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...

When India’s Forest Rights Act was passed in 2006, it was criticized by environmentalists who were concerned that it would undo the country’s wildlife reserves. On the flip side, tribal rights advocates were concerned that the people the law was really meant to help wouldn’t benefit. Since it came into effect in January 2008, India has blocked at least one megaproject – Vedanta’s bauxite mine in Orissa – on the grounds...

A young woman carries a torn blouse and an undergarment and a lock of her hair in a clear plastic bag that rarely leaves her side. Kunjami Mangli (name changed) of the Bade Bidme panchayat in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district preserves these items as evidence of the events of the night of October 12. “Four uniformed policemen burst into my house at 2 a.m.,” said Mangli, speaking through a translator. “They ripped...

The struggle had asserted the right of the people to their land, water and forests “In the Narmada valley/The fight is still on” – thus sang the people of Bhadal in Madhya Pradesh, where Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar was heading a prayer meeting as part of the activities marking the completion of 25 years of the people's movement. Rallies, meetings, folk songs and dances formed part of the struggle...

‘Institutional delivery wrong measure of maternal health' Approximately 1.83 million children under five die every year As world leaders gather in New York to debate how countries have fared on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), nearly 15,000 children under five will die in India — mostly from treatable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and complications at birth. Save the Children, a non-profit organisation working for children, has urged India to show leadership...