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 …

Simply Put: Right to Rock, Paper, Scissor

Babus' FOI-pas?

Most wanted

Policy of encirclement

Interview with Ujiyar Singh Dhurve, a Baiga tribal leader from Madhya Pradesh

What is the significance of habitat rights for the Baiga tribe? Will this move benefit the degrading jungles? A local leader tells Down To Earth

In a first, Odisha studies potential forest land under FRA

New estimate offers ‘baseline for planning and effective implementation of forest rights Act recognition’ 

A dharna here, a court victory there: How Rajasthan villages try to keep their land from solar firms

Encroachment of pastureland was possible because government doesn't recognise them as village commons, say locals

Bengal forest department calls Gram Sabha ‘illegal’; files FIR against 11

Villagers from the Gram Sabha gathered near Bamini falls on the eve of Birsa Munda’s birthday 

Shelterless Kashmiri pastoralists denied benefits of Forest Rights Act

The migratory population is unable to repair their damaged huts as the government sits on claim forms   

Gram Sabha level committees formed in Chhattisgarh’s Abujmarh

The move is the start of the process to grant habitat rights under the Forest Rights Act to the Abujh Mariyas

Dalits, adivasis to protest in Gandhinagar for land rights

The Gujarat government is planning to give 45 lakh hectare of cultivable wasteland to corporates for farming while ignoring the landless Dalits …

Forest dept in Odisha oversteps FRA rules, complain tribal rights activists

They say that Kalahandi district’s divisional forest officer issued a transit permit to take bamboo out of forest land when he has no right …

Denied forest rights, Himachal Pradesh villagers take to awareness campaigns

About 2,614 individual and 54 community claims made under the FRA in 2009-10 were rejected by the District Forest Officer in 2015

Changing gears

Sociology of conflict

New CFR guidelines: Experts say regulations can undo India’s progress on forest governance

Rules show governmental unwillingness to embrace tribal diversity and culture, they say   

Village bullied for using its forest

Forest department registers offence against a gram sabha for felling bamboo clusters

History matters

The Forest Rights Act augurs differently for two tribal communities in Kerala

Roundtable on Minor Forest Produce: Introduction

Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science and Environment, discusses the confusion surrounding the Forest Rights Act and forest management.

‘Legislated genocide’: Brazil’s new bill restricting recognition of tribal land sparks massive protests

Law will be devastating for indigenous rights, increase illegal deforestation, biodiversity loss, violence against forest dwellers, say experts &…

Why this Maharashtra village is fighting for the long forgotten Gramdan Act?

In a society that is moving towards hyper-individualism, the community here takes a collective approach

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

Centre uses SC order to turn forest land into revenue land

11-year-old order for relocating three Maharashtra villages used for conversion in 18 states

MoEF&CC takes back advisory to avoid honeycombing of forest land under FRA

An official from the environment ministry says the advisory was withdrawn as there is no provision under the Forest Rights Act to club land together