IF YOU walked down the streets of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi between 3-5 August, you would see what TV cameras aren’t putting out on primetime news. Thousands of farmers from Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh to Rohtak in Haryana. On protest. Against the systematic grabbing of their land by various state governments across the political spectrum. On one side of the road, on large green carpets, are about 3,000 farmers,...

After the brutal murder of Azad, is there any hope for well-meaning routine calls for “dialogue” and “peace talks”? What can the "civil society" do as a serious, real intervention? It is reported that the decades-old talks with Naga insurgent groups has made some progress recently (See “Differences ‘narrowed’,” Times of India, July 19, 2011). One reason why talks have a chance in these cases is that separatism comes in...

Orders Environment Impact Assessment study in the area The Supreme Court, which earlier suspended mining operations in the Bellary area, on Friday partially lifted the ban and allowed the public sector National Mineral Development Corporation to undertake mining in two leases to cater for the domestic market. The Forest Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and Swatanter Kumar, however, rejected the plea by a private miners' association that...

Tribal affairs minister K.C. Deo feels the draft land acquisition bill does not adequately protect the Scheduled Tribes’ rights in case they have to be displaced to a non-scheduled area. Deo told The Telegraph he would write to rural development minister Jairam Ramesh about this. “Tribal people enjoy constitutional protection in the scheduled areas. If they are displaced for a certain project and resettled outside the scheduled area, the question is whether...

Mining firms have criticised the Indian government's decision to make them pay more tax to help develop tribal areas affected by the Maoist uprising. Various trade associations have denounced the bill, under which firms will pay upto 26% extra tax on profits. The new legislation is to be introduced during the new parliamentary session which started on Monday. Maoist rebels say they are fighting for the rights of indigenous tribal people and the...