-The Hindu There is no case for water privatisation. In pushing for it, we are ignoring the key issue, which is better governance, writes Himanshu Thakkar Privatisation of water is unwarranted, unjustified and unnecessary. In pushing for it, we are not really addressing the key issue plaguing the water sector, which is a need for better governance. We need a democratic, transparent, accountable and participatory governance in a bottom-up approach, on each...

-VillageSquare.in Recent amendments to laws that govern the use of land owned by tribals in Jharkhand has led to a rash of protests because local communities feel that they might lose their land and livelihoods to industrial development Last year in May, when the Jharkhand government announced to remove handcuffs from all the statues and pictures of Birsa Munda, the indigenous people of the state lauded the newly appointed first non-tribal chief...

-Scroll.in The forest rights Act recognises the rights of forest dwelling communities and entrusts them with the responsibility for conservation. The residents of Gunehar village in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district are attempting to use the forest rights Act to challenge the state Forest Department’s decision to hand over two hectares of local forest land to the Wildlife Department to construct an office complex. At the end of December, the Gunehar panchayat...

-The Hindu Erode: While non-government and welfare organisations are understandably keen to enable tribal communities on the hills to derive utility of abundance of bamboo on the hilly parts, there are indications of ambiguity over the status of implementation of forest rights Act 2006 under which bamboo is considered a minor forest produce. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had, during 2011, asked states to treat bamboo as a minor forest...

-IANS   Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has so far granted 4.09 lakh individual titles and community titles under the forest rights Act (FRA), 2006, a state minister said on Friday. “While 4,03,760 individual titles have been distributed, 5,891 community titles have been settled under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of forest rights) Act, 2006,” Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Minister Lal Bihari Himirika told the assembly. The state government...