-Down to Earth Tribal affairs minister asked to withdraw objections to Maharashtra's Village Forest Rules that allow forest department take control over forests in violation of FRA The Forest Rights Act (FRA), which protects the rights of tribal people and forest dwellers over their forests, is under fire like never before. Multiple ministries in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government are putting pressure on the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA)...

-The Business Standard Forest Rights Act being reinterpreted to avoid amendment Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is discussing possible ways to do away with the mandatory requirement of securing consent from tribal gram sabhas (village councils) before cutting down their forests for industrial purposes. The deliberations, on among various ministries, are for zeroing in on such a way that the requirement is removed without...

-The Indian Express More than four years after the RTE was passed, the state has no handle on the numbers of out-of-school children. The recently released report of the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children, based on a situational analysis of India, opens a Pandora's box on data and methodological issues that plague the estimation of out-of-school children in India. As the report reveals, there is a multiplicity of definitions, sources of data...

-The Business Standard The ministry has eased coal production expansion norms "to quickly ramp up coal production for enhancing power generation" The Centre has set up a high-level committee to review various environmental laws. According to an environment ministry note, the panel, headed by former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian, will review the Environment Protection Act of 1986, Forest Conservation Act of 1980, Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, Water Act of 1974...

-Outlook Education remains a preserve of the rich as India's states renege on the 25 per cent reservation the RTE Act promises to the poor It is a day of trepidation for Prakash. A short, gawky man in his early thirties, he is among the several anxious parents waiting at a Bangalore school for the draw of lots to commence, he perhaps more anxious than the others. The process begins finally,...