-Hindustan Times The Union environment ministry has come out with a consultation paper on amending the Forest Conservation Act 1980 to bring significant changes to forest governance in India including facilitating private plantations for harvesting and exploration or extraction of oil and natural gas deep beneath forest land by drilling holes from outside the forest areas. Here are the highlights of the environment ministry’s proposal: Forests on private land Until December 1996, provisions of...
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India has an edible oil problem, but palm oil won't fix it -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com * Amid soaring cooking oil prices, India has a new plan to grow oil palm locally. Is the solution worse than the problem? * India plans to add about 2.5 million tonnes of home grown crude palm oil by 2030. Its ₹11,000-cr national mission on oil palm focuses on north-east and Andaman and Nicobar Islands M V. Ramoji Rao is a seasoned dentist and a busy one too. It’s not easy to...
More »Oil palm plan for northeast, Andamans a recipe for disaster, say activists -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu Environmental experts and politicians raise concern over Centre’s proposal. Given the widespread destruction of rainforests and native biodiversity caused by oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia, environmental experts and politicians are warning that the Centre’s move to promote their cultivation in India’s northeastern States and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands could be disastrous. Other concerns include the impact on community ownership of tribal lands, as well as the fact that...
More »Ambiguous definition means oil-palm plantations will count as forest cover -Jayashree Nandi
-Hindustan Times The Forest Survey of India defines forest cover thus: “All lands, more than 1 ha in area with a tree canopy density of 10% irrespective of ownership and legal status. The National Mission on Edible Oils- Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), approved by the Union Cabinet last week, will increase the area under oil palm cultivation by an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare (ha) by 2025-26, bringing a total area of...
More »Organic coffee farming is transforming the lives of tribal communities in Odisha’s Koraput district -Satyasundar Barik
-The Hindu A wide variety of spices and fruits grown in the coffee field diversifies the income of tribal farmers Not too long ago, Surya Chhautia was ready to give up on a 100-acre coffee plantation in Golur village in Odisha’s Koraput district. The plantation had been lying unattended, yielding little. But today, Chhautia, 39, from the Valmiki community, is leading a campaign to add another 100 acres to the plantation and to...
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