National Green Tribunal Issues Arrest Warrants Against 12 District Collectors Of Maharashtra

The National Green Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as “NGT”) recently issued bailable arrest warrants against twelve (12) District Collectors of Maharashtra for non-compliance of the directives issued by the NGT last year related to bore wells.

Such directives were issued by the NGT while disposing off an Environment Interest Litigation (hereinafter referred to as “EIL”) related to high impact of fluorosis in different districts. NGT had issued seven-point directives to the district collectors of Bandara, Nanded, Latur, Beed, Washim, Parbhani, Hingoli, Jalna, Chandrapur, Jalgaon & Yavatmal Nagpur where the dependence on bore wells as a water source is very high & the fluoride levels in groundwater is high too.

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Courtesy: mondaq

Adivasi rights groups petition Parliament against Compensatory Afforestation Fund law

Adivasi rights groups from across the country have petitioned Parliament demanding that the government should either repeal the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016, or amend it to ensure that Adivasi rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2009, are not violated by the compensatory plantations that the law facilitates.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is in the process of finalising the rules to implement this law, which seeks to manage the distribution of funds – now amounting to more than Rs 50,000 crore – collected as a levy from industries, miners and others who need to fell forests for their projects. The Act allocates this fund to the forest departments of states to set up plantations to replace the lost forests.

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Courtesy: Scroll.in

Amid Adivasi-Lambada tension, cops gear up for tribal jatara in Adilabad district of Telangana

ADILABAD: With the onset of Pushya masam, the sacred period for Adivasis, district administrations in the erstwhile Adilabad district, are on tenterhooks as the month witnesses a series of jataras, where Adivasis and Lambadas congregate in large numbers.Adilabad, Mancherial, Kumram Bheem, Asifabad and Nirmal districts are reeling under a wave of protests and clashes between the two communities with Adivasis demanding the exclusion of Lambadas from ST category status.

The period upto January 20 will see jataras and deekshas of respective clans organised across the district. The most famous among them is Jangu Bai Jatara. Jataras such as Gandhari Maisamma, Keslapur Nagoba and others will be held during month-long festival.  During this one month period, Adivasis do not consume liquor, stay away from other vices and spend most of the time in prayers. For Nagoba jatara, though it is predominantly a festival of Adivasis, Lambadas too will attend the jatara, where darbar will be held on one of days. The authorities are apprehensive that the situation might escalate if the two groups clash once again.

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Courtesy: The New Indian Express

NGT Chief, Justice Swatanter Kumar: A Golden era in the green Justice

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has been supportive and has cooperated with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), outgoing Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said on Tuesday. Justice Kumar was the chairperson of the Tribunal from December 2012, and passed landmark orders on cleaning of Ganga, Yamuna, Delhi’s air pollution, and coal mining in Meghalaya. He was appointed as a Supreme Court judge in December 2009, and he served as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court before that.

His last day in the Tribunal witnessed a full-bench reference that was followed by a small function, attended by lawyers of the NGT Bar Association, as well as the Tribunal’s staff and law students. Justice Kumar said that NGT, as an institution, has been able to leave international impact and that it became a star on the international map.

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Courtesy: dnaindia

Tribal, banjara clash: Security tightened on state border

Chandrapur: The police have tightened security in villages along the state border in Jiwti tehsil here, following rising tension between tribal and banjara (Lambada) communities in neighbouring Telangana state.

The situation is tense in adjacent Adilabad district of Telangana since several days as tribals are demanding exclusion of Lambada (banjaras) from schedule tribe. There are reports of clashes and arson in habitation of both communities. There are a good number of Banjara habitations in tribal dominated Jiwti tehsil along the border area. The repercussion of the row between the two communities in Telangana is being felt in border villages of Jiwti tehsil in Chandrapur district.

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Courtesy: The Times of India

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