Liquor baron Vijay Mallya will take up the cause of tribals living in Biligiri Ranga Hills in Karnataka who fear being displaced as there are plans to declare the forest as a tiger reserve. Mallya who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka said that it is the tribals who are guarding the tigers from poaching and other dangers. "If they are displaced, there will be no protection for them (tigers)," he...

Each to be given a block grant of Rs. 25 crore With the aim of giving a fillip to development schemes in tribal and backward regions, mostly affected by Naxal violence, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Friday approved the commencement of an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) in 60 selected districts. The IAP would be an additional central assistance scheme on a 100 per cent grant basis. It is aimed...

The government must stop dilly-dallying over the project and apply the law regardless of the fact that it is India's single largest foreign investment proposal. TWO giant metallurgical projects, both in Orissa. Both promoted by big multinational corporations with tremendous influence. Both opposed by environmental and tribal rights activists because they would displace vulnerable people and destroy fragile ecosystems. Both backed strongly by State-level and national lobbies that claim they...

The Rs 51,000-crore Posco steel project in Orissa, that has been delayed for five years, faces the prospect of getting delayed further. The ministry of tribal affairs is now looking at the possibility of whether the South Korean steel project, which also represents the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in India so far, has actually encroached into the land owned by tribals. The Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) has...

Both Posco and the Orissa government said there were no tribals on the land for Posco’s 12 mn tonne steel plant. The presence of 21 tribals in the voters list has hit their credibility and probably the plant as well A 4-member environment ministry committee has recommended that the environmental clearances given to Posco be revoked for the violation of existing laws, for serious lapses and suppression of facts. As always,...