South Asia

As police probe serious claims of harassment, a parallel story of conspiracy and conversion dominates public discourse

Adivasis and supporting activists have petitioned the authorities against what they term as the ‘forcible re-location” of Chenchu (PVTG) Adivasis in the Amravad Tiger Reserve and urged a ‘co-existence’ model of conservation

The Allahabad High Court recently struck down a 2021 decision of the District Level Committee (DLC), Lakhimpur upholding the land rights of the Tharu tribe while observing that the authorities cannot short-circuit the existing statutory rights of the forest dwellers by blindly relying on court orders issued before the enactment of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA, 2006). This law recognises the individual and community rights of Adivasis.

The past conduct and ideological moorings of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as that of its parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) reflect not just extreme and exclusivist views on women’s participation but are arguably distinctly misogynistic

The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) in an Open Letter to the President of India has condemned Odisha police’s wrongful dispossession of Adivasi lands in the state and violent action against protesting tribals

Over the past weeks—even before replacing Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister of Bihar on April 15—Samrat Choudhary has, while campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party, claimed that 22-lakh people would be struck off Bihar’s electoral rolls, with their driving licences and other benefits cancelled. The irony, however, is this: the figure of 22-lakh—drawn from the recently conducted, controversial SIR exercise in the state—corresponds only to deceased voters