-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Hundreds of tribals, mostly womentook out a protest march from the Charbagh railway station to the dharna sthal in front of state assembly demanding implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006, which provides forest dwellers individual and Community Rights to hold and live on forest land and use its produce. The tribals, who had come to the city from across the state, said that the distribution...

-The Hindu Activists question change of policy for rehabilitation; want cut-off date of March 2007 adhered to strictly Holding the Delhi Government squarely responsible for following a policy of large-scale displacement of slum dwellers without adequate norms for providing rehabilitation to all of them, activists working for the rights of slum dwellers have demanded that the cut-off date of March 31, 2007, be followed strictly to ensure that no one is discriminated...

-The Hindu Kerala’s Kudumbashree network and the rural employment guarantee scheme have converged to provide a unique model of empowerment An incredible story of empowerment has been unfolding in the wake of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) programme in the State of Kerala. This is the story of how a socially engineered convergence of the scheme with panchayati raj institutions and the State sponsored community network of poor...

-The United Nations International investments must give local farmers and active role and leave them in control of their land if they are to have a positive effect on the host country’s economy and advance development, according to a report released today by the United Nations food agency. Produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the report – Trends and Impacts of Foreign Investment in Developing Country Agriculture – emphasizes...

-Mainstream Weekly Dr Binayak Sen, an internationally renowned medical practitioner and social activist (a leading figure in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties), was incarcerated in Chhattisgarh and held in detention in Raipur having been branded as a Maoist for his activities in defence of poor tribals in the State. He is now out on bail. The following is the text of the Arvind Narayan Das Memorial Lecture he delivered in...