A resident of Yavatmal in Maharashtra is asked to give proof of birth for three generations in his family for him to get access to land under the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers Recognition of Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. But for the people in these areas who cannot read or write, ‘proof' has little meaning. Such lacunae in the Act came up for discussion at a public...

"India lives in several centuries at the same time. Somehow we manage to progress and regress simultaneously." Arundhati Roy Controversies, protests and violence have marred land acquisition for projects in India. Protests against acquiring agricultural land, inappropriate compensation or environmental impact have been the main reasons for these protests. In most cases, the protests are by farmers who are hardly compensated after their fertile agricultural land is taken over in for...

Posco, the world's fourth largest steel maker, was in January ranked among a global list of 100 companies that will last for the next 100 years. Interestingly, governance, transparency and capacity to handle environment-related issues are taken into account in selecting these 100 companies "Posco will not only last the next 100 years, but will go beyond, and India will play a big part in our story of survival and growth", CK...

Ministries of environment and forests and tribal affairs have jointly set up a 10-member committee to study and assess the impact of Forest Rights Act on sustainable management of forest resources. Given the lead role played by the environment ministry in this committee, concerns have been flagged off by civil society organisations about the real intent and legality of the committee. The committee headed by former director-general of Forest Survey...

Some news is considered more worth publicizing than some other news. This is part of an essential discipline, for otherwise we will remain perennially buried under an avalanche of data, information and gossip. The wheat, never mind the change of metaphor, has to be separated from the chaff. The media perform this task. Occasionally the government of the land helps the media to do the choosing: the authorities have their...