What are the political drivers for land rights of forest-dependent communities?

Prakash Kashwan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut. His research and scholarship focuses …

What triggers desertification in India

A low down on the most important causes behind desertification in every state of the country. Addressing these will be critical to meet targets …

“Aboriginal people in Australia still do not have right over their land”

Poet and writer ALI COBBY ECKERMANN was in India recently to launch her memoir, Too Afraid To Cry. The book is an account of her growing up as a …

SEZ, how special?

Despite having burned its fingers with export processing zones, which mainly involved a number of substantial fiscal benefits, the government has …

1,620.361 ha of discontent

Special economic zones and sit-ins. Mega-projects and marches. Public-private partnerships and pitched battles. Precociously, because they are …

In defence of shifting agriculture

IT HAS taken almost two decades of consistent research into the northeastern tribal practice of shifting agriculture for P S Ramakrishna, …

Desertification control lacks efficiency

PERHAPS no environmental problem affects the poor of the world as much as desertification. The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) says this has …

China's reforms

Land use in China is in for irretrievable change. At the Third Plenum of the 16th Party Congress, held October 11-14, 2003, the world's biggest …

Forest conservation is too complex an issue to be resolved by executive fiat

The condition of India's forest and her forest dwellers is extremely grave. A fresh round of police attacks on tribal people -- four dead in Dewas,…

`The Australian government is amending laws to push Adani's coal mine project'

The Adani Group's US$ 16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland is mired in a controversy as it not only threatens the Great …

Road to disaster

Fertile land is up for grabs in western Uttar Pradesh. Private developers are acquiring it to build apartments, industries, IT institutes, and …

Towards wetland conservation

The Union environment ministry has been working for the past four years to create a regulatory framework to protect the country’s wetlands. …

Towards food security: perspectives from three continents

The Food Insecurity Report 2014, released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) last week, has revealed that one …

"Watershed management is not equitable"

N K Sanghi , director, National Institute of Agriculture Extension and Management in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), has been advocating a modified …

Lost in plantation

Millions of growers and workers are in distress in Kerala, the plantation capital of India, as domestic and international prices of cash crops …

Murder mystery in Bihar

The killing of two social activists has left behind a series of unanswered questions. On the evening of January 24 social activists Sarita and …

‘Tribal philosophy can’t be ignored beyond a point’

At a time when climate change is emerging as a reality, indigenous people are eager to give-up their low-carbon lifestyle and join the bandwagon …

Land subsidence is serious

India depends heavily on groundwater. But overextraction can cause the land to sink. A recent study found that signs of land subsidence are …

Climate is changing, and the Sundarban residents can feel it

The Sundarban delta region in the Bay of Bengal, with 10,000 square kilometres of estuarine mangrove forest and 102 islands, is the world's …

Don't need subsidies, give us the right price

For most Indians, Mahendra Singh Tikait is the man who brought Delhi to its knees in 1988 with a rally that brought the national capital face to …

‘China growth model cannot be universal’

Wen Teijun, dean of Renim University in Beijing, has been documenting the world's agrarian history and turmoils. He initiated the New Rural …

Profiting from disaster

Zoramthanga , the chief minister of Mizoram, has many reasons to reminisce the birth of his party, the Mizo National Front, an insurgent group …

GOT IT!

Think tourism in India and the first images that will flash through your mind is -- the Taj Mahal and the Indian tiger. Tigers, and the protected …

Chhattisgarh's Industrial Jungle

Chhattisgarh is set to become the largest producer of thermal power, cement and sponge iron. The push is on to install 77 per cent of India's …

On The Warpath

They prefer to be called the 'forest castes'. They are the 2,000,000-odd villagers living in some 10,000 villages across Orissa. After …