-Down to Earth The committee has to meet regularly to come up with suggestions on the way forward regarding the implementation problems of FRA The Union government September 10, 2020, created an inter-ministerial committee comprising officials from the environment and tribal affairs ministries , to look into the issues plaguing the Schedule Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 or FRA. The officials of both ministries blamed the poor...

-Down to Earth Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs should create a COVID-19 response cell to monitor issues and provide support, it said The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has hit the forest dwellers in India hard: The pandemic has led to a loss of livelihood and employment, caused food insecurity and socio-economic distress for the marginalised forest-dwelling communities, according to a new report. Atrocities and injustices faced by these communities due to forest,...

-Down to Earth Their ancestors were brought in as workers nearly a century ago by the former princely state Descendants of Munda and Santhal tribals, brought to Dhenkanal district in Odisha from Jharkhand nearly a century ago by the then princely state to work in its forests, have finally been given land rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The Odisha government issued a notification on July 10, 2020, for the conversion of...

-The Hindu The new vice-chancellor of Sido Kanhu Murmu University in Jharkhand on climbing the academic ladder as a tribal woman and what her appointment means for social justice It’s rare that the appointment of a university vice-chancellor stirs up much discussion, outside of high-profile, highly politicised environments such as Jawaharlal Nehru University. But it is rarer still to see a woman from a tribal background appointed to such a post. So...

-TheWire.in The rights of adivasis in the Indian constitution are not an act of benevolence to “mainstream and uplift them” but a recognition that the “mainstream” of Indian society has many streams that flow into it, each of them equally valid. The recent five-judge bench Supreme Court judgment in Chebrolu Leela Prasad Rao and Ors v State of AP and Ors, shows us once again how little the 5th Schedule of the...