-The Indian Express Laws like Official Secrets Act conflate the interests of particular parties, governments with the greater good. They must be contested. The greatest failing of Indian public life over the past 70 years is the manner in which the state and forms of government have become identified with the life of the people. We have come to believe that state and society are the same thing and that pronouncements...

-TheWire.in Issues tied to forest governance require a collaborative approach rather than narrow court action on the Forest Rights Act. The Supreme Court order related to the “eviction” of tribal and forest-dwelling communities has made big news. The February 13 order directing State Governments to initiate action against all those with “rejected” claims has reignited longstanding ideological disputes over India’s forest governance. Reactions to the recent order in a case filed by Wildlife...

-ThePrint.in Modi govt is looking to deliver first instalment to all 12 crore beneficiaries by 31 March but faces a host of challenges, including non-cooperative opposition states. New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government managed to transfer funds to nearly one crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme on 24 February, a little over three weeks after it was first announced in the budget, and within a week of...

-The Hindu Both human rights and wildlife rights groups have not used the Forest Rights Act as a conservation tool On February 13, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of more than 10 lakh Adivasis and other forest dwellers from forestland across 17 States. The petitioners, mainly wildlife NGOs, had demanded that State Governments evict those forest dwellers whose claims over traditional forestland under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers...

-Newsclick.in The additional funds of Rs 6,084 crore released recently will go into clearing the backlog of pending liabilities. Contrary to the claims of highest ever allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the social security scheme that aims to guarantee the right to work is facing severe fund crisis – with State Governments left with no funds to pay workers. From October 2018 to February 1, no...