12-Sep-2019
In a major breakthrough for Adivasi organisations and advocates of rights of forest dwelling communities, the Supreme Court of India has admitted all the 19 intervention applications that had been filed before it urging it to stop the eviction of millions of forest dwellers. Filed by different sets of directly concerned individuals and organisations, all…
11-Sep-2019
Nivada Rana is a forest rights leader from Suda village in Dudhwa National Park on the India-Nepal border. The Vice-President of Tharu Adivasi Mahila Majdur Kisan Manch and National Executive member of “All Indian Union of Forest Working People” (AIUFWP), Nivada has been one of the most vociferous Adivasi human rights defender along with being…
09-Sep-2019
In a compliance affidavit filed before the Supreme Court in an on-going litigation by Wildlife First, challenging the constitutional validity of the law, Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA), the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government acknowledged the historical injustices and the marginalized nature of tribal communities and Other Traditional…
06-Aug-2019
The Supreme Court has directed states that have not filed compliance affidavits on the matter of implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, to do so within a fortnight. Wild Life First v/s Union of India –a batch of petitions filed in 2008 challenging the constitutional validity of the Forest Rights Act of 2006 came up…
05-Aug-2019
Adivasi human rights defenders Sokalo Gond and Nivada Rana have moved Supreme Court praying for justice for millions of forest dwellers, especially women, who have been denied forest rights, and now face the prospect of eviction from their traditional habitats. The duo have filed an intervention application in the ongoing case led by Wildlife First.…
24-Jul-2019
वनाधिकार आंदोलन की लगभग 40 वर्षीय नेता निवादा राणा चार बच्चों की माँ हैं। उन्होंने अपने ऊपर घातक हमले होने के बावजूद पूरी दृढ़ता के साथ संघर्ष को आगे बढ़ाने का संकल्प लिया है। जब वे हम पर वन्यजीवों को नष्ट करने का आरोप लगा रहे थे, तो मैं सब समझ रही थी; मैंने…
23-Jul-2019
Protests to defend provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, oppose proposed draconian amendments to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and against the government’s antipathy towards the forest dwelling communities, erupted across India on July 22, 2019. More than 30,000 people participated in protests at various locations in different states including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh,…
19-Jul-2019
Public Hearing records grave incidents of atrocities on forest dwelling communities and argues for a rigorous implementation of the FRA 2006, a systematic and scientific mapping of land dubbed as ‘forests’, argues for a political programme for the implementation of the law and appointment of Court Commissioners to oversee this implementation. A public hearing…
15-Jul-2019
Villagers and forest dwelling people from as many as twelve villages in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh (UP) gathered to commemorate the death anniversary of human rights defender Sokalo Gond’s son, Mithilesh Gond, on Sunday, July 14. Mithilesh died six years ago in a Hindalco hospital located in Renukoot, UP reportedly because of the negligence of the…
12-Jul-2019
Forest movement leader and Human Rights Defender (HRD) Sokalo Gond calls for July 14 to be commemorated in the memory of her son who died allegedly because of Hindalco doctors’ apathy. “The day he died, we went to buy school dress, pencils and everything else for the other children. He was getting fever for some…