Disclaimer TNT does not necessarily share the views expressed, or vouch for the accuracy of facts represented, in these news reports and articles. Home | Reports | Related Articles | Resources | Gallery | Feedback | Contact | About Bonded British labourers get land title after 70 yrs | May 17, 2011 Octogenarian Sita Devi was in tears when district magistrate of Gonda, Ram Bahadur, handed her the land ownership title. She was five years old when her family was forced into bonded labour by British forest officers posted in Gorakhpur. Sita's is among 33 families, residents of forest village Maheshpur who were given land ownership titles last Saturday... Read more Bamboo Power | May 28, 2011 It was no surprise when Mendha in Gadchiroli district became the first village to get rights to issue transit passes for bamboo in April 2011. Helmed by a powerful gram sabha, Mendha has been a model for community forest management … Read more Scientist sacked for supporting tribal rights | May 22, 2011 Wildlife scientist Ravi Chellam was forced to quit as head of NGO Wildlife Conservation Society- India, for being part of a government committee that backed tribal rights. The panel also took on Vedanta in Orissa, among other projects, for violating tribal rights… Read more Call for forest rights | May 18, 2011 Bihar implemented the forest rights Act in 2007-08, but Tharu and Oraon tribals in Valmiki Tiger Reserve in West Champaran say forest officials, far from giving them ownership, has denied access to the 910sqm forests, their only source of livelihood … Read more Is the Forest Rights Act working | May 17, 2011 Environmentalist Ashish Kothari was part of the N C Saxena committee that reviewed implementation of the forest rights Act. The Orissa govt lied on Posco, he says, but Jairam Ramesh had to go along given the politics behind the deal… Read more CPI(M) for legislation on right to fish | May 15 , 2011 On the lines of the forest rights act, a law is needed to make fishing the birthright of fishermen, demands CPI(M) leader Sitaramulu, given the relocation of fishing villages in Andhra for expansion of the Gangavaram port… Read more Why Polavaram is a pointless project | May 15, 2011 The environmental impact assessment of Andhra’s Polavaram dam project says 276 villages and around 1.7 lakh people will be affected. But researchers find, in keeping with current population, no less than four lakh people will be displaced by the two canals… Read more Forest laws not helping those in need | May 13, 2011 More than two years after the forest rights act was introduced in Jharkhand, less than 13,000 pattas have been given to villagers living in the forests, against some 34,000 applications. Giridih tops the list with 2,646 pattas, followed by West Singbhum… Read more Earthy wisdom of Devaji Tofa | May 12, 2011 “We have proved that if we safeguard our power, the governments in Mumbai and New Delhi have to bow before us”: this is Gadchiroli tribal leader Devaji Tofa’s lesson to management students. Tofa’s village was the first to get rights to harvest and sell bamboo… Read more Now, an MSP for forest produce | May 1, 2011 Honey, amla, resins, tubers and tamarind. All these and more come from forests to grocery shelves. But, the tribals who extract them get a pittance. Now, the govt will provide a minimum support price for these on the lines of wheat and paddy… Read more In the News : 2011