In the News : 2010 Disclaimer TNT does not necessarily share the views expressed, or vouch for the accuracy of facts represented, in these news reports and articles. Is bamboo a tree or a grass? | Dec 15, 2010 The definition is contested as the answer has immense economic implications. If bamboo is a tree, it belongs to the forest dept and can be auctioned to the paper and pulp industry, often at throwaway rates. As a grass, it is a minor forest produce and belongs to forest-dwellers… Read more Govt finds Forest Rights Act too hot to handle | Oct 31, 2010 The Posco case has turned the UPA’s flagship scheme from its first term, the Forest Rights Act, into a minefield for the government. With the Act mandating consent from the gram sabha and settling of all traditional rights, it has also become a precedent-setting one... Read more Vedanta and lessons in conservation | Sept 15, 2010 The Forest Rights Act of 2006 came into being after considerable and bitter opposition from conservation groups. The recent Vedanta decision — to reject clearance to the multinational company’s bauxite mining project in Orissa’s Niyamgiri hills — must be viewed in the light of this opposition… Read more Tribals won’t budge | Sept 15, 2010 The people of Patyachapaani, a tribal hamlet inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park in suburban Mumbai, have been mauled by leopards in recent years. But they do not want to shift and are protesting the forest department’s plan to relocate them in the forest fringe... Read more Not so little green men | Sept 8, 2010 Kalahandi, once known for starvation deaths, is today the epicentre of the ‘environment versus development’ debate. For now, it may seem that the green movement has won. But those being portrayed as “green heroes”, politicians et al, may have actually caused greater damage… Read more Vedanta investors look into human rights issues | Sept 6, 2010 Shareholders of Vedanta Resources are taking action to clarify issues about the mining company’s operations in India over concerns about alleged breaches of human rights and environmental laws. Institutional investors have formed a coalition to investigate some of these issues… Read more Was it right to stop Vedanta? | Sept 6, 2010 Environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s order stopping Vedanta Aluminium and the Orissa Mining Corporation from mining bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills tends to miss the wood for the trees. The two reports the minister relied on contain some sweeping generalisations based on exaggerated inferences… Read more Relocate sensibly | Aug 31, 2010 The creation of inviolate areas in protected forests has been a key concern of conservation for decades. It assumes the only way to conserve “critical” areas is to relocate people who live in these forests. Numerous studies have brought out the failure of this model... Read more Vedanta issue: A few disturbing questions | Aug 25, 2010 The decision of environment minister Jairam Ramesh not to grant forest clearance to the Orissa Mining Corporation for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri has been welcomed in many circles for the protection it will provide to an ecologically sensitive area and to the Kondh tribes... Read more Forest Rights Act losing steam as officials play with rules | Aug 06, 2010 The implementation of the Forest Rights Act in Madhya Pradesh suffers a strange interpretation by the Forest Department. The Act confers ownership on adivasis living on forest lands on or before December 13, 2005, but the dept has added its own cutoff, January 1, 2008... Read more Brazen mockery of the Forest-rights law | Aug 05, 2010 In yet another unfortunate incident in which how the FRA 2006 has rather been used as a tool of oppression and intimidation rather than correction of “historical injustices”, a Dalit villager in Orissa was arrested on July 21, 2010, for raising issues of forest rights... Read more Wait for a green signal | May 13, 2010 Environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced his intention to introduce a Bill on setting up of a new National Environment Protection Authority in the 2010 monsoon session of Parliament. With this, the MoEF seeks to bring in a new institutional structure for environmental clearances… Read more Rush for REDD could undermine local forest rights | April 16, 2010 A U.N.-backed forest preservation scheme could become too valuable and complex, raising the risk local communities, the very people seen as key to the scheme's success, could be shut out, scientists say… Read more What difference has the Forest Rights Act made | April 2010 With a strong community forest management network in place, one would think that forest- dependent communities in Orissa would be upbeat about the Forest Rights Act. But even as people’s movements begin to use the Act as a weapon in their struggle, most communities are confused … Read more Home | Reports | Related Articles | Resources | Gallery | Feedback | Contact | About