In Lush, Ancient Chhattisgarh Forest, Thousands Of Trees Cut To Mine Coal For Rajasthan, Threatening Adivasi Homes, Water, Livelihoods
As the union and state governments clear the second phase of mining operations at a controversial coal mine, over 15,000 trees were cut, in addition to 81,000 cut since 2012. Activists say this is an undercount, estimating that another 399,000 trees face the axe for mining coal in the lush forests of Hasdeo Arand. Adivasis worship the trees as deities, depending on them for livelihood. As protests sweep the villages nearby, the removal of trees has intensified elephant-human conflict.
The Hasdeo Bachao Movement: How Adivasis are Challenging Paradigms of ‘Vikas’
The movement has found support from various groups including farmers. 'It is our duty to protect water, forest, and land,' say tribal communities. Freny Maneckshaw writes.
Rahul Gandhi’s election pledge to support struggle against Adani’s Hasdeo coal projects
The campaign to protect India’s Hasdeo forests from coal mining received a boost on 13 February 2024 when prominent Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, met with leaders of the movement and pledged the support of his party.
Bastar: Children Caught in the Crossfire Between Maoists and Security Forces
The failure to address these grievances of the native Adivasis of these regions has eroded the trust between the villagers and security forces. Prasun Goswami writes.
Rahul Yatra: Congress’s political strategy faces too many constraints for a successful execution
Social justice for vulnerable groups is the ideological plank and a focus on tribal, OBC and Dalit voters is the electoral strategy underpinning the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Pulling it off for the 2024 Lok Sabha election looks a tall order. Asim Ali writes.
Hasdeo Arand Deforestation Raises Questions of Adivasi Justice for Chhattisgarh’s First Tribal CM
A section of activists fighting for Adivasi rights in the state believe that there is no point in having a tribal chief minister if he continues to overlook the community’s priorities to facilitate corporate interests in Chhattisgarh.
How three women turned into environmental defenders in India
These women fight for their own communities’ land, forests and water. In the process, they clash against the might of the state and often risk their lives.
Gadchiroli: Police Arrest 21 After 'Brutal Crackdown' on 8-Month Adivasi Protest Against Mining
The movements' leaders had allegedly been surveilled and were beaten up brutally on the day. Several of the protesters' huts were burnt and their belongings taken.
Misguided mega-projects threaten to devastate the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The NITI Aayog, an Indian government think tank, is spearheading “development” projects that would strip indigenous people of their land and rights, and destroy precious forests and sea turtle breeding grounds.
Speaking to The Wire, the former Congress leader said that his new political outfit, Hamar Raj Party, was formed because the Adivasi community was ignored. He promises to fight for 'Jal, Jungle, Zameen'.
‘I saw brutality, but also solidarity,’ says Sudha Bharadwaj, author of From Phansi Yard, of her days in prison
Arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, activist-lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj kept a diary of prison life. Released in 2021, she writes about her experience at Yerawada jail.
Activist Mahesh Raut’s bail stayed by Supreme Court for another week in Bhima Koregaon case
Raut was granted bail on last week but was stayed by the Bombay High Court as the National Investigation Agency said it will file an appeal against the order,
Modi gov’t unlocks forests for business, a pursuit that began in 2015
Modi govt's dogged pursuit of a plan to open forests for commercial plantation began shortly after taking office, documents show. Though it faced pushback for hurting tribal rights and forests, the plan reached a fruition through the recent Forest (Conservation)Act amendment.
How Odisha Is Tackling Protests Against Mining: An Abduction, Arrests, Terror Cases Against Adivasi Protestors
In August, police filed criminal cases against Adivasi-Dalit anti-mining protestors, arrested 25 in southeastern Odisha, which holds more than half of India’s bauxite reserves, and allegedly abducted a global environmental prize winner. Acting on orders of the Biju Janata Dal government of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, ahead of state elections, the police filed charges that range from rioting to terrorism—for the first time in 20 years of these protests—under 16 sections of the law.
India’s ‘Alternative To Hong Kong’ Proceeds In Lush Nicobar Island, As Govt Ignores Pleas Of Local Tribals
Over the past 17 years, and most recently in 2022, hunter-gatherers, fisherfolk & farmers of a Nicobarese tribe—inhabiting a rainforest-draped island of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago for about 50,000 years—have pleaded with the union government to return them to their ancestral land. But with a Rs 72,000-crore plan to build a giant port, international airport, power plant and tourism facilities by cutting about a million trees in 130 sq km of rainforest, the government has erected a wall of silence to their requests to return home.
Tribals Fight Illegal Deforestation, Government Inaction In Madhya Pradesh
In Burhanpur district, forest department staff have illegally demolished homes of Adivasis built on forest land, without serving notices, branding the structures as encroachments. The Adivasis, on the other hand, say forest department officials are protecting tree mafias who are alleged to be colluding with the local administration.
Double-Engine: The Union and State Government Must Answer for Manipur
August 3 marks exactly three months since the start of the mayhem in Manipur. Fears of state collusion and complicity in the violence are growing with time. Nandita Haksar writes.