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Showing posts from June, 2017

Odisha tribals oppose government's "forced" plantation on forest land, "undermining" other forest dwellers' rights

  Hundreds of tribals and forest dwellers under the banner of Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD) marched in Bhubaneswar to protest against the Odisha government “violating” Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, in the state by forcing plantation over occupied forest lands in different districts, even as refusing in large numbers individual and community rights to tribal and non-tribal forest dwellers over forest land.

Slumlords' real estate nexus, callous cops "responsible" for Mumbai gangrape of local environmental activist

  The Mumbai-based civil society organization, working on house rights issues, Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (GBGBA) has said that the  gang rape  of an environmental activist living in a slum community in Mumbai is the direct result of her fight against illegal uprooting of mangroves in the area.

"Ruined" Gujarat greenhouse farmers seek loan waiver, threaten suicide, say Modi promise destroyed them

Stressed for the last several years, hundreds of enterprising Gujarat farmers who took up greenhouse projects are on warpath. Accusing the state government for failing to listen to their plight, they have said, they are all “deeply in debt” and would not compromise “anything less than loan waiver”.

Mystery around "missing" 52,000 acres deepens as Gujarat's bhoodan committee declares it has no land

  Six months after the Gujarat High Court judgment sharply criticizing the state government and the Gujarat Sarvodaya Mandal (GSM), also known as Bhoodan Samiti, for failing to oversee what happened to thousands of acres of land received during the Bhoodan movement of Vinoba Bhave, a top GSM insider has declared that as of today it has “no land.”

Only 300-400 Narmada dam oustee families left out, they didn't want rehabilitation package: Govt of India minister

Gehlot Tempers ran high in Government of India minister Thavarchand Gehlot’s chamber on Friday, when top Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar and her team met him to oppose the decision of to close down the Narmada dam’s 30-odd gates in Gujarat, which would allegedly displace to 40,000 dam oustees in Madhya Pradesh.

Of 1.82 lakh manual scavengers, Govt of India "identifies" just 7% beneficiaries, slashes budget allocation by 98%

Budget for self-employing manual scavengers falls drastically Much against the Government of India  claim  that it has provided onetime cash assistance 91% of the total manual scavengers it has identified across the country, 12,742, well-known data analysis site, “Fact Checker”, has said that it has done so “after not counting 93% of them.” In all, the the data, released in the Lok Sabha, show that 11,598 have been given cash assistance.

Anti-nuclear activist complains against Republic TV, says he, his family being harassed, facing security threat

  Top anti-nuclear activist SP Udayakumar of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) has complained to the News Broadcasters Association and the Press Council of India that well-known journalist Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV has been harassing him and his family.

57 "extra-judicial" deaths in Kaziranga, Assam, in 2014-16: Blanket immunity to forest cops under AFSPA blamed

Authorities in action: Kaziranga National Park  Facts have come to light suggesting that there have been 57 cases of extra-judicial killings in the Kaziranga National Park (KNP), Assam, over the last three years, as against 106 over the since 1996. The recent deaths include 27 in 2014, 23 in 2015 and 7 in 2016. Ironically, not a single forest staffer has been killed in "encounters" since 1985.

18,390 Narmada dam oustees "yet to be rehabilitated", as Govt of India claims it's "satisfied" with R&R

NBA protest outside Water Resources Ministry grate, Delhi A high-level civil society delegation, which met delegation Minister of Water Resources Uma Bharati, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Amarjit Singh and Joint Secretary Sanjay Kundu, has been told that the Narmada dam’s gates were closed down after "evaluating" the recommendations made of the environment and rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) sub-group.

Conservative US thinktank expert: Space to criticize govt till 2019 polls may further shrink

  In a strongly-worded opinion piece, a top American conservative thinktank expert, Sadanand Dhume, has warned that, in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the “space to criticize the government or the ruling BJP without fear of retaliation… may shrink even more.”

