-The Hindu     Governors can repeal or amend any law when peace is disturbed: Kishore Chandra Deo VISAKHAPATNAM: Unrelenting in his battle against destruction of tribal habitations for exploitation of forestland and resources, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs V. Kishore Chandra Deo has written letters to Governors of various States asking them to cancel mining leases in the Agency areas. Noting with alarm the growth of extremism in Schedule V areas, the Union Minister...

-The Economic Times Tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deohas reportedly written to the governors of nine states asking them to cancel mining concessions granted in violation of the law. The Forest Rights Act of 2006 mandates the permission of the gram sabha of a tribal community for using their habitat for purposes other than customary use. So, if mining leases have been granted without the permission of gram sabhas on tribal land,...

-The Economic Times Tribal affairs minister VKishore Chandra Deo is best known for engaging Cabinet colleagues through carefully-crafted letters to get his point across. From preventing the dilution ofForest Rights Act to a directive to governors to stop mining in tribal areas, the 66-year-old activist-minister believes in winning over Cabinet colleagues politely. And he has proved one doesn't have to be outspoken, like some of his colleagues, to get work done....

-The Hindu     The shortened lifespan of the quarry workers of Uttar Pradesh is spent breaking stones and residing among the pollution- laden boulders Mired with sandy roads and rocky terrain, the landscape in south-western Allahabad creates a remarkable mirage under the blue sky. Some of the larger rocks here have sizeable craters formed in them -- a sign of their depletion over time, by an activity that is hazardous yet critical to the...

-The Hindu Forest Rights campaigners have slammed the satellite image-based study on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Maharashtra as "deeply faulty and obviously biased," arguing that it manipulates data and facts to make a case against the Act. Countering the report which a private company prepared at the behest of the State Forest Department, a critique by Madhu Sarin and others of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity...