India

To:

A Press Release by All India Forum of Forest Movements (AIFFM) denounces the Government of India allowing “forest concessions” to private sector companies in what it perceives as state-owned forests. Forty per cent of the “identified” degraded forests could be given away on lease to private companies for raising plantations, violating not one but several statutes such as the Forest Rights Act or the Indian Forest Act.

Giving away India’s forests

.

Aklu Chero, a tribal leader protesting the construction of the dam, was shot at by the police on April 15. (Vipin Kumar/ HT Photos)

India is the second largest exporter of granite, much of which ends up on the European market. The main buyers of granite are the construction sector, the funeral industry and the retail sector (kitchen countertops, garden ornaments, etc.) However, most importers of Indian granite give no information from which quarries they are sourcing their granite or say they do not know from which quarries the stone comes from.

The India Climate Justice collective has published the third issue of the Mausam magazine aiming to facilitate constructive and creative debates on climate issues. It attempts to connect these issues to local struggles over natural resources, fossil fuel extraction, lands, livelihoods and food sovereignty.

March 8 is not just a day to celebrate and give visibility to women’s struggles, it is also a day to remember and appreciate the valuable inspiration they provide for every other struggle today. One example is the Chipko women’s movement in India, and the struggle they have led for nearly 40 years to protect forests and resist tree monocultures.

While Malaysia and Indonesia produce over 85% of the world’s palm oil, India is its largest importer. To boost palm cultivation, the Ministry of Agriculture introduced a Special Program on “Oil Palm Area Expansion” in 2011-12 aimed at increasing oil palm production in the 12 states from 50,000 to 300,000 metric tons in the next five. This plantations expansion falls within the government’s New Land Use Policy (NLUP) to wean farmers away from their traditional practice of subsistence farming.