-India Today The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court that 2.23 per cent of four lakh hectares of grazing land in the state are under encroachment. In Short: * About 2.23 per cent of the total grazing land in Maharashtra is under encroachment * 24,513 encroachments have been removed from July 12, 2011 to September 15, 2022 * Bombay HC court asked the state govt what steps will it take to remove the encroachments The...

--Press release by Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) dated September 21, 2022 Over One lakh People Already Evicted in 2022. Nearly 1 Million People Faced Evictions in India in the Last Five Years. In 2021, over 36,480 houses were demolished and 2,07,106 people were forcibly evicted across India by governments – at all levels, reveals a new report by Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN). The report also finds that in...

-The Telegraph Communities of Chhattisgarh caught in cross-fire between Salwa Judum and the Maoists The ghost of the Salwa Judum, a State-sponsored militia that operated in Chhattisgarh, continues to haunt the displaced Gotte Koya tribals. Before the apex court declared the militia unconstitutional, the Salwa Judum was illegally engaged in fighting the Maoists. Caught between the Salwa Judum and the Maoists, many communities were at the receiving end of the violence with...

-Down to Earth Ministry believes that the Chhattisgarh government cannot transfer these lands for any purpose without the prior permission of the Government of India A news report published in the Indian Express daily August 25, 2022 spurred a debate on the definition of ‘Forest Land’, its contentious history and many of the associated facts related to such lands. Ignored completely by the colonial administration and largely unresolved even after independence, many of...

-The Hindu Odisha misses degraded patches, thus plantation target missed, says CAG The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found concentration of plantation activities in easily accessible areas like land along the pathways, leaving the degraded patches in the middle of dense forest unplanted in Odisha — one of reasons cited for missing plantation target in the State. The CAG came down heavily on the State government indicating that plantation undertaken by...