None

Tribal displacement, without rehabilitation, has led to growth of Naxalism: Tribal ministry

The name may have stuck, but it’s the Chhattisgarh part of the densely forested Naxal hotbed that is really ‘Abujhmaad’.

BHUBANESWAR: The State Cabinet on Wednesday framed rules for the appointment of a person from the family of police personnel who die in the Naxalite and extremist violence in the Maoist-affected ar

The government – both at the centre and the state (Odisha) – has reduced adivasis into mere exhibition items in attempts to lure domestic and foreign tourists. On the other hand, they invite multinational capitalists to plunder natural and mineral resources in the adivasi heartland and repress voices of resistance by unleashing Operation Green Hunt on adivasis and the common mass.

Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and others (“Land Acquisition and Dispossession: Private Coal Companies in Jharkhand”, EPW, 11 February 2012), touch on several important issues, but with a sophistication which is expected from academics. The piece, however, portrays only the tip of the iceberg; the grass-roots situation is much more serious and tense. Land acquisition by privately-owned coal
mining companies has assumed very sinister proportions. This letter is to bring some more examples to the attention of EPW readers. (Letters)

A national workshop in Hyderabad deliberated on adivasi rights and the organisation of legal clinics, addressing the issues faced by the vulnerable communities among them.

After the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Naxal-hit districts, Congress-led UPA government is planning to introduce another ambitious plan to provide livelihood to the affected people through the

In Bihar, where Naxals often present obstacles before government projects involving roads, bridges and buildings, even of schools, one project has clicked remarkably well in the districts that thes

Contradicting the claims of the Centre which blame the Naxals for the loss of forest cover, the latest report of the AP forest department says that around 130 sq. km. of forests have vanished in a year.

The state report says that the loss of forest cover is due to encroachments. “Maoists and other Naxal groups have been cleared out of the state’s forests. They have been restricted to the state’s borders with Odisha and Chhattisg-arh. The forest cover is declining though there are no naxals,” said a forest official.

For long, industrialised states were looked upon as the ones trading forest cover for development. However, a recent report by the Forest Survey of India showed five of the nine most industrialised states were able to increase their green cover in 2011, compared to 2009. Between 2001 and 2010, these nine states contributed 60 per cent towards the country’s gross domestic product output.

Data analysed by Business Standard showed the five states added 178 sq km of forests. The states were Tamil Nadu (74 sq km), Rajasthan (51 sq km), Orissa (48 sq km), Karnataka (four sq km) and West Bengal (one sq km).

Pages