-The Hindu The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill 2015 contains no provisions for consent from tribals for mining operations, but strengthens the rights of private sector mining companies Even as countrywide protests against the land ordinance gain momentum, Adivasi communities living in mineral-rich areas are apprehensive of what awaits them as the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2015 (MMDRA) has received presidential assent and the government has drafted Rules...
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Govt’s stand on marital rape stirs debate among lawyers -Swati Deshpande
-The Times of India MUMBAI: The Centre's stand against making marital rape a criminal offence saw legal bigwigs take a divided stand. Some like the former Union law minister, the foremost legal mind on criminal law Ram Jethmalani and former Supreme Court judge K T Thomas supported the Centre's view that the law must not be changed, while legal luminary Soli Sorabjee said it was time to make rape within marriage a...
More »Watch What Happens When Tribal Women Manage India’s Forests -Manipadma Jena
-IPS News NAYAGARH (IPS): Kama Pradhan, a 35-year-old tribal woman, her eyes intent on the glowing screen of a hand-held GPS device, moves quickly between the trees. Ahead of her, a group of men hastens to clear away the brambles from stone pillars that stand at scattered intervals throughout this dense forest in the Nayagarh district of India’s eastern Odisha state. The heavy stone markers, laid down by the British 150 years...
More »Govt. rejects US panel’s report on religious freedom -Suhasini Haidar
-The Hindu With its references to Modi, the report is likely to cause more India-U.S. friction. India reacted coldly to the report of the U.S. commission on religious freedom that criticises the government, and said that it was based on a “limited understanding of India, its constitution and its society.” “We take no cognizance of this report,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. The Congressional body, the U.S. Commission for...
More »Sick policies, starving farmers -Amit Bhardwaj
-Tehelka Agrarian policies are proving to be an albatross around the neck of ordinary farmers Amon Singh Kevat, 70, a small farmer in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, spent three long days in April waiting for his harvest to be picked up from an open plot that served as a mandi (procurement centre for agricultural produce). In need of money for a marriage in the family, Kevat didn’t even go home for meals. But...
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