Centre again revisits minimum support prices of key minor forest produce
Latest guidelines have fixed MSPs that favour traders rather than the forest gatherers
Huts of knowledge: These tribal women in Odisha teach their next generation about forests through ‘kutir’ meetings
Apart from sharing traditional knowledge, the women at these meetings also spread awareness on ownership rights
40,000 trees cut near Odisha’s Talabira village to make way for coal mine
Local residents, in charge of forest for half a century, not taken into confidence before tree felling
Claims under FRA being wrongfully rejected in Bengal
Claims that had been piling up since 2010 are now being rejected at the instance of the forest department
Chhattisgarh govt begins process to grant FRA to Abujmarh tribals
Government to grant habitat rights to Abujh Marias, a particularly vulnerable tribal group that reside in the forest, considered a bastion of Naxalism
Information recharge: Meet Devansh Mehta of CGnet Swara
Devansh Mehta believes that people can be sensitised through incentives, be it as small as mobile top-ups
All about the first-ever global assessment on biodiversity
Down To Earth followed the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ from when it was a draft to …
Now tribal affairs ministry FRA claim settlement number under cloud
Is there something fishy behind giving wrong data for over a decade and then disowning it?
Gujarat's Narmada district takes a step forward in forest governance
Five years after 20 villages in the district got their Community Forest Rights titles, their Gram Sabhas have developed a draft of their …
Final National Forest Policy to be out soon
Most comments in the draft policy concern with the dilution of the Forest Rights Act and opening up forest land for private players
Kalahandi forest dwellers allege FRA violation by state forest department
Activists say that in 3 villages of Kalahand district, the Odisha forest department is imposing on the rights of forest …
Gond tribals, Madhya Pradesh government fight for 4000 hectares of land
Two government departments and landless people are locked in a legal battle over 4,000 ha in Madhya Pradesh whose outcome would have countrywide …
Uttarakhand sits on forest right claims settlement for two years in a row
With the state assembly election around the corner, the model code of conduct is the favourite excuse for non implementation of FRA
70% of ministry’s budget released, claims tribal affairs minister
Jual Oram claimed that about 16.78 lakh individual titles have been granted over an area of 55.43 lakh acres of forest land
10 highlights of the new draft national forest policy
On June 15, India's environment ministry placed the draft national forest policy in public domain for comments and suggestions. It is slated …
Chhattisgarh communities assert forest rights
The Chhattisgarh Rajya Van Vikas Nigam was carrying out “thinning” inside the forests adjacent to the village, Sanauli, when a …
Pluck a problem
The government in Himachal Pradesh finds itself in a tight spot as a court order forces it to manage apple orchards on encroached forestlands
How FRA helped India’s forest communities during COVID-19
Stories of hope have been reported from across the tribal areas of how communities survived due to FRA even as attempts have been made to dilute it
Kerala’s Kadars continue fight for assertion of their community forest rights
Their Gram Sabhas have passed resolutions under the Forest Rights Act as work has progressed on the Anakkayam Small Hydro Power Project
Last ditch attempt
UPA gives sops under MGNREGS to attract rural voters ahead of elections
Cheated for bauxite
Andhra Pradesh circumvents all regulations to mine bauxite from tribal land
Tricks of diminishing returns
Clever calculations and the great wall of bureaucracy
Freeing bamboo from the state
A recent notification making bamboo a minor forest produce can only be the first step
Gram sabha gets a boost
Supreme Court asks gram sabhas to see if Vedanta’s bauxite mine harms religious rights
Don’t say bamboo
Aparna Pallavi travels to Gadchiroli district to find out why villages relinquished forest rights