Tribal people constitute close to 50 per cent of the population that has been displaced because of "developmental" activities. “IF you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the country,” Jawaharlal Nehru has been quoted as telling the village residents to be displaced by the Hirakud dam in 1948. And so it has been for the past 64 years. People, mostly impoverished tribes, have been suffering because...

Sustained struggle has enabled tribal and Dalit communities in certain pockets to regain their land rights. COUNTLESS studies conducted over the last three decades by government bodies and land rights organisations underscore that tribal communities have been the worst sufferers of land acquisition in the name of development or industry. Estimates say that 40 per cent of the land acquired for developmental projects and activities since Independence has been from...

The draft Food Security Bill makes it compulsory for state governments to pay a food security allowance to targeted sections in case of failure to supply foodgrain through a sweeping welfare scheme targeted at nearly three-fourths of the population. The amount will be decided by the central government. The draft bill also presses for a radical overhaul of the food distribution system by giving incentives to independent agencies that procure...

-The Hindu   Rajasthan's tribal district of Banswara chosen for new initiative It was in 1959 that Jawaharlal Nehru launched Panchayati Raj in Rajasthan's Nagaur district NRLM will organise, mobilise poor families in groups, impart training for starting enterprises United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi will launch the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in Rajasthan's tribal district of Banswara on June 3. After the launch of Panchayati Raj in the State's predominantly-rural Nagaur district by...

The National Advisory Council has proposed a framework for the National Food Security Act. But its potential could be wasted by a flawed approach to the PDS. Two years have passed since the Central government announced that a draft National Food Security Act (NFSA) would be posted on the Food Ministry's website “very soon.” After prolonged deliberations, a detailed framework for this Act has recently been proposed by the National Advisory...