-Scroll.in The committee goes on to list the ‘basic elements’ that make an individual indigenous to Assam. The transfer of agricultural land should be restricted to people indigenous to the state, a committee appointed by the Assam government in February 2017 for “ensuring the protection of land rights of indigenous people” has recommended in a report submitted in January. The Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state has said that it...

-Scroll.in Several villages have erected stone slabs inscribed with details of constitutional provisions, laws that safeguard tribal rights over land and natural resources Budhua Munda greeted the visitors to his village in Jharkhand as they all settled down on a bamboo straw mat spread under the shade of a tree on the morning of May 1. The Adivasi youth, who wore a blue track pant and a white T-shirt, then pulled out...

  There is some bad news for the world’s largest democracy. Thanks to the vitiated atmosphere induced by troll attacks on scribes on social media, among other things, the country's World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) ranking has fallen two places to 138th position.   Among 180 countries, India ranked 136th last year with a score of 42.94. However, in 2018 it attained 138th position with a score of 43.24 according to the...

-Scroll.in It is important that forest policies are formulated through a gender-sensitive lens and that women are included in the conversation. A few weeks ago, when Google India marked the 45th anniversary of the Chipko movement with a doodle, it was a refreshing flashback to forest communities sacrificing their lives to protect trees from being felled for timber use. One of the first such recorded community protests was at Khejarli village in...

-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad University linguist discovers Walmiki and Malhar, spoken by small communities in Odisha. Hyderabad: A linguist from the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has stumbled on two Languages called Walmiki and Malhar both predominantly in the remote region’s of Odisha. The Languages are categorised `endangered’ as the number of people speaking is small. For instance Malhar is spoken by just 75 including children from a particular community. These people live...