The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, the 73rd amendment and the landmark PESA and Forest Rights Act (FRA) have progressively acknowledged the rights, and special powers of the Gram Sabha in deciding developmental projects as well as playing a role in protecting the ecology and Forests. But a clutch of clever exemptions in recent months are ensuring that centralised authorities take away the same powers through the back door, without routing...

-The Hindu By exempting some projects on Forest land from gram sabha consent, the government has undermined the rights of local communities and their crucial role in protecting the environment In early February, the Ministry of Environment and Forests partially revoked a crucial order it had issued in August 2009, which made the consent of gram sabhas mandatory for projects seeking diversion of Forest lands for non-Forest purposes. Now, the ministry has...

-The Times of India BHUBANESWAR: Villagers of Pathpani, where Maoists killed a Sikhya Sahayak three days ago, have appealed to chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Nuapada SP and collector to relocate them at some other village. Maoists had killed Dunguripali primary school teacher Chaitanya Majhi (32), accusing him of being a police informer, and thrown his body in Pathpani Forest. After the incident about 250 villagers deserted the village fearing more attacks by...

-The Times of India Sambalpur: Tribals under the banner ofzillaadivasikalyansangh demonstrated beforecollectorate in Bargarh on Moday protesting against alleged injustice meted out to them. They criticized the government for neglecting tribal community. They also handed over a memorandum addressed to the CM to district collector BhabagrahiMishra. He assured to take appropriate steps to provide justice to tribal community. Dressed in traditional costumes and carrying arms, they marched to the collectorate in a...

-The Guardian By shunning all but organic farming techniques, the Himalayan state will cement its status as a paradigm of sustainability Bhutan plans to become the first country in the world to turn its agriculture completely organic, banning the sales of pesticides and herbicides and relying on its own animals and farm waste for fertilisers. But rather than accept that this will mean farmers of the small Himalayan kingdom of 1.2 million people...