Full Coverage: Land

29.05.2006 Reacting to reported plans by the Government of Pakistan to demolish thousands of dwellings and evict their inhabitants as part of a massive construction project, a United Nations human rights expert today called for a halt to operations as well as stepped-up efforts to avert homelessness as a result of the initiative.

19.05.2006 Land is one of the most important assets for millions of poor people in Africa. Equally critical are their rights to this land, which provide social and economic security and an incentive to use natural resources in a sustainable manner.

18.05.2006 The US expressed concern at the escalating tension in Sri Lanka with the LTTE violating the spirit of ceasefire, hinting at working together with other countries to choke cash inflows to the outfit.

11.05.2006 Women in Kalinga Nagar in the east Indian state of Orissa have now taken over the reins of the agitation against the building of a steel plant in, where 13 tribal protestors were killed in police firing on a group of anti-displacement protestors on January 2, 2006. Women from 16 villages have resolved to continue their fight for survival and human dignity.

09.05.2006 The policy is to transform Indian agriculture into large-scale corporate industrial farming; Farmers to be trained in low cost ecological organic farming and farm organisations planning countrywide movement.

04.05.2006 As the central government prepares to put together a package to address the phenomenon of suicides among farmers, EPW special issue examines the incidence of suicides, the proximate causes and the deep-rooted problems in agriculture.

01.05.2006

photo: Shivani Chaudhry

On 30th May, 2006, at the end of a sultry day, about 200 activists gathered for a candlelight vigil at Jantar Mantar, the spot where NBA (Narmada Bachao Aandolan) activists had staged a fast unto death protesting the raising of the Sardar Sarovar Dam across the Narmada and submerging approximately 226 villages without ensuring adequate rehabilitation for approximately 35,000 families as claimed by the NBA.

01.05.2006 Displacement is a planned calamity that befalls certain sections of society at different points in time. In a scenario where the attention devoted to rehabilitation itself is limited, it is not surprising that women stand to lose the most and benefit the least from so called ‘development’ projects. Displacement usually results in deteriorating gender relations in a framework of increasing poverty and disempowerment of poor and vulnerable communities.