Jharkhand's first tribal governor, DROUPADI MURMU, has been featured in the news more than Raghubar Das, the state's first non-tribal chief minister. Murmu refused to give her assent to two bills approved by the Legislative Assembly seeking amendments to the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949. The state has witnessed widespread protests against these amendments, which seek to allow the use of tribal lands for commercial purposes. She speaks to DEEPANWITA NIYOGI in Ranchi
You recently returned amendment bills to two tenancy Acts seeking explanation from the government on whether it would benefit tribals. Do you feel it is a move to grab tribal land from people?
The government should have anticipated the mood of the public. I talked to experts and thoroughly studied the bills. I felt the bills should be reconsidered and a rethinking is needed. There were 192 non-political and political meetings over the bills. Even people from outside the state approached me. The amendment bills have now been returned to the state government, along with 192 memorandums which were received opposing the amendments. I have asked the government to re-examine the amendments afresh in the light of these memorandums.
How would you interpret the relationship between tribals and land?
Three things are needed for development: education, money and power. But tribals only have land. They feel when land is there they can work and will be able to live. But if land is taken away, tribals will not be able to survive. They consider land as God.
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Denne historien er fra August 16, 2017-utgaven av Down To Earth.
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CLIMATE SHAPES SPECIES
Gradual changes in a population that lives in a region with environmental shifts give rise to new species
LEAFY GOODNESS
Leaves of the bottle gourd can be a healthy green addition to the plate
'Story of human origin is still not figured out or over'
Fifty years ago, the discovery of a partial skeleton amid the barren desert landscape of northern Ethiopia transformed our understanding of where humans came from, and how we developed into Homo sapiens. \"Lucy\" was first spotted on November 24, 1974, by the American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson and his student assistant Tom Gray. Named after the Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, a popular song in the their team's camp at the time, it was immediately clear she was a female, because of her small adult size, and that she had walked upright, unlike chimpanzees. Lucy was also very old-at almost 3.2 million years, she was anointed as the then-earliest known (distant) ancestor of modern humans. Over the following decades, rather fittingly given her name, she became a \"paleo-rock star\", going on a US tour from 2006 following a deal with the Ethiopian authorities.
Deadly discharge
Residents of an industrial cluster blame effluent and sewage treatment plants for discharging poorly treated water that contaminates the area, causes skin diseases
US drug regulator faces Trump heat
FAILED REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is making more news now than during his doomed attempt to get the party nomination for president. Ramaswamy's decision to throw in the towel and back Donald Trump after his campaign went nowhere showed acumen, the kind he is famous for in the investment world.
Distorted picture
India's groundwater recovery may be misleading, as new assessment methods inflate annual recharge figures and discontinue on-ground verification
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Expect some stiff targets, radical policy measures and rapid innovations as polycrisis reaches a crescendo this year
Commons in crisis
A landmark 2011 Supreme Court ruling to protect shared resources deepens struggles for India's marginalised communities
Europe faces Russian natural gas supply cuts
UKRAINE'S PRIME Minister Denys Shmyhal said on December 16, 2024, that its gas transit agreement with Russia will expire on January 1, 2025, and will not be renewed. The agreement was to allow transit of natural gas to Europe amid the RussiaUkraine conflict.
Preserving a voice
Non-profit in Madhya Pradesh documents Korku language, makes education accessible for the tribal community
