Benefit sharing in the mining sector in Africa
<p>In essence, the notion of benefit sharing is recognition of the natural rights of affected communities over mineral resources in their traditional and historical homelands. Communities have a right
Landless
-
Punjab government revives green tractor scheme
The Punjab government has revived the green tractor scheme under which Rs 01 million will be given as subsidy to the small farmers for the purchase of a tractor. The government has allocated Rs 1 billion to provide subsidy on purchase of 10,000 green tractors in the 2008-09 budget. Only holders of upto twelve and a half acres agriculture land will be eligible to benefit from this scheme. Green tractors will be given through balloting of applicants to make the system transparent and judicious.
-
Naxalism works
Land alienation, poverty amongst scheduled tribes and dalits and lack of access to basic forest resources have contributed to the growth of naxalism, says the Planning Commission. Its report,
-
Widening debate on the Naxalite movement
The report of the expert group (EG) on "Development Issues to Deal with the Causes of Discontent, Unrest and Extremism' associated with the Naxalite movement, set up by the Planning Commission two years ago, has the merit of making the relevant issues visible in an official milieu blinded by a "security-centric' view of the movement. But will the powers that be heed the change in "policy perspective and strategy to deal with the movement' that the EG recommends in its report, Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas? (Editorial)
-
Govt takes up 3-year monga mitigation plan
Govt takes up 3-year monga mitigation plan Model to employ 67pc farm workers in lean period Obaidul Ghani The government has taken a three-year action plan from this year to increase crop productions in the northern districts, where about 37.50 lakh people are exposed to extreme poverty due to seasonal joblessness, known as monga.
-
Update
The Kerala government filed an affidavit in the high court seeking to extend by three months the court's deadline to evict encroachers in Chengara in South Kerala. Landless people had forcibly
-
Landless people encroach upon private estate in Kerala
uncertainty continues in Chengara village in south Kerala's Pathanamthitta district where about 10,000 landless people forcibly settled in a rubber plantation in August 2007. The settlers, mostly
-
Improving land access for India's rural poor
India's states have employed several land reform measures, including reforming tenancy, imposing land ceilings, distributing government wasteland, and allocating house sites and homestead plots. With relatively modest revisions, some of the existing laws and policies can further their original intent of increasing the poor's access to rural land and providing for secure land tenure. But old land reform approaches, such as blind adherence to land ceilings and tenancy reform, need reconsideration.
-
Ownership holdings of land in rural India: Putting the record straight
In the past, research on land distribution in rural India has pointed out that the surveys by the National Sample Survey Organisation have yielded underestimates of the extent of land inequality and landlessness. In a fresh analysis, this paper, using household level data from the 48th and 59th rounds (1992 and 2003-04) of the NSSO, finds that (within the limitations of the data) more than 40 per cent of households in rural India do not own land, as much as 15 million acres is in ownership holdings of more than 20 acres, and inequality in ownership has worsened between 1992 and 2003-04.
-
Does land still matter?
The national economy is growing at near double-digit rates but neither industry nor non-agricultural activities in rural India have been able to provide livelihoods for millions of rural workers. It is this failure that underlies the spurt in rural violence that has highlighted once again the issue of the poor's access to land, water and forests. It is gradually being recognised that further deterioration of economic, social and political conditions of the rural poor can neither be arrested nor reversed without a significant policy shift towards a comprehensive land reform programme.
-
Nagpur plots pro poor plan to help land grabbers
Big, bigger Almost a third of the entire Nagpur district, that is 3,780 sq km, will be brought under the metropolitan region. Of this 1,520 sq km will be taken up under the first phase