Newly-appointed tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo on Thursday gave a boost to anti-mining activism by vetoing thePosco project in Orissa and also said that bauxite mining cannot be allowed just because the mineral deposits are under the houses of poor tribals. Deo, who as Congress MP successfully lobbied against bauxite mining in his constituency in Vishakhapatnam, hailed the decision to stop Vedanta in Niyamgiri hills and even vetoed...
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People vs the people by Ramachandra Guha
The Supreme Court order against the Salwa Judum’s vigilantism in Chhattisgarh must be read by all, especially government officials. The details of the civil war in the tribal districts of Chhattisgarh are largely unknown to most readers of this newspaper. For the region is remote and inaccessible, and easily ignored by the national media. This civil war pits, on the one side, Maoist extremists, and, on the other, a band of...
More »Forest dept shut out of woods by Vivek Deshpande
Over the last one year, villagers of Ghati in Gadchiroli have kept timber out of the forest department’s reach, saying it belongs to them under the provisions of the FRA, short for Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest-Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. The FRA recognises their rights only on non-timber minor forest produce but the villagers have interpreted it to include all trees. They say minor forest produces like mahua,...
More »Left to protest attacks on farmers in Haroa
-The Hindu A joint committee of krishak sabhas (farmers' organisations) of four Left parties have given a call to their units across the State to observe “Haroa Diwas” on July 14. It would be in protest against the police firing and attacks by armed Trinamool Congress activists on Saturday on farmers and sharecroppers who had returned to their land in the Haroa area of West Bengal's North Paraganas district after having...
More »Power centre or toothless body? by Akshat Kaushal
Why is the ruling party unable to pass 3 very important bills? The National Advisory Council draws its exalted status from the fact that UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi heads it. But its inability to get its way on three new Bills indicates that its influence is waning. A couple of weeks ago, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) cleared the drafts of two significant Bills — the Food Security Bill and...
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