City-based NGO Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group, in association with other forums and NGOs have helped the tribal populations in the Biligiri Rangaswamy temple sanctuary, also a tiger reserve, in Karnataka, to come up with an alternative community-based plan for conservation, livelihood and management of forest. So far, out of around 62 settlements, 25 in this protected area have got the community forest rights. According to experts, similar processes should also be...

Nandkumar Naitam is relieved after a month of “torturous” anxiety. “I thought it over again and again,” the 20-year-old tribal youth says. “I thought that if I couldn’t get a rifle, I’d pick up my traditional weapon, the bow-and-arrow.” It was a desperation that Nandu, as he is fondly called, shared with his 5,000-odd fellow special police officers (SPOs), who till a month ago formed the Chhattisgarh government’s frontline against the Maoists...

Traditional healing techniques, using indigenous medicinal plants, practiced efficiently for hundreds of years by some of India’s most elusive tribes residing in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is all set to become public. ICMR’s Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) is preparing a unique Community Biodiversity Register (CBDR) for the tribals of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that will document their traditional healing practices, use of medicinal plants, healing record, mode of...

The Indian media have grown rapidly in scale, reach, influence, and revenues. But all stakeholders must realise that the ethical underpinning of professional journalism in the country has weakened and that the corrosion of public life in our country has impacted journalism. So what needs to be done? We have been witness in recent years to rapid, and unprecedented, changes in our society, economy, and polity. These have also transformed the...

The state is not serious about the need for a robust programme of elementary teacher education to realise the right to education. IN India today it is difficult to decide how the agenda for teacher education and its reform can be taken forward. The Right to Education will succeed only if teachers are able to work to ensure that all children do become educated by attending school; effectively, this means...