Advocates of foreign ownership of agricultural land say it brings wealth, infrastructure and new farming techniques; opponents say that displaced and deskilled smallholders are often the result. When people talk about land-grabbing the immediate focus tends to be on issues like food security, land sovereignty and worries about a new, financial colonialism.
With the aim to understand, promote and highlight the importance of financial inclusion of Scheduled castes, Scheduled tribes and religious minorities, Sa-Dhan in collaboration with UNDP conducted an interface between government representatives, academicians, journalists, practitioners and other stakeholders.
Whether from a class perspective or from a community identity perspective, it is undeniably the biggest failure that decades after the land reforms, a good majority of the dalits and adivasis in Kerala remain fully landless.
This document is the result of an intensive work of dialogue between the ILC Secretariat and the ILC constituency, especially civil society organisations from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The ILC Secretariat - including the three regional nodes - has facilitated the process, collected contributions, packaged information, and produced the synthesis.
Right now, the situation in Lalgarh is grave. The combined military offensive has got a nod from the central and state governments; it means we have to be worried about ghastly horror, concerned about more suffering and loss of lives. Since 18 June 2009, the entire area has been under siege by joint forces in the name of flushing out the Maoists.
Goats are increasingly seen as a threat to the ecology as they feed on any type of plant species. But goat keeping continues to be an important livelihood activity for the resource poor people. BAIF has promoted a number of initiatives with twin goals of helping small farmers in rearing goats and also protecting the environment.