35% of India's workforce underemployed, sharp drop in agricultural job creation due to slowdown: McKinsey report

  One of the world’s topmost consultants, McKinsey, has suggested that the official unemployment rate of just about 4% hides the fact that India has a huge army of underemployment. Pointing out that in India’s context “unemployment is not really an option”, it underlines, here, “entering the informal sector as a worker is the norm.”

Setback to Essar? Green Tribunal appoints committee to ascertain "destruction" to Gujarat's eco-sensitive zone

  The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Pune Bench, has appointed a three-member court commission comprising of three Government of India officials to ascertain the environmental destruction, if any, caused by the Essar Bulk Terminal Ltd to the Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary, situated in the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat.

Anti-Narmada dam activist Lakhan Musafir detained, whereabouts "not known", student activists "attacked"

  Dubbed  “anti-Gujarat” by deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA)-organized Rally for the Valley ended on June 7 amidst news that a top Gujarat activist, attached with the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Vadodara, Lakhan Musafir, remains under detention for the last three days.

Gujarat Dalit activists display 125 kg soap to "cleanse" UP CM's mindset amidst BJP "threat" to stop campaign

Una Dalit flogging victim Ramesh Sarvaiya with 125 kg soap   Gujarat Dalits under the leadership of well-known social activist Martin Macwan on Thursday displayed a 125 kg soap in Ahmedabad, which would be sent to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who late last month amidst major controversy over met Dalits in Kushanagar after they were  handed over  soaps and shampoos to “come clean” to meet him.

Narmada oustees' Rally for Valley stopped, Gujarat cops detain Patkar, others

  Senior leaders of the Rally for the Valley, organized by India’s well-known anti-dam organization, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) led by top social activist Medha Patkar, were detained at Gujarat border’s Kavta checkpost in Chhotaudaipur district of Gujarat, as they tried to enter the state from Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday afternoon.

India's adolescent motherhood causes $7.7 billion loss to economy, country ranks 116 in childhood index: Report

  A recent report by Save the Children has ranked India 116th in the End of Childhood Index, worse than the other four BRICS countries. Ranking Brazil 89th, Russia 37th, China 41st and South Africa 103rd, the report, titled “Stolen Childhoods", says that India would gain a whopping 7.7 billion dollars if adolescent girls wait until their early 20s to become mothers, and  are gainfully employed.

Odisha govt not to return 2700 acres of acquired land back to forest dwellers, "reserves" it for industry

Construction of wall around forest dwellers' land in progress In an unusual development, the Odisha government has decided not to return 2,700 acres of land it had acquired from forest dwellers for the multinational corporation, Posco, for its land bank for “future industrial purpose”, one reason why it has begun constructing a boundary wall around it.

Eviction notice to Kol tribals of Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district warns: Your houses would be razed

A Kol tribal family of Rewa district Members of the tribal Kol family – Siyadulari, Lalmani, Baramdin and Badori, belonging to Kheraha village of Rewa district in Madhya Pradesh – have approached the district collector, Rewa, telling him that they have been threatened by local officials that their huts would be razed to the ground if they do not vacate their houses “immediately.”

Zanzarka rally: Gujarat BJP MP "admits" he's under tremendous pressure not to speak out on Dalit atrocities

A Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP) from Rajya Sabha is learnt to have admitted that he has been under “tremendous pressure” from his political bosses in Delhi not to speak out the way he did against the gruesome Una incident, in which four Dalit youths were tied with a chain attached to an SUV, and thrashed by cow vigilantes in a procession in the town.

Govt of India withdraws Mithi Virdi N-power project in Gujarat, blames delay in land acquisition, villagers rejoice

People walk out of environmental hearing for N-project in 2013 It is official, finally. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that that the 6000 MW nuclear project at Mithivirdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat, has been abandoned, and has been “shifted” to Kovadda, Andhra Pradesh on account of "delay" in land acquisition at the village Chhaya-Mithivirdi site.