‘Forest department is the encroacher’

When V Kishore Chandra Deo became the Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs three months ago, both the ministries were in inertia.…

Wealth of forests withheld

Forest departments across the country owe millions of rupees to communities. For 20 years communities toiled under the Joint Forest Management …

Rights without benefits

Over 1.3 million tribals and forest dwellers have got rights over the land they had been using for years under the Forest Rights Act. This can, …

Bamboo rising

Five years after it was implemented, the Forest Rights Act finally takes root. Communities across the country rush to claim rights over forests …

Polavaram fraud

The Polavaram dam on the Godavari could displace 400,000 people and submerge nearly 4,000 hectares of forestland. Most of the people threatened …

'Building and retaining capacity is the toughest challenge'

Balakrishna Pisupati is in the hot seat as chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), where he has to deal with regulatory and …

'Most countries don’t want to recognise indigenous people as people'

Mohammed Taghi Farvar, former director of Avicenna University in Iran, is a well-known ecologist and social scientist. At present, he is the …

New awakenings in the trans-Himalaya

With threats to common properties multiplying and people’s traditional access to living systems being denied, the Forest Rights Act is …

IFR review: Lapse in procedure behind rejection of claims in Burhanpur

Claims filed in 2020 through the Van Mitra Portal were rejected without sharing the reason for the same with the claimants

How a conversion ‘mistake’ made Maharashtra top forest rights performer for a decade

State’s ‘stellar achievement’ turns out to be a simple mathematical mistake raises doubt over government data

New FCA rules not in compliance with FRA, endanger rights of tribals and forest dwellers

The new Forest Conservation Rules, 2022 were notified June 28 and will be put before both Houses of Parliament in the current session for approval

Rajya Sabha paves way for Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill to become an Act

The bill was passed unanimously by the house after much discussion and withdrawal of amendments by opposition members on assurance by the …

Lies, deceit and relocation

People shifted from Sariska tiger reserve allege they have been deprived of forest rights

Controversial Bill to amend Forest Conservation Act passed by Lok Sabha

Union environment minister refutes all concerns, calls amendments ‘progressive’

IFR review: Here are some possible repercussions of rejecting reviewed forest right claims

Some 1.688 million people, whose claims have been re-rejected, face threat of eviction and food security

‘Someone should speak on behalf of environment’

Shibani Ghosh, the author of Indian Environmental Law: Key Concepts and Principles, speaks to Down To Earth on the role judiciary plays in …

Uttar Pradesh grants 3 forest villages revenue status under FRA

Kaluwala, Sodhinagar and Bhagwatpur were given the revenue status, which means that the inhabitants, Tongia tribals, will now have access to …

Baiga Tribes Get Habitat Rights for the first time in Independent India

Ramesh Sharma, Convener, Ekta Parishad gives an insight about the indigenous primitive tribes of India. Out of 76 primitive tribes Baigas …

Madhya Pradesh's call to bamboo investors reignites debate over forest access

Agreements for planting bamboo over 36,000 sq km of forestland take away the rights of the community, say forest rights activists

Bamboo freed

Maharashtra village India’s first to win right to harvest bamboo. Eyes now on other forest produce

Election boycott over mining

Residents protest iron mining in Maharashtra tehsil; authorities blame murder for boycott

SC vacates Madras HC order staying issue of pattas to forest dwellers

The Madras High Court had passed an interim order in April 2008 staying the issue of pattas in Tamil Nadu without its permission

Walk the village talk

After raising the political profile of village councils, government wants to downsize them

Protectors dubbed criminals

Tribals in Madhya Pradesh celebrate festival to reclaim forests; officials say they are encroaching land

‘Indigenous people have been effective stewards of biodiversity globally’

Down To Earth speaks to University of Connecticut professor Prakash Kashwan about his book, Democracy in the Woods