The National Advisory Council headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi is unhappy with the poor implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, which was once billed as a landmark initiative of the UPA I for economic empowerment of the tribal people. The NAC now wants the government to change the law to make it more effective and has recommended several amendments, including one to...
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Mumbai set to go the Manhattan way? by Meena Menon
New CRZ notification sparks off fears, upsets fisherfolk The new Coastal Zone Regulation (CRZ) 2011 which has opened up construction along the sea has sparked off fears of Mumbai being ringed with high rises and mutating into a ‘desi' Manhattan. It has triggered furious debates on development and upset the fisherfolk who are planning to hit the streets across the country to agitate for better coastal protection. Since 1991 when the first...
More »MoEF notification upsets fishermen
The National Fishermen's Federation (NFF) has expressed displeasure over the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (CRZ), 2011, in its present form, and accused Union Minister of Environment and Forests (MoEF) Jairam Ramesh of having taken the organisation for a ride by not incorporating some of the provisions that had been agreed upon in the talks between the Ministry and NFF representatives ahead of the notification. Matanhy Saldanha, chairman of the NFF, on...
More »Another spanner in Posco's Orissa project: Coast along port site eroding
There is more trouble in store for South Korean steel maker Posco’s Orissa project. Shoreline surveys have found the state’s coastline to be highly erosive. Worse still, 50%, that is 4.8 km of the 9.3 km coastline along the proposed captive port site at Jatadhari is eroding. This is likely to put a spanner in the works for the South Korean company, which has been insistent on a separate captive...
More »Govt now plans Fishermen Rights Act for coastal areas
If forests belong to the forest-dwellers, then the coastal areas should belong to the fishing community. Acting on this line, the government is proposing to bring in a new law — modelled on the Forests Rights Act — to establish rights of fishermen on the coastal areas and resources found therein. The Forests Rights Act, passed by Parliament in 2006 and brought into force in 2008, recognises the rights of tribals...
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