'The Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka is currently battling a second wave of floods amid political chaos unravelling with reports of his dipping popularity and infighting within the party. The state government is now attempting to consolidate its power through massive developmental projects, which, however, come at a huge environmental cost. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government has given a go ahead to the proposed 2,000 MW Sharavathi Pumped Storage Hydroelectric project that falls in the middle of the Sharavathi river valley.
'In Assam, civil society groups have long accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government of allowing illegal coal mining to thrive in the state. Now, these allegations could singe Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal himself. In the last week of September, members of the Congress distributed what they claimed were incriminating photographs to journalists. The photographs showed Sonowal with a man named Sunil Kumar Gurung alleged to be involved in illegal mining operations.
'Centre on Friday sacked a whistle blower Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Kallol Biswas of Andhra Pradesh cadre. Biswas a 1991 batch officer served notices to the controversial Obulapuram Mines Company (OMC) owned by Gali Janardhana Reddy, while he was Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in Anantapur... Known for his innovative development work in the Narsipatnam agency area, Kallol Biswas while working in Anantapur district served notices to Gali Janardhana Reddy, a prominent BJP leader in Karnataka.
'The Jharkhand Police have charged 30,000 unnamed people (mostly Adivasis) under several serious sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including sedition, for resorting to ‘Pathalgarhi’ – a tribal tradition of erecting stone slabs to demarcate the area of their villages’ jurisdiction, declaring their autonomy and self-rule in areas under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
'...Pathalgadi, which means “erecting a stone” in the local Mundari language, has been a tradition with the Mundas of Jharkhand for hundreds of years. In the tradition, pathar or stones are erected to notify, mark or demarcate important spots such as boundaries, homes, land, forests, and graveyards. The Adivasi community also erects similar stone slabs in honour of their dead.
'In early October, news emerged that India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change was blocking the implementation of a high-level government panel’s report on tribal rights that recommended the creation of stringent rules to safeguard indigenous people from displacement.
'Forcible land acquisition has always been an issue of life and death for millions of people in India, not only farmers but also agricultural laborers and fish workers. With the Land Ordinance it has become a political hot potato. More than 350 people’s organizations gathered at Parliament Street on February 24th, with 25,000 people from Gujarat to Orissa to Assam, and from Himachal Pradesh to Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This show of strength has forced the political parties to take a stand on the issue, leading to heated debates and discussion on the floor of the Parliament.
'...Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's mammoth Carmichael mine, in central Queensland, is pledged to bring with it 10,000 jobs and $22 billion in taxes and royalties.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. Undoubtedly this is a project of national significance. It promises to open the vast inland Galilee Basin. To allow that to happen there is a need for a new coal rail line, hundreds of kilometres long, from the mine to Abbot Point Port north of Mackay. There an already-substantial coal terminal will be expanded to handle Carmichael's huge output...
'If the idea was to prevent Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai from telling British Parliamentarians about her organisation’s work with the local community in Mahan, then the Narendra Modi government has been denied that satisfaction. Offloaded from a London bound flight on Sunday, Pillai addressed British Parliament through Skype three days later. In her 90-minute address Pillai talked about the resistance put up by Mahan’s forest community to stall a proposed coal mining project by the London-based Essar company, that threatens to uproot the local people.
'What compelled the government to get the Greenpeace campaigner Priya Pillai ‘offloaded’ at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi from a London-bound flight on January 11? This is the second instance of a passenger ‘with a non-criminal background’ being offloaded a plane in two months. Prior to this, Maulana Kalbe Jawad Naqvi, a prominent Shia cleric, was prevented from taking flight to Baghdad and was offloaded on the basis of a ‘Look-Out Circular’ against him on November 24, 2014.
