Wildlife NGO group gets flak for seeking curbs on forest rights of indigenous people
Application moved in Supreme Court by three wildlife NGOs seeks to reverse rights granted under Forest Rights Act, allege tribal rights activists …
New rules to make FRA effective
Tribal affairs ministry's draft rules under Forest Rights Act give more authority to the community in the process of settling forest rights
FRA guidelines to help forest dwellers freely trade in minor forest produce
Tribals and forest dwellers don’t need to obtain transit passes to cart away the produce; minimum support price scheme for MFPs to be in …
A tale of two interpretations
Aparna Pallavi recounts struggles of residents of a tiny village in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra to get ownership of forest resources
Age of dissent
Six villages in Madhya Pradesh reject Centre’s proposal to declare their forest a wildlife sanctuary
Super Market
Secretive. Exploitative. Is the market in Minor Forest Produce unmanageable? sopan joshi finds out
Don’t take away Gram Sabha’s powers under FRA: activists petition Modi
‘Central government's attempts to do away with consent of Gram Sabhas for diverting forests unconstitutional’
Ministers mount pressure to dilute Forest Rights Act
Tribal affairs minister asked to withdraw objections to Maharashtra’s Village Forest Rules that allow forest department take control over …
Baigas cheated of community forest rights
Madhya Pradesh village given rights over agricultural and residential land instead of forestland
Struck at the root
Livelihood of 2,000 families is threatened as the Maharashtra forest department tries to ban extraction of lotus roots
Don’t say bamboo
Aparna Pallavi travels to Gadchiroli district to find out why villages relinquished forest rights
Another village, this time in Odisha, gets official permit to sell bamboo
Though Jamguda was conferred community forest right two years ago, it was not allowed to cart bamboo out or sell it in the market
Saharias face exile, again
Displaced from Kuno wildlife sanctuary earlier, the tribe is being evicted again for a dam
Check Jharkhand’s degrading environment
Unscientific mining has caused rampant environmental degradation in the state in the absence of proper monitoring
Half-way to autonomy
Decisions by Maharashtra’s top forest official can empower gram sabhas prepare plans to revive their forests, but a policy is awaited
Mahan at all costs
How government bent all rules to ensure Mahan forest in Madhya Pradesh goes to Essar and Hindalco for mining coal
Bhutan’s experiments with happiness
The idyllic Buddhist kingdom believes that peace and happiness should take preference over material growth. In a world beset by inequities and …
Organic goes online
India’s organic food exports have found a new strength—online traceability. Web-based TraceNet can trace an organic product right …
Paan loses flavour
Iconic paan no more appeals to farmers, traders and common people. They say the contagious spread of chewing tobacco, especially gutkha, is fast …
Predicting the future
A severe shortage of medicinal plants and herbs threatens ISM. Cultivation may be the only way out. But currently medicinal plants that are …
‘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 …
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 …