-Business Standard Intervention by Gadkari and Javadekar helped Maharashtra govt take control of forests back from tribals Setting a precedent for the entire country, the Union tribal affairs ministry has revised its views to re-interpret the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and allow the Maharashtra forest department to get control back over forest management and a grip on the lucrative trade worth crores in forest produce such as tendu leaves and bamboo. The...

-The Indian Express The time has come for the NHRC and State Human Rights Commissions to proactively recognise, promote and protect HRDs and create an enabling environment for defending human rights. On 28 May 2011, in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, two activists, Ramesh Agrawal and Harihar Patel, were arrested by the state police. Another activist, Rajesh Tripathi, went underground fearing imminent arrest. The trio, along with others, through their organisations—Jan Chetna...

-The Hans India Warangal: Hunger and starvation coupled with denial of rights provide a fertile ground for the growth of Left Wing Extremism (LWE). The flustered forest-dwellers of the four districts – Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam — who had been struggling against the might of the State, represented by a despotic forest department, appears to be losing their direction for the means of livelihood as the Forest Rights Act remained a ‘paper...

-The Indian Express A little more than a week ago, World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which he called an “extraordinary effort” at financial inclusion. According to the Union finance ministry, India has attained 99 per cent financial inclusion, measured as households’ access to bank accounts. Within three months of launching the PMJDY, the government entered the Guinness...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Amendments proposed by the previous Congress-led union government to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 had the potential of improving upon this progressive legislation. Unfortunately, with its successor pursuing different priorities, the possibility of the amendments being passed remains rather low. Kamal Nayan Choubey (kamalnayanchoubey@gmail.com) is with the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. A bill for an amendment to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas)...