regreening of Japan
The Japanese have regenerated their forests twice after their large-scale destruction. But today, it is doing so at the cost of tropical forests …
Colonial straitjacket
Book>> Becoming India Western Himalayas under British Rule by Aniket Alam Foundation Books, Delhi 2008
Outsiders in their own land
Gujarat government eyes limestone underneath land cultivated by Sikh farmers, curbs their ownership rights
What led to forest officer’s killing
In Andhra Pradesh, revenue department gives land to poor, forest department wants it back
Nobody's children
A plantation economy, land grabbing and migrations from neighbouring states have forced Gudalur's tribals into destitution
Historian Heather Goodall on indigenous people, water in Australia
Heather Goodall, a historian at the University of Technology, Sydney, has a special interest in Australia's indigenous people--especially their …
Born at 44
Odisha village gets pattas after nearly half a century. Land reform programmes get jumpstart
At loggerheads
While the state government is keen to introduce JFM, villagers say there is no need for that since they have been carrying out all protection …
Message in a baton
The decades after Independence saw rampant destruction of trees. This was followed by years of drought. It was then that the villagers realised …
Indigenous people in India and the web of indifference
On the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we bring together the stories of exclusion, oppression, and at times, recognition
Tribal governance, Salwa Judum and Maoists
Maoist insurgents killed Mahendra Karma, founder of the anti-Maoist Salwa Judum campaign, in Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur district on Saturday. …
Unhappy Bani
March of real estate threatens one of the last patches of native Aravalli forest near Delhi
Land of discord
Origin of the relentless strife in Bodoland lies in a series of blunders, right from colonial times
National Centre for Advocacy Studies' new report 'Sponge iron industries'
Report>>Sponge Iron Industries Issues and Campaigns, National Centre for Advocacy Studies, Pune 2007
Unruffled flakes
Pig iron plant of Sesa Goa pollutes South Goa; firm says expansion will take care of problems
Red alert in Chhattisgarh
Land acquisition is at the centre of intense political and social disputes in the tribal hinterland of Chhattisgarh. On the one hand, Naxal …
Disowned 100,000
Taungyas have lived in Uttar Pradesh for decades but law does not recognise them. FRA gives hope
State inaction
The traditional forest dweller has had very few entitlements down centuries. Guardian of the forest, he has been regarded as encroacher by the …
Meaning of 'forest' set to change in India
How should a 'forest' be defined in India? The Union ministry of environment and forests is currently preoccupied with this question. Placing …
Lavasa above law
Lavasa continues to bypass norms. But the environment ministry may give clearance to the the maiden planned hill city in India, Sakshi C Dasgupta …
“Aboriginal people in Australia still do not have right over their land”
Poet and writer ALI COBBY ECKERMANN was in India recently to launch her memoir, Too Afraid To Cry. The book is an account of her growing up as a …
Murder mystery in Bihar
The killing of two social activists has left behind a series of unanswered questions. On the evening of January 24 social activists Sarita and …
On The Warpath
They prefer to be called the 'forest castes'. They are the 2,000,000-odd villagers living in some 10,000 villages across Orissa. After …
SEZ, how special?
Despite having burned its fingers with export processing zones, which mainly involved a number of substantial fiscal benefits, the government has …