Eviction threat "looms large" over Odisha tribals' 1.45 lakh forest land rights claims

By A Representative
A workshop organized jointly by the Mayurbhanj Adivasi Bikash Manch (MABM) and the Mayurbhaj Jala, Jungle, Jamin and Jana Adhikar Manch (MJJJJAM) on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and the Panchati Raj Extension to Scheduled Area (PESA) Act has been told that a total of 1,45,750 individual forest rights (IFR) claims out of 6,17,935 filed at the gram sabha level in Odisha have been rejected and are under "serious threat" after the February 13 Supreme Court (SC) eviction order.
Speaking at the seminar, Dr Manohar Chauhan of the civil rights organization, Campaign for Survival and Dignity, said, “As per the nodal Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Tribe (STSC) Development Department, Government of Odisha by March 31, 2019 in total 6,17,935 (5,86,245 of STs and 31,690 of other traditional forest dwellers or OTFDs) IFR claims have been filed in the state at the gram sabha level. and 4,30,212 IFR titles ( 4,30,139 561 to STs and only 73 to OTFDs) have been issued over 2,60,028,752 hectares (ha) of forest land."
He added, "Likewise, by March 31, 2019, 13,826 community forest rights (CFR) claims have been filed at the gram sabha level and 6,564 CFR titles have been issued over 95,185 ha of forest land. It is also reported that in total 1,45,750 IFR claims (1,18,316 of STs and 27434 of OTFDs) have been rejected in the state, which are under serious threat after February 13 Supreme Court (SC) eviction order”.
Participated by 60 representatives from several Odisha district, Tulasi Munda, a padma shree awardee, who inaugurated, the seminar said that there is a need to bring about awareness on FRA and PESA in all the villages. She called upon all the gram sabhas to take over common property resources under their control and to resolve all conflicts and issues in the village itself so that no one would go to the jail.

Chauhan said, “While the Government of Odisha claiming to be No 1 in issuing highest number of IFR titles in the country, in most of the cases IFR titles have been issued without demarcation and are full of errors. Many IFR claims have been missed at the Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC) level and are not reported, SDLC and District Level Committee (DLC) have bypassed the rights authority of the gram sabha and IFR claims of OTFDs have been ignored, recognition of community forests rights have been badly affected by the interference of the Forest Department."
Ramgalal Jamuda, former chairperson of the Odisha State Food Commission, raised concern over the February 13 Supreme Court eviction order, saying, IFR claims have been rejected across the country, adding, both the Central government and States governments to should strongly defend the FRA in the Supreme Court.
Sharing his field visit experience on FRA as chairman of the Food Commission, he said , “There are many discrepancies in the FRA data being produced by FRA DLCs and the State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC), and there is an urgent need to demarcate all the forest land issued under FRA followed by Records of Rights (ROR) correction and extension of developmental programmes to the IFR title holders.”
Tushar Dash, member, Community Forest Rights Learning and Advocacy (CFRLA), shared on the process of enactment of the FRA in 2006, different rights recognized under the Act and on the forest rights recognition process. He also pointed out on the various threats to FRA under the BJP-led government at the Centre, especially from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, the Indian Forest Policy, 2018, and the proposed amendments in Indian Forest Act, 2019, which he said are contradictory to and directly violate the FRA, 2006.

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Search This Blog