Model community forestry initiatives in Orissa are defying Forest Department efforts to control and exploit the region’s forests. ‘Heaven is a forest of miles and miles of Mohua trees / And hell is a forest of miles and miles of Mohua trees with a forest guard in it!’ Thus goes a song of the Muria Adivasis in the forests of Bastar in central India. Encapsulated in this simple expression, however, is...

-The Hindu Attacked for taking on Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, claim supporters Ramesh Agrawal, an environmental activist who clashed with powerful steel and coal interests in Chhattisgarh’s coal-rich Raigarh district, was attacked by unidentified assailants and shot through the thigh on Saturday morning. Mr. Agrawal has been hospitalised. Sarita Rath, a member of the Jan Chetna Manch, Mr. Agrawal’s NGO, said he had been attacked at the behest of officials from Jindal...

-The Telegraph Union home minister P. Chidambaram today expressed concern over Bengal’s “culture of violence” and advised “the so-called educated classes” to stop living in a “fool’s paradise”. The first part of the remarks by Chidambaram, who was speaking to industrialists on the need for democratic forms of dissent, was hotly contested by the Mamata Banerjee government that is already suspicious of the UPA because of the Left’s support to the central...

-Reuters A shortfall in monsoon rains has widened to nearly 50 percent of average in the past week, making a revival next week crucial for farmers to sow summer-planted crops such as rice, corn, cane, cotton and soybean. The annual rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth as about 55 percent of the South Asian nation's arable land is rain-fed. Farm sector accounts for about 15 percent of a nearly $2-trillion...

-The Hindu Most people remain at the mercy of a venal administration that, encouraged by the absence of an independent watchdog, exploits them relentlessly   The state of affairs in the country is characterised by rampant corruption at all levels leading to a breakdown in the rule of law and lack of accountability all around. One can say that there is a complete collapse of governance in the country. Something drastic needs to...