05-Jan-2022
A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society”- Dr BR Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste. We certainly have miles to go before we can even get close to the compassionate society the Babasaheb envisioned. It is shocking to…
31-Jul-2021
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairperson Justice (retired) Arun Mishra has said that no Adivasi/tribal should be evicted without the settlement of his/her claim related to land rights, while chairing a webinar organised by the Commission with Human Rights Defenders and Civil Societies on human rights issues. Another suggestion that he gave during the webinar…
31-Oct-2019
On October 29, Assam Public Works (APW) submitted a list of 48 communities to the high-powered committee established to enact Clause 6 of the Assam Accord. It stated that members of these communities are “indigenous Assamese” and, therefore, are eligible for constitutional safeguards under the clause. The Assam Public Works is the original petitioner that…
28-Oct-2019
In August 2014, the Prime Minister’s Office constituted a High-Level Committee (HLC) with Prof. Virginius Xaxa as Chairperson. In its Terms of Reference (TOR), the Committee was mandated “to examine the socioeconomic, educational and health status of tribal communities and recommend appropriate interventional measures to improve the same”. The Report comprises thematic sections based on…
22-Oct-2019
Roopak Chaudhari, the then-Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, filed a counter affidavit in the Writ Petition Wildlife First v. Union of India (W.P. 108/2008) raised in the Intervention Application
24-Sep-2019
A two day tribunal titled Contested Citizenship in Assam: People’s Tribunal on Constitutional Processes and Human Cost was held in New Delhi on September 7 and 8, 2019 to examine the scope and scale of the citizenship crisis in Assam in wake of over 19 lakh people being left out of the final National Register…
19-Sep-2019
The Van Gujjars are a transhumance tribe of pastoralists belonging to the Himalayas. Their livelihood and subsistence depends primarily on their cattle. During summer they walk upto and beyond 12,500 ft in the mountains and trek down on the onset of winter. Ghulam Mustafa Chopra and I started our journey from Dehradun to Sakhri on…
17-Sep-2019
The entire debate around outsiders and foreigners has been based on the long held belief that Bangladeshi infiltrators are threatening the demography and culture of Assam. But now as per a community wise break-up of the over 19 lakh people excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), nearly a third of the people…
31-Oct-2018
ऑल इंडिया यूनियन ऑफ फ़ॉरेस्ट वर्किंग पीपल (AIUFWP) की सदस्य रोमा ने 20 जून 2018 को सीजेपी की सचिव तीस्ता सेतलवाड़ के साथ संयुक्त रूप से एक शिकायत दर्ज कराई थी. इस शिकायत के सम्बन्ध में 20 सितंबर 2018 को राष्ट्रीय मानवाधिकार आयोग (NHRC) से एक जवाब प्राप्त हुआ. ये शिकायत, उत्तर प्रदेश (यूपी) के सोनभद्र के लिलासी गांव में पुलिस द्वारा बरती…