Over the last one year, villagers of Ghati in Gadchiroli have kept timber out of the forest department’s reach, saying it belongs to them under the provisions of the FRA, short for Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest-Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. The FRA recognises their rights only on non-timber minor forest produce but the villagers have interpreted it to include all trees. They say minor forest produces like mahua,...

With Chhattisgarh and the Centre almost decided on filing review petitions against the Supreme Court judgment on the Salwa Judum, it has been left to the petitioners in the case to underscore the historic and constitutional significance of the verdict and to point out to the two governments that any review petition would necessarily strike at the core human values enshrined in the Constitution. In a blow to both the Central...

-PTI   Pro-farmer, tech-savvy reforms will made for the development of water resources in the 12th Five-Year plan, which begins next year, a member of the Planning Commission said here yesterday. The focus would be on technology to manage water resources, promote the use of recycled water among industries and pay per use, said Planning Commission Member Mihir Shah, who holds the charge of water in the commission. Technology would help both large...

-The Telegraph   The Centre may just have achieved its objective in calling today’s all-party meeting on the Lokpal bill: a consensus among political parties over Parliament’s primacy in lawmaking. All the parties Stressed that the government must follow parliamentary procedures, with some criticising it for engaging with Anna Hazare’s group. But though everyone agreed on the need for a strong Lokpal, the parties differed on its provisions, especially on whether the Prime...

-PTI   A two-day meeting between the Planning Commission and the Northeastern states for preparing of the 'Approach' paper to the 12th Plan (2012-17) began today in Guwahati. The Planning Commission team for the meeting will be headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The meeting is fifth and concluding regional consultation with Northeastern states to take their views in order to prepare the Approach paper that seeks to...