-The Hindu Kerala and Karnataka have shown how democratic decentralisation has worked in their favour Mahatma Gandhi envisioned that a free India would rest on a foundation of gram panchayats, village republics that governed locally and epitomised Swaraj in practice. B.R. Ambedkar was sceptical; he described the caste-ridden, unequal village society as a cesspool. Yet, he was not unequivocally against decentralisation. Locally relevant initiatives The 73rd Constitutional Amendment mandates the constitution of panchayats at...
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Environment ministry is attempting to dilute environmental regulations during the lockdown, alleges NAPM
-Press release by National Alliance of People’s Movements, dated 30th April, 2020 Even as the country is reeling under the impacts of the lockdown and coping with a pandemic, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has made a time-bound call for comments on the draft Environmental Impact Assessment Notification (EIA) 2020, published on its website on 12th March, 2020. The National Alliance of People’s Movements condemns this ill-timed...
More »Why India Needs Scheduled Tribes to Educate its Future Judges -Nandini Sundar
-TheWire.in The rights of adivasis in the Indian constitution are not an act of benevolence to “mainstream and uplift them” but a recognition that the “mainstream” of Indian society has many streams that flow into it, each of them equally valid. The recent five-judge bench Supreme Court judgment in Chebrolu Leela Prasad Rao and Ors v State of AP and Ors, shows us once again how little the 5th Schedule of the...
More »FM’s announcement of Rs 1.7 lakh crore in the wake of COVID-19, is less than half of the Rs. 3.75 lakh crores required to fulfill the minimal “emergency measures”, convey concerned citizens & grassroots activists
-Press releases by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 26th March, 2020 Civil society activists and concerned citizens have responded to the emergency measures that were announced by the Finance Minister on 26th March, 2020 for the poor, the vulnerable and the migrant & informal workers. An open letter by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha -- an umbrella organisation of CSOs and social activists working for the unorganised sector and MGNREGA workers -- has been issued...
More »Kumar Sambhav, independent researcher and co-founder of Land Conflict Watch, interviewed by Aditi Phadnis (Business Standard)
-Business Standard State govts are failing to realise that farmers, landowners are much more aware of the actual market value of their land and about the legal provisions related to consent and rehabilitation etc Independent researcher Kumar Sambhav, who has co-founded Land Conflict Watch - the first and largest database of ongoing land conflicts in India - tells Aditi Phadnis that while India has enacted laws to protect the rights of marginalised...
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