The definition is contested as the answer has immense economic implications. If bamboo is a tree or timber, it belongs to the forest department and can be auctioned to the paper and pulp industry, often at throwaway rates. If it is a grass, then it would be classified as a minor forest produce and people would have the right to cut bamboo for sale or for value addition by making...
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Child labour, still a common practice in large parts of rural India by Bidisha Fouzdar
In a small pastoral vand (hamlet) in Kutch, Gujarat, 10 year old Ramu wakes up at five in the morning. His mother serves him a hasty breakfast of bajra rotis after which he is packed off to the pasturelands surrounding their small hamlet to graze the family's buffaloes. Since his village does not have a working school, grazing the livestock is gainful employment from the point of view of Ramu's...
More »Bodo tribals massacre 18 Hindi speakers in Assam
Assam's fragile peace was shattered on Monday when tribal separatists killed at least 18 Hindi-speaking people, including eight bus passengers, in three separate attacks in the northeastern state of Assam, officials said. Eight people were also injured in the attacks. A police spokesperson said heavily armed militants of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) fired at a bus near Bhoimari village in Sonitpur district, about 250 km north of Assam's...
More »Bina Agarwal, director and professor of economics, Institute of Economic Growth interviewed by Pamela Philipose
Bina Agarwal , director and professor of economics, Institute of Economic Growth, has written a pioneering new book, Gender and Green Governance, that explores a central question: If women had adequate representation in forestry institutions, would it make a difference to them, their communities and forests as a national resource? Pamela Philipose spoke to Agarwal: Why has access to forests been such a conflict-ridden issue? This is not surprising. Forests constitute not...
More »POSCO project biggest FDI for India: Naveen
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the POSCO project, which has been a hanging fire for the last five years, has a potential of earning huge revenue for the Centre as well as the state and will create many employment opportunities for the country. Patnaik also said the implementaion of the Rs 51,000-crore project is also the responsibility of the central government. "It is also the responsibility of the Centre. The...
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