The term 'development' holds a positive connotation for most policymakers. However, there are examples abound, which indicates that development also cause enormous misery to the people, particularly the poor and the marginalized. Take for instance, the organizing of 2010 Commonwealth Games, due to which massive infrastructural development in the national capital was undertaken when Sheila Dikshit was the Chief Minister of Delhi. It has been estimated that almost 2 lakh...

-The Hindu Business Line By allowing children to work in family enterprises, amendments to the Child Labour Act have made them more vulnerable to exploitation. Tracking the issue will be more difficult, writes Preeti Mehra When the two houses of Parliament put their stamp on a few amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 a couple of months ago, they also signed away the dignity of children and the...

Access to land and its resources is important since it determines the extent of poverty and deprivation one faces. Historically tribal populations and other traditional forest dwellers did not enjoy any legal entitlement such as ownership rights or user rights of the forest lands where they had been living since ages, both communally and individually. The Forest Rights Act (FRA) is, thus, seen as a progressive legislation that attempted to...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: India’s forests are worth as much as the combined market value of BSE-listed companies with a notional value of Rs 115 trillion but the money collected from diverting parts of this land for industries won’t go to communities that live in and are dependent on the jungles. The Union environment ministry accepted most recommendations of a 2013 expert panel that hiked the rates at which industrialists pay for...

-Business Standard The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill was passed by Parliament amid intense debate over how best India can conserve its forests * Why were the Congress, the Left and tribal activists, including some RSS-affiliated bodies, against the Bill in its present shape? They wanted that the money not be spent on traditional forest lands without the consent of tribals and other forest dwellers. * Why did they want so? India has at least 400...