-The Hindu   How a country like India can deny payment of minimum wages, she asks For the second time since it was created, rights activist Aruna Roy has resigned from the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), this time criticising the government for not accepting the council's recommendations on minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), even as she thanked the council's chairperson for the...

-The Telegraph Illegal hunting in Arunachal Pradesh primarily for meat on the table or for money from the market may be threatening several protected or rare wildlife species, a survey in the state's Ziro Valley has indicated. Researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India, (WII) Dehradun, have documented hunting of leopards, marbled cats, black bears, orange-bellied squirrels, among other species, mainly for meat, skin, and commercial sales in six villages of Ziro...

-Tehelka Close to 30 percent of forests have been converted to Chir Pine monocultures displacing grazing rights of several communities like the Gaddis and Gujjars. There is no quantitative assessement of the impact of loss on people's lives The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act, or Recognition of Forest Rights Act - commonly known as the Forest Rights Act (FRA) was passed by Parliament in 2006 to address historical injustices...

-The Hindu Kozhikode: Given a choice between pursuing his dream of becoming an officer in the Indian Police Service and the Chola Naikkar's traditional hunter-gatherer way of life, 18-year-old Vinod C. says he would have chosen to follow the footsteps of his forefathers. But he cannot. Over the years, the hunters have become the hunted. "Trees are cut, wild animals attack our tribes and there is scarcity of food. We feel cornered. So...

-The Hindu To bridge the gap in development between the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and non-SCs and STs, a coalition of more than 150 organisations is demanding a national law to prevent, once and for all, the diversion, non-release, non-implementation and lapsing of the Special Component Plans for SCs/STs. In response to the coalition's longstanding demands, the National Advisory Council's guidance and the letter Sonia Gandhi wrote to the Prime Minister...