-Press Release by All India Forum of Forest Movements (AIFFM), dated February 22, 2019 On 13 February, the Supreme Court of India, hearing a decade-old petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, ordered that forest dwellers whose claims for recognition of forest rights have been rejected would have to be evicted in a summary and time-bound manner. The order contains separate instructions for each state government to...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court order on the eviction of forest dwellers raises very disturbing questions The order of the Supreme Court issued on February 13 with respect to the claims of forest-dwelling peoples in India — the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers — is a case of the Supreme Court speaking against itself. In effect, the court has ordered the eviction of lakhs of people whose claims as forest...

-ThePrint.in Model APMC laws suffer from the same economic problem as the old ones. We should repeal APMC laws and not replace them. Although India’s Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee legislation was enacted with the noble intention of increasing farmers’ income, it has had the opposite effect over the years. It has restrained farm income. The failure arises from the basic structure of the legislation, which creates the incentives for middlemen to collude...

-The Indian Express Policy is not based on assessments of deprivation — it merely addresses specific groups The Gujjars of Rajasthan are back on the streets. This could be seen as an attempt to corner the newly-formed Congress government in the state. Both Congress and BJP have had the taste of Gujjar wrath earlier. It could also be seen as an extension of intra-party factionalism playing out in the open for...

-The Hindu Invites political parties for discussion; Congress, RJD and NCP agree to participate so far As political parties prepare their election manifestos and promises, a group of civil society leaders and concerned citizens on Tuesday released a document, Reclaiming the Republic, which they hope will shape the political agenda in the run up to the Lok Sabha poll. The comprehensive list includes judicial and electoral reforms, repeal of laws which threaten personal...