-The Hindu "We don’t want anything from the government. We just want to be dropped home," says a migrant worker from Chhattisgarh. Mungeli is more than 700 km away from the Uttar Pradesh capital. Yet for desperate and hungry Lalaram and his family, the distance did not matter as they set out on foot on Thursday evening, with a few bicycles loaded with meagre possessions, heading home to Chhattisgarh. With Lalaram were his...

-Mongabay.com * The nationwide lockdown has affected the economy of India’s tribal population, which depends highly on the sale of minor forest products. * However, state governments are hoping things will become normal soon as the lockdown norms get relaxed in the coming days. Chhattisgarh’s Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel even praised the tribal population in his state for maintaining social distancing properly. * Experts and organisations working with tribal communities demand removal or...

-Hindustan Times The government officials quoted the data, released by the Central government-run Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), to highlight that Chhattisgarh’s purchase has been the highest in the country to alleviate the plight of the state’s poor forest dwellers and tribal villagers, who are dependent on the MFP for their livelihood. Raipur: Chhattisgarh government has announced that it has topped the country in the purchase of minor forest...

-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 31st January, 2020 Rural distress has risen to alarming levels. As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of 2017-18, rural unemployment stands at 8 percent (statement 30 in Section 3.7, PLFS). In conjunction with skyrocketing food inflation levels, this is a serious concern. The situation is much worse for the landless depending on casual manual labour who constitute more than half the rural...

-Business Standard Natural farming is an alternative to chemical fertiliser-based and high input cost agriculture After decades of intensive agriculture, farms and farmers are in a crisis, food markets remain distorted, and consumers do not have access to nutritious diets. India needs a shift towards sustainable food systems. Among many alternative farming techniques is natural farming, with the potential to improve sustainability and also meliorate government finances. Natural farming is an alternative to...