-Press release by Freedom from Bondage movement dated 6 September, 2022 New Delhi: As we mark #75thIndependenceDay & #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav, thousands of people who have been evicted from their homes in slums, Jhuggies, settlement colonies and informal sector workers who have been denied their livelihood without any rehabilitation have gathered at Jantar Mantar to raise their voice against the “Bulldozer Raj”.  The government is forcibly snatching the land of poor Dalits and...

-Down to Earth The families depended on forest produce but have been moved far away from forest land The eviction of residents from 222 villages on the Godavari river basin for the Polavaram dam project tells the story of India’s tribal families fighting a losing battle for their land and forest rights.  On March 27, 2021, Bariya Nagaraj’s was among 72 families forcefully shifted from their home in Agraharam village in East Godavari...

-TheWire.in After being forcefully evicted from their homes in June and without any rehabilitation, the residents have been living on the streets under tarpaulin huts. In September, the office of the Municipal Corporation of Dharamshala (MCD) saw a sudden flurry of anxious activity. People at the MCD doorstep, now lining up to apply for affordable housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY), were residents of the city a few months ago....

-Tehelka     Survival International is an NGO that works for the welfare of indigenous tribal populations all over the world. Recently, it launched the Proud, Not Primitive campaign in India. Survival’s press officer Alice Bayer was in India to spread the word. Speaking to G Vishnu, she spells out what is wrong with the development versus tribal rights debate.  Edited Excerpts from an Interview * Tell us about the Proud, Not Primitive campaign? Government...

-Economic and Political Weekly The government has notified a Draft Land Reforms Policy which, on paper, has all the requisites of an earnest programme. Yet, the near total failure of earlier efforts at land reforms in India leave little room for hope that something substantial will at last be done to combat landlessness. Harsh Mander (manderharsh@gmail.com) is with the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi, and works with survivors of mass violence,...