Political

A company is establishing a thermal Power project in the Niwari Block of Tikam Garh. It is one of the poorest and most backward districts of the country. Another agency has been engaged to the job of mediation and preparing the local farmers. Through their communication skills they are convincing the local population to sell their land. The plant will change the overall picture of the area. Not all promises will be fulfilled. They tell that if you give your land, you will get a free world class hospital, and the best education for your children.

It will need about 1500 to 1700 acres of land in Niwari Block of Tikam Garh about 35 km from Jhansi. Land acquisition has started and should be completed in one to two years time. Farmers are being told to cooperate, or their land will be taken by force. SDM Shri RK Gohat is telling the local people that an MOU has been signed between the company and the state government, and that the district administration has nothing to do with this.

Farmers are free to sell and negotiate. The Government has not decided any rate. These are small farmers. Their number will be around 1500. Some even have half a bigha land. Two hundred acres of land has already purchased. It is good agriculture land close to Pareechhka Dam in Jhansi, UP. There is already a power station at the dam. Jhansi is in UP and Tikam Garh is in MP. Distribution of power is yet not known. Orcha, famous tourist place is in Niwari Block.

The report submits the idea that proposal will go a long way in reducing poverty and deprivation in the mining affected areas. It states that the mining industry’s opposition to the proposal has no basis - statistics prove that sharing profits will not dent the industry’s profitability.

The central government has come out with a draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2010 (MMDR Bill) to replace the 1957 Act. The draft bill which has been vetted by a GoM, includes this provision of sharing benefits. The CSE analysis comes out in strong support of this proposal, and clearly establishes how timely and necessary this provision is.

Mining companies and industry in general have been opposing the government’s recent proposal. Their contention is that this provision, if passed by Parliament, would drastically dent their profitability. 

The rise in groundwater table followed by waterlogging and secondary soil salinization is a serious problem in canal-irrigated areas of arid and semi-arid regions. To combat the problem, an agroforestry model for biodrainage was tested in waterlogged fields of Haryana (northwest India), where 10 per cent area (0.44 m ha) is waterlogged resulting in reduced crop yields and abandonment of agricultural lands.

Organizers:

DFID India manages UK’s development programme worth £280 million per year, delivered in partnership with government, international organisations, private sector and civil society. Programmes with governments of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, and the central government work on health, nutrition, education, governance, rural livelihoods, and urban sectors.

DFID India is also developing a programme that aims to enhance collaboration with India on key global and policy issues such as climate change, trade and food security and on poverty reduction in low income countries.

This report by the Strategic Foresight Group is a follow-up to its earlier report The Himalayan Challenge: Water Security in Emerging Asia, 2010 . The growing water stress, plans for dams on shared rivers, and uncertainties about the precise impact of climate change have brought water to the forefront of the political agenda of countries in the Himalayan River Basins.

The report recommends policy options for national governments as well as strategies which can be implemented by local authorities and community groups in a politically viable manner. Some of the ideas may on the surface appear to be addressing micro-level issues. However, such micro-level issues do have an important bearing on security at the macro-level in a large continent such as Asia. This is the experience of many other regions as well, as illustrated in several of the chapters in this report.

The objective of this report is to explore how river basins in the Himalayan region, and particularly shared water resources, can foster cooperation and security between Bangladesh, China, India and Nepal. The conventional view is that depleting water resources, growing problem of pollution, uncertain risks posed by climate change together may lead to competition for resources, migration, social instability, internal conflicts and diplomatic tensions between countries. This view is realistic and was discussed in detail in a previous report of Strategic Foresight Group. It has contributed to spreading the awareness of security risks associated with water crisis in the Himalayan region.

Ford Foundation is on the frontlines of social change around the world, working with visionary leaders and organizations to change social structures and institutions—so that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential and have a voice in decisions that affect them.

JustFilms will deepen the Ford Foundation’s support for hallmark documentary films. Building on 75 years of support for the visual arts, JustFilms will follow three distinct avenues for finding and supporting film projects that explore important social justice issues around the world.

The sanctuary wildlife awards were instituted to recognise the best in the field of wildlife conservation and to celebrate the unsung heroes of India who are defending her wildernesses and consequently safeguarding her food and water security.

The award categories includes:

• Lifetime service award - An individual whose life has been devoted to the protection of wildlife species or their habitats on the Indian subcontinent

National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) has been created to harness and harmonise tremendous potentials of the rainfed agriculture by converting weaknesses into strengths and threats into opportunities by appropriate policies, programmes, professionalism, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation.