-Down to Earth Life of a Dongria Kondh tribal offers insights on Indian government’s reckless interventions into the lives of indigenous people When 30-year-old Lakshman Huika returned to his village Manda of Munikhol Panchayat in Muniguda block of Rayagada district in Odisha, he had already seen the life in big cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai. Manda lies deep inside Niyamgiri hills and is accessible only by foot—at least three hours walk from the...

-The Hindu Amnesty seeks probe into Odisha police conduct Amnesty India has urged the Odisha government to stop police atrocities on indigenous Dongria Kondh community by branding them as CPI(Maoist) cadres. “Allegations of police intimidation and ill-treatment of the Dongria Kondh community in the Niyamgiri hills are deeply disturbing. It is unacceptable that the police ill-treat and abuse people. The authorities should carry out a prompt and impartial investigation into the police conduct,”...

-The Hindu Ministry report names groups opposed to mining and sale of tribal land The Home Ministry has said in its annual report that at least two civil rights groups working for tribal people in Odisha and Jharkhand were allegedly acting as a front organisation for the Maoists and were using “displacement of local communities” as their main plank. The Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (NSS) in Odisha and the Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan...

-The Hindu People’s objections, from Chhattisgarh to Odisha, against large development projects have brought out the real power of the Forest Rights Act of 2006. Democracy is alive and kicking in India. No, I am not referring to the Assembly elections. It is unfortunate that the term democracy has been reduced to the drama of periodic elections and the subsequent reliance of the electorate on politicians and bureaucrats. When these powerful few...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today said it was not possible on its part to order mining activities in the state's bauxite-rich Niyamgiri hills unless the gram sabhas and others likely to be affected by it were also heard in the matter. The apex court asked the Odisha Mining Corporation, which had sought fresh gram sabhas to consider the contentious Niyamgiri mining issue, to make the 14 gram sabhas, which...