Model community forestry initiatives in Orissa are defying Forest Department efforts to control and exploit the region’s forests. ‘Heaven is a forest of miles and miles of Mohua trees / And hell is a forest of miles and miles of Mohua trees with a forest guard in it!’ Thus goes a song of the Muria Adivasis in the forests of Bastar in central India. Encapsulated in this simple expression, however, is...
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NAC to hardsell ‘success’-Radhika Ramaseshan
-The Telegraph The National Advisory Council is expected to soon release a 35-page document detailing the subjects it took up with the UPA II government and the “success” it achieved with these. The document will also outline the council’s future agenda. Sources in the council, headed by Sonia Gandhi, said the report was ready and merely needed to be ratified by all the members. The endorsement might come as early as tomorrow...
More »Ramesh for Saranda mining curbs-Amit Gupta
-The Telegraph Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh will try to persuade the Centre not to allow any more private mining companies to operate in the mineral-rich Saranda forests, a former Maoist stronghold that is now the focus of a massive rejuvenation plan. If the minister, who toured the West Singhbhum forests yesterday, has his way, at least 20 companies, including steel behemoths like ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power Limited...
More »Odisha asked to allow tribals to gather bamboo in forests
-PTI Raising the issue of "harassment" of tribals by forest department officials, Tribal Affairs Ministry has asked the Odisha government to ensure that these villagers get unfettered access to bamboo plantation areas for earning their livelihood. In a letter addressed to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo has raised the issue of forest department officials denying transit rights to tribals in Kalahandi district and not allowing...
More »Chinks in opposition might hasten Posco land acquisition-Dillip Satapathy
-The Business Standard When the anti-Posco brigade celebrated the seventh anniversary of their agitation against the mega steel venture of the South Korean behemoth at Dhinkia near Paradip in Odisha last week, the noise they made against the project was drowned by the murmurs of a split in their ranks. After fighting against the project for the last seven years, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) seems to be disintegrating, with many of...
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