-The Hindu Both human rights and wildlife rights groups have not used the Forest Rights Act as a conservation tool On February 13, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of more than 10 lakh Adivasis and other Forest dwellers from Forestland across 17 States. The petitioners, mainly wildlife NGOs, had demanded that State governments evict those Forest dwellers whose claims over traditional Forestland under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers...

-Business Standard Say petition against Forest Rights Act does not help wildlife conservation and should be withdrawn More than 30 of India’s top ecologists, scientists and wildlife conservationists and have demanded that the petitioners withdraw their case against the Forest Rights Act and the government ensure the February 13 order of the Supreme Court for eviction of about 1.89 million tribal and Forest-dwelling families be withdrawn. They have called the Supreme Court order...

-The Times of India Following the Supreme Court order to clear Forest land in possession of people whose title claims were rejected under the Forest (Rights) Act, 2006, the Maharashtra government has asked Forest officials to free such land from the possession of illegal occupants. On February 22, the state government issued orders seeking to know how many claims under community Forest rights (CFRs) and individual Forest rights (IFRs) under FRA were...

-The Hindu Amit Shah, Rahul write to States; RSS outfit demands ordinance The presidents of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah, have directed the Chief Ministers of the States ruled by their parties to file a review petition in the Supreme Court over its ruling ordering the eviction of tribals unable to provide sufficient proof of claim to Forest land. Mr. Gandhi on Monday said...

-The Indian Express The pollution problem is not merely a technological issue, but a social concern. Air pollution is a silent killer in India, especially in the country’s northern belt. Eighteen per cent of the world’s population lives in India, but the country bears 26 per cent of the global disease burden due to air pollution. According to estimates of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative — published last year in...