‘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 …
How government is subverting Forest Rights Act
Does this official data betray a conspiracy? Only 1.6 per cent of the 2.9 million claims approved under the Forest Rights Act recognise community …
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 …
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
Forest titles only on paper
Officials deny tribal village its forest management rights
Lies, deceit and relocation
People shifted from Sariska tiger reserve allege they have been deprived of forest rights
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
Bamboo freed
Maharashtra village India’s first to win right to harvest bamboo. Eyes now on other forest produce
Forest alert
Saxena panel report on Niyamgiri puts states under watch for forest, tribal rights violations
‘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
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
In a first, Odisha studies potential forest land under FRA
New estimate offers ‘baseline for planning and effective implementation of forest rights Act recognition’
‘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