-The Telegraph New Delhi: Hundreds of transgender people gathered here on Sunday to criticise the NDA government's proposed definition of their gender as too similar to the Hindu concept of Ardhanarishwara in its over-reliance on physical attributes. They demanded that self-declaration and not medical screening be the accepted mode of gender identification. The transgender community sees itself as people whose gender identity (self-identification as man or woman or neither or both) runs counter...

-TheWire.in New research shows the resilience and strength of tribal food systems. Recent findings from a research conducted with the close involvement of tribal communities disprove the view that the tribal food system is inherently backward. Several of these forest-based foods have been found to be rich in nutrition. The importance of forest-based food increases during adverse weather such as frequent drought conditions. Hence, its role in fighting hunger and malnutrition is...

-Down to Earth Activists say that in 3 villages of Kalahand district, the Odisha forest department is imposing on the rights of forest dwellers to dispose bamboo, guaranteed under FRA More than two weeks after the cabinet cleared an amendment in the India Forest Act, 1927 (IFA) to deregulate trade of bamboo grown on non-forest land, forest dwellers from Odisha are complaining that the state forest department is not letting them...

-TheWire.in Rights groups tell parliamentary panel that even though late environment minister Anil Dave had assured that concerns would be addressed, rules have still not been framed. New Delhi: Civil society organisations working on environmental conservation have petitioned the parliamentary commission, asking for the repeal or amending of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act 2016 (CAF Act) to ensure its compliance with the Forest Rights Act (FRA) . Coming together under the banner of...

-TheWire.in Years of stigmatisation and harassment have pushed members of the Pardhi and other Adivasi communities in Bhopal to come together and protest police impunity. Fed up with police harassment, Indramal Bai committed suicide in the Gandhi Nagar basti of Bhopal on November 20, 2017. Nothing has changed over the last decade since Tanti Bai, a 14 year old, committed suicide for the very same reason on January 19, 2007. Both were...