In a sudden U-turn, the mines ministry has decided against asking miners from mandatorily sharing 26 per cent of net profits with the affected local population. Instead, it has proposed that miners set aside 26 per cent of the royalty they pay to states for sharing with locals. This dramatically changes what locals will get if the proposal becomes law. For example, for a tonne of iron ore which costs about...

It was the writer and activist Arundhati Roy who set foreign journalists in India busily chattering recently. In an interview with Stephen Moss in the Guardian, Ms Roy was discussing the Maoist and Adavasi “resistance” to encroachment on tribal lands. Mr Moss, asked her why, “we in the West don’t hear about these mini-wars?”. Ms Roy replied: “I have been told quite openly by several correspondents of international newspapers, that...

-The Hindu   On Tuesday, India signed a deal for a $1-billion loan from the World Bank to clean up the Ganga. Just a day earlier, in a tragic coincidence, a 34-year old swami died after a four month-long hunger strike, protesting the mining mafia illegally quarrying in the river. Besieged with questions about Swami Nigamanand's death at the official function to sign the World Bank deal, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh blamed...

Its elimination is an international obligation, but there is a long way to go to meet the goal While governments and civil society commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, over 20 crore children are still engaged as child labourers. More than half of them face the worst forms of child labour. Though India has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of child labourers, this...

"The Earth upon which the sea, and the rivers and waters, upon which food and the tribes of man have arisen, upon which this breathing, moving life exists, shall afford us precedence in drinking." - Prithvi Sukta, Atharva Veda Land is life. It is the basis of livelihoods for peasants and indigenous people across the Third World and is also becoming the most vital asset in the global economy. As the...