Citizens for Justice and Peace
Will sacrifice life, but not give up land: Adivasis of Sonbhadra Blog by Special Invitation
13-Aug-2019
“Jaan de denge lekin zamin nahi denge” (We will sacrifice our lives, but not give up our land) continues to be the echo from the Adivasis of Sonbhadra, 24 days after the brute firing at Village Umbha, Ghorawal Block by sections of the upper castes of the region. These were the words on the lips of…
CJP brings Adivasis to Mumbai Shores Sonbhadra comes to Mumbai
09-Aug-2019
On #WorldIndigenousDay, CJP is proud to stand with the Adivasi human rights defenders who are fighting for their ‘jal jangal zameen’. Related: FRA 2006 can’t be diluted Sokalo: An Adivasi warrior who defends her people Lobby of Corporate Interests, Bureaucrats and Mafia looting Forest Land: Roma Sonbhadra’s Mahua Coloured Dreams Rajkumari Bhuiya: Songs as her…
Over 30,000 Adivasis and Forest Dwellers take to the streets Nation-wide protests against eviction and amendments to the Indian Forest Act, 1927
23-Jul-2019
Protests to defend provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, oppose proposed draconian amendments to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and against the government’s antipathy towards the forest dwelling communities, erupted across India on July 22, 2019. More than 30,000 people participated in protests at various locations in different states including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh,…
Telangana Forest Act (TFA) 2019: Unfettered powers to forest officials? Proposed law almost in complete conflict with the National Forest Policy of 1988
16-Jul-2019
The Telangana Government is contemplating to replace the Telangana Forest Act 1967 with a new law – the Telangana Forest Act (TFA) 2019, trampling the rights of adivasis ensured under the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA Act 2006) and Panchayats Extension to Schedule Area (PESA) Act…
A mountain that will not bow down to Corporate Loot The story of Dadi Kadraka
16-Jul-2019
On May 15, 2019 Dadi Kadraka, an activist with the Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti that has put up a relentless fight against corporate takeover of their revered God Niyamraja, was arrested from the Muniguda market. Human rights groups and local activists have condemned this act, pointing out that the charges under which he was booked —…
12 villages commemorate Shahadat of Sokalo’s son in Sonbhadra, UP Administration on its toes
15-Jul-2019
Villagers and forest dwelling people from as many as twelve villages in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh (UP) gathered to commemorate the death anniversary of human rights defender Sokalo Gond’s son, Mithilesh Gond, on Sunday, July 14. Mithilesh died six years ago in a Hindalco hospital located in Renukoot, UP reportedly because of the negligence of the…
Forest Rights Movements to intervene “collectively” in SC eviction order case National Consultation on Forest Rights declares protests across the country on July 22
09-Jul-2019
A national consultation on forest and land rights has declared protest actions across India on July 22, tentatively the date for hearing in the case of the recent Supreme Court order on eviction of forest dwelling communities. Bhumi Adhikar Andolan, a platform working for the land rights of communities called for a two day…
Lobby of Corporate Interests, Bureaucrats and Mafia looting Forest Land: Roma Part 1 of a two part EXCLUSIVE video interview
18-May-2019
In an exclusive conversation with CJP Secretary Teesta Setalvad, Roma Malik highlights the illegality of the February 2019 Supreme Court order (later stayed), the challenges in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the farce of pitting arguments of survival of forest dwellers versus wildlife conservancy and many more issues. The first part of…
A Dalit Woman’s resilience forms the bedrock of the Forest Rights struggle in Sonbhadra Shobha's journey to secure her forest rights has been over uneven terrain
22-Mar-2019
Located in a peculiarly odd terrain, Badi is a set of small huts spread across small hillocks on uneven land just adjacent to National Highway 39, connecting Robertsganj and Renukoot. Badi falls in the Chopan block of the Robertsganj taluka, Sonbhadra district. A long stretch of land lies bare, baking in the blazing sun. Families here live in…
जमिनीसाठी संघर्ष केला म्हणून तुरुंगात डांबलं, त्यांनी ऐकवला तुरुंगातील दाहक अनुभव महाराष्ट्र टाइम्स
11-Mar-2019
आदिवासींना त्यांच्या हक्काच्या वन जमिनी परत मिळाव्या म्हणून आम्ही रस्त्यावर उतरलो. सरकारविरोधात आवाज उठवला. त्यामुळे आम्हाला तुरुंगात टाकण्यात आलं. आमच्यावर खोटे गुन्हे टाकण्यात आले. आमच्याविरोधात जमीन बळकाल्याचे, अतिक्रमण केल्याचे आणि चोरीचे गुन्हे दाखल करण्यात आले. मुंबईः आदिवासींना त्यांच्या हक्काच्या वन जमिनी परत मिळाव्या म्हणून आम्ही रस्त्यावर उतरलो. सरकारविरोधात आवाज उठवला. त्यामुळे आम्हाला तुरुंगात टाकण्यात आलं. आमच्यावर…
Forest Rights: A daughter awaits her father’s return in Sonbhadra’s Lilasi Nexus of UP Police, Forest Dept. officials and brokers destroy Nandu Gond’s home
28-Feb-2019
It was a windy day with fragmented, asymmetrical clouds spread across the sky. Yellow mustard plants swayed with the force of the wind, as did the wheat crops. We visited Lilasi village, a site of bitter conflict, even bloodshed, between state forces, the forest department and the forest dwelling community (Gond Adivasis). It was February…
Supreme Court changes course on Adivasi rights SC order flies in the face of established jurisprudence
26-Feb-2019
Whereas previously SC affirmed indigenous people’s inalienable rights to their land, in 2019, under the Modi Regime, it now orders their unilateral eviction. The SC has turned established constitutional jurisprudence on its head. There are three significant SC judgments on the indigenous Adivasi people’s rights over their land and natural resources: 1. In 2011, the…
Crony capitalism imperils millions of India’s indigenous people SC order directs eviction of Adivasis and other forest dwellers across several states
26-Feb-2019
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra has ordered eviction of Adivasis and other forest dwelling communities from the ‘forest’ regions whose claims for entitlement have been rejected by the Forest department. The written copy of the order was made available on February 20, 2019. The court order says, “The Chief Secretary shall ensure…
CJP in Action: Defending Adivasi Human Rights Activists in Courts CJP is providing legal aid to leaders and members of the forest workers movement in Uttar Pradesh
25-Feb-2019
India’s indigenous peoples, most commonly called ‘Adivasis’, which means ‘original inhabitants’, are under attack in various areas of the country. With the rising looting and exploitation and mounting corporate greed and the thirst for mineral-rich land, India’s Adivasis are increasingly being displaced from the very lands they helped cultivate and fertilised for generations. Not only…
Spaces of Higher Education are the New Battlegrounds of Inequality: Abhay Xaxa Everyday struggles of Adivasis and their limited representation in Social Media
15-Feb-2019
Adivasis or India’s indigenous people have faced centuries of oppression and exploitation. Today they fight a battle on many fronts. The first against a powerful nexus of industrialists, bureaucrats and the police who have made successive attempts made to usurp their forests, land and water resources. The second in institutes of higher learning against systemic exclusion…