It was the writer and activist Arundhati Roy who set foreign journalists in India busily chattering recently. In an interview with Stephen Moss in the Guardian, Ms Roy was discussing the Maoist and Adavasi “resistance” to encroachment on tribal lands. Mr Moss, asked her why, “we in the West don’t hear about these mini-wars?”. Ms Roy replied: “I have been told quite openly by several correspondents of international newspapers, that...

Sustained struggle has enabled tribal and Dalit communities in certain pockets to regain their land rights. COUNTLESS studies conducted over the last three decades by government bodies and land rights organisations underscore that tribal communities have been the worst sufferers of land acquisition in the name of development or industry. Estimates say that 40 per cent of the land acquired for developmental projects and activities since Independence has been from...

-The Indian Express   Says the authority did not have specific plan for development in Greater Noida A day after annulling acquisition of nearly 157 hectares of land in Greater Noida, Allahabad High Court on Friday annulled acquisition of 72 hectares of land by the Greater Noida Authority in Surajpur village. Along with the recent cancellation of acquisition of more than 200 hectares of land as directed by the Supreme Court, this becomes...

The health of RTI activist Ketan Shah, whose has been on an indefinite fast inside the Valsad Nagarpalika premises for eight days now, worsened on Friday, with doctors starting his treatment on the spot. Shah went on hunger strike after his shop was demolished by the Nagarpalika officials following his allegations against Valsad Nagarpalika president Raju Patel, accusing him of Illegal Encroachment on government land. Shah had made representations to...

A Supreme Court-appointed committee finds large-scale illegal mining in Karnataka with the connivance of officials. THE issue of illegal mining in Karnataka and the large-scale corruption in political and public life resulting from it refuses to stay away from the headlines. The sordid tale of mining-linked corruption (Cover Story; Frontline, July 16, 2010) has had a few recurring characters – a beleaguered but defiant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister B.S....