-Newsclick.in CM Mamata Banerjee has started handing over compensation packages, but SKM and other outfits have accused it of bypassing holding of gram sabhas. Kolkata: The Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harisingha (DPDH) coal block under Mohammed Bazar Development Block in Birbhum district is fast becoming a “symbol of the West Bengal government’s high-handedness”. So much so that local residents, a large number of whom are Adivasis/santhals, are being cautious in airing their concerns about the proposed...

-The Hindu Rights, environmental activists have raised questions on the proposed plan that is likely to displace 5,000 families Prasenjit Bose, an economist and activist based in Kolkata, and eight others were arrested earlier this week from the Deocha Pachami coal project area in the Md. Bazar block in West Bengal’s Birbhum district. The nine persons— four from Kolkata and five locals from Md. Bazar — have been booked for unlawful assembly...

-The Hindu Govt. cheating tribal communities, says Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch A tribal rights advocacy group has rued that budgetary cuts on food subsidy and MNREGA will hurt tribal communities the worst. "Tribal communities have the highest numbers of those malnourished, particularly children and women. Cuts in food subsidies will be disastrous and lead to direct intensification of hunger," said Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) in a press statement. They also say that tribal...

-TheWire.in Puja Changoiwala’s new novel begins with the announcement of the COVID-19 lockdown. It then makes real a 900-km journey by a migrant family from Mumbai to Balhaar, Rajasthan. The idea of home is a fundamental human concept. We’re not taught about it at school, nor is there a pedagogy of ‘being at home,’ nevertheless, all of us have a sense of belonging that we associate with the word. Even those hunter-gatherers and...

-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) Given that one of the biggest casualties of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have been the loss of jobs and livelihood, this paper examines what the impact has been on the socially disadvantaged groups such as Dalits and Adivasis. It then analyses the Union Government's policy response and attempts to understand whether these measures were adequate to ameliorate the livelihood crisis. Please click here...