Farmers shrink, labourers swell

Dictated by land

Land of discord

Unruffled flakes

Born at 44

They say home is where the heart is, but that’s not always true. Ask Arakhita Pradhan, resident of Chilipoi village in Odisha’s Ganjam district. On a cold evening some 44 years ago, the authorities forcefully shifted him and his neighbours to a place where no civic amenities existed. Reason: the state had built an irrigation dam that had submerged their village in Khurda district.

State inaction

Savvy Soumya Misra Walking in a single file, through wooded paths, they all headed towards the panchayat office in Premnagar block of Chhattisgarh's Sarguja district. They came in large numbers--men and women, old and young. They came from villages far and near. They were mostly Gond tribals. And they all had one question on their mind What was this Forest Rights Act they had been hearing so much about since January this year?

Mining firms set up shop in Orissa

The key element in this story is bauxite, the principal raw material for a much-in-demand metal—aluminium. Widely used in construction, as packaging material and for making automobile and aircraft bodies, global aluminium consumption increased from 32 million tonnes in 2005 to 35 million tonnes in 2006. It is expected to grow at similar levels in 2007, spurred largely by Chinese demand.

Meaning of 'forest' set to change in India

  HEREINAFTER The Union ministry of environment and forests (MOEF) has reached the first milestone of its ministerial excercise 'Defining Forest in Indian Context'. At a 2-day meeting held April 30-May 1, 2007, the Ashoka Trust

Red alert in Chhattisgarh

SEZ, how special?

Roughshod riding SEZs will trample on farmers' rights A farmer in Cheete Kalan village in Amritsar, Harjeet Singh Hundal, has big plans. For the past year, he has been using organic manure on his fertile and irrigated agricultural land and he can't stop talking about it.