Counterview.net | July 22, 2019

By Our Representative
A delegation of two civil rights groups, Samata and mines, minerals and People (mm&P), has impressed upon several of India’s members of Parliament (MPs) to discuss and raise issues relating to illegal mining, the Samata judgment, children in the mining areas and the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) in Parliament, adding, the issue of involvement of gram sabhas in decision making ought to be central for allowing any new projects in forest areas.

The delegation — consisting of mm&P’s Ravi Rebbapragada (chairperson), Ashok Shimali (secretary general), Deme Oram, Mukesh Birua, Raju Pandara, Shivkumar malagi, and Swaraj Das; and Samata’s Mithun Raj, BP Yadav and Sree Harica — told Kirodilal Meena, MP, Rajasthan, about the need to implement the Samata Judgment in letter and spirit in Rajasthan. (more…)

The Hindu | July 13, 2019

‘They are neither regularised nor given share in income’

Rebbapragada Ravi, founder of Samata, an NGO, met District Collector Vinay Chand on Friday and represented the long-pending case of the tourist guides of Borra Caves.

The tourist guides at the million-year-old Borra Caves, which is one among the most sought after tourist destinations, are in dire straits. They have been fighting a battle with the authorities concerned over regularisation of their employment, since last two decades.

About 20 guides, were recruited by the Tourism Department in 1993, on temporary daily wage basis, with promise of regularising them in a short time. (more…)

The CSR Journal | By Kasmin Fernandes – July 2, 2019

The order of the Supreme Court issued on February 13, 2019 with respect to the claims of forest-dwelling peoples in India — the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers — is a case of the Supreme Court speaking against itself.

In effect, the court has ordered the eviction of lakhs of people whose claims as forest dwellers have been rejected under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, or FRA. As a matter of fact, this order negates the claims of citizens under special protection of the Constitution, viz. the Scheduled Tribes and other vulnerable communities, who are already pushed by neglect precariously to the edge. (more…)

The Hindu | Vizag | June 27, 2019

A question mark hangs over the future of the 1.5 million-tonne alumina refinery set up by Anrak Aluminium Limited (AAL) in Visakhapatnam district with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announcing the cancellation of a key Government Order.

The refinery, set up in 2013 with a total investment of over Rs.6,000 crore, was allowed to mine bauxite ore in Gudem and Chintapalle blocks through G.O. Ms. No. 97. The mining was done by A.P. Mineral Development Corporation in the reserve forest area. (more…)

Supreme Court’s well-known judgment in Samata Vs. Government of Andhra Pradesh. It said that the Government should prohibit transfer of tribal land to non-tribal people. The apex court, in 1997, had ruled that only cooperative societies owned by tribes and public enterprises can conduct mining or industries under Schedule

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The Logical India || Contributors Written by : Rahul Basu (Guest Author) || Edited by : Bharat Nayak || April 2nd, 2019

If mining destroys the environment, the minerals are sold and the mineral stock depleted, what is there for future generations? The National Mineral Policy 2019 lays a systematic foundation for the implementation of the Intergenerational Equity Principle. While rooted in the Constitution, some steps need to be taken quickly to reduce uncertainty to the mining industry. (more…)

The Hans India || Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao || 08 March 2019

Justice K Ramaswamy, former Supreme Court Judge who passed away on March 6, was popularly known for one of his landmark Judgements known as Samata Judgement that upheld the rights of tribals on their lands in tribal areas. The State government, in a befitting manner, conducted his funeral with all respects to the departed soul. Samata was a non-governmental organisation that worked for the rights of the tribal people as it found them being alienated from their lands and exploited by non-tribal people and the state, in contravention of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and various Central and State government laws. (more…)

The Hindu | Sonum Gayatri Malhotra | June 18, 2013

Moving governance of tribal areas in central India from the Fifth to the Sixth Schedule will help address the demand for autonomy

The targeted attack by Maoists in Chhattisgarh against the State Congress leadership in which V.C. Shukla, Mahendra Karma and the party’s other top leaders were killed has rekindled a familiar debate on the military aspects of counterinsurgency. However, the continuing cycle of violence in the State underscores the need for a closer examination of the social and political impact of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution through which the tribal areas of peninsular India are governed.

India’s population consists of 100 million tribal people who have constitutionally been addressed via two distinct avenues. The Fifth Schedule applies to an overwhelming majority of India’s tribes in nine States, while the Sixth Schedule covers areas that are settled in the northeastern States bordering China and Myanmar. Bastar district in Chhattisgarh is governed by the Fifth Schedule, but it wants to move into the Sixth Schedule. (more…)