Category: News

New threat to tribal farmers? Notification allows Maharashtra govt to take away tribal land without gram sabha nod

A new danger awaits the rural areas under the influence of the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). If a recent Maharashtra government notification, a copy which is with Counterview, is any indication, it empowers the state government to acquire tribal land for industrial development without seeking any gram sabha nod.

Apprehensions have gone strong, similar notifications may be issued by Gujarat and Rajasthan governments, undermining tribals’ forest rights under existing laws, including the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, which make consultation with tribal gram sabhas mandatory.

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Courtesy: Counterview

Trudeau government to introduce new law in 2018 to make polluters pay

Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna has confirmed that the free ride for Canada’s climate-polluting industries will legally come to an end.

The federal government is ready to force polluters to pay for their carbon emissions and will introduce a new law — as planned — in 2018 to achieve that goal, said a spokeswoman for McKenna.

“We’ve been very clear that there needs to be a price on carbon across Canada in 2018 and we will be introducing legislation to make that a legal requirement,” Marie-Pascale Des Rosiers told National Observer on Nov. 23. “Many provinces and territories already have systems in place or are working hard to adopt them ahead of that deadline.”

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Courtesy: National Observer

Visualising the human price of gold

In May 2016 the South African High Court (Gauteng Local Division) granted an order in the case of Nkala and Others v Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited and Others that certified a consolidated class action against 32 mining companies. The action had been brought by mineworkers who had contracted silicosis by breathing in the silica dust that is generated during mining, along with their dependents. This disease can take many years to manifest, is incurable, debilitating and often fatal.

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Courtesy: Open Democracy

Maharashtra govt ‘diverts’ 460 hectares of tribal land near Mumbai for industries

Despite opposition from the locals, the Maharashtra government has diverted 460 hectares of tribal land in Palghar for industrial activity. The land, now set aside for the development of industries, is a part of the 2,766 hectares it had acquired from tribal families in the early 1960s for a dairy project for supplying milk to Mumbai. But as the project never took off, most of the land has remained unutilised.

While the tribal families belonging to hamlets in Palghar’s Dahanu and Talasari talukas, whose lands were acquired, have been opposing industrialisation of the lands, the state’s Dairies Development department, which is in possession of the land, issued orders on November 24, notifying that 460-hectare land was now being handed over to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. “The development of industries in the (tribal district) of Palghar will benefit the local population and result in all-round growth of the region,” states the government resolution, signed by Ashok Uike, deputy secretary (Dairy Development).

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Courtesy: The New Indian Express

In 2016, malnutrition caused most death and disability in Gujarat

Child and maternal malnutrition continue to account for most death and disability in Gujarat, besides dietary risk and air pollution, according to a recent report, India: Health of the Nation’s States. The report, prepared by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Public Health Foundation of India and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, provides estimates of the impact of 333 diseases and injuries and 84 risk factors for every state from 1990 to 2016.

According to the study, malnutrition caused maximum death and disability in 1990 and maintained its position till 2016, especially among the children in the age group of 0-9 years.

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Courtesy: The Times of India

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