-Down to Earth   Orders forest department to restore honey seized during raid The court of judicial magistrate of Chamrajnagar in Karnataka has upheld the rights of Soliga tribal people to harvest and sell forest produce independent of the forest department. On May 24, the court ordered Punjanur range forest officer to return 1,100 kg of honey seized from the Hosepodu gram sabha, located within the Biligiri Rangaswami Temple (BRT) tiger reserve, during...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Concern over the anti-Naxal policies not yielding desired results despite massive fund allocations and ambitious development schemes found voice at the meeting of the UPA coordination committee meeting on Monday. The discussion, held in the wake of a massacre of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh on May 25, saw leaders pondering whether the government is getting it right in terms of its policy efforts and needs to...

-The Telegraph   Faraspal, Chhattisgarh: The Salwa Judum was a failure, both to its opponents and the man who was its face. "I shall repent the Salwa Judum's failure my entire life," Mahendra Karma had told a Dantewada journalist last year, months before being assassinated by the rebels last week. The 62-year-old tribal Congress leader wasn't referring to the extortion, murder and rape charges against the anti-Maoist militia - he considered them "collateral damage"...

-The Times of India Vina Mazumdar, academic, activist and one of the pioneers of women's studies in India, passed away on May 30. Renowned anthropologist Joan Mencher pays her a tribute. Vina Mazumdar (1927-2013)-"Vinadi" to colleagues and friends-a veteran fighter for Indian women's rights and pioneer of feminist studies, passed away in Delhi on May 30, 2013. She had been ailing since March of this year. I first met her in the...

-Tehelka.com There are few figures from the adivasi community in India who have made a bigger dent in the collective imagination of the country than Dayamani Barla. The "iron lady of Jharkhand" has been instrumental in articulating adivasi struggles against displacement and deprivation on national and international platforms. Dayamani, who was recently imprisoned in Jharkhand for her involvement in the Nagri people's movement, has won the first Ellen L Lutz Indigenous...