Analysing the problem-ridden process of implementing the Forest Rights Act 2006 in Odisha, this paper points out that it has focused more on providing land rights to individual claimants, neglecting community forest rights, the rights in protected areas, and other such provisions. Even so, the number of titles granted to tribal households is small compared to their total number in the state. Effective and comprehensive implementation of the FRA will have a significant impact on the livelihood of forest dwellers and the conservation of forests.

A bottom-up view of the health conditions and services in six states – three performing and three not-so-well performing ones – was arrived at through a study by a multidisciplinary team with varied experiences in health research. This paper presents the results of a Public Report on Health that was initiated in 2005 to understand public health issues for people from diverse backgrounds living in different region-specific contexts.

A study was carried out in village Mohamadabad, Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh to demonstrate the potential of high-resolution remote sensing data in generating soil resource database at village level that would facilitate natural resource developmental planning. For this study, detail soil resource database was generated by interpreting IRS Resourcesat-1 LISS-IV + Cartosat-1 merged data and by undertaking soil survey and soil analysis.