Political

This set of case studies is a part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covering themes of agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water. The case studies related to agriculture and food security are summarised below:

A two day workshop on "Safe guard Future drinking water supply in Odisha", was organised on 29-30 April 2010. This event was as a result of cooperation between Gram Vikas, UNICEF, Deltares and ICCO (organisations involved in water supply and sanitation) and evolved out of a felt need to engage people from diverse fields to provide inputs for designing future courses of action.

Vision, Strategic Framework and Plan of Action (2010-11)

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, (MGNREGA) was enacted on 7th September 2005 as “An Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of Guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household".

From:
Himanshu Thakkar
South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People,
c/o 86-D, AD block, Shalimar Bagh,
Delhi,

To: Shri Jairam Ramesh
Union Minister of State for Env and Forests (IC), New Delhi

Respected Sir,

I have just seen your letter dated Aug 18, 2010 to Orissa Chief Minister on the aboves subject, uploaded yesterday on MEF website.

1. Your letter says that the Forest Clearance has been given to the Polavaram Project on July 28, 2010 is subject to the condition, "... no submergence and displacement of people including STs take place in Orissa and Chhattisgarh...". However, this condition is in complete contradiction with the environment clearance given by your ministry on Oct 25, 2005, which says in para 2, "Total 1,93,35 persons are likely to be affected by this project, out of that 1,75,275 persons in Andhra Pradesh and 6,316 persons from Orissa and 11,766 are from Chattisgarh." It is clear the condition of no submergence and displacement on Orissa and Chhattisgarh, stated in your letter, in the Tribal Development Ministry's condition, and in the forest clearance letter is in complete contradiction with the environment clearance given by you. One of them have to be cancelled due to this contradiction, we would like to know, which one would be cancelled.

Organizer: Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH)

Venue:  Kudlu village

Description:

INTACH Bangalore is pleased to announce our next Parichay, which will be about the tank systems of Bangalore. Our walk leader, Rohan DSouza, a researcher at NIAS, will talk to us about the series of reservoirs that were created to harvest rainwater in Bangalore, using the example of the 1100-year-old settlement and tank at Kudlu village.

Water is a resource without which nothing would survive on this planet. 

13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC)

Theme: "Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Our Future"          

Organizers:

• International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC)
• Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)

Venue: Hyderabad, India.

Description:

The 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) will be held in Hyderabad, India from January 10th to 14th, 2011. The Conference is being held in South Asia for the first time; and in a departure from the past, will be hosted by a practitioner organization - Foundation for Ecological Security (FES).

Content Courtesy: Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA)

Variously described as “Common Pool Resources”, “Common Property Resources”, “Common Lands”, “Open Ground” etc; “Commons” have been an important and inseparable part of humanity. They have been life support systems and have impacted various cultures, traditions, organisations and environments. They are essential for the livelihood requirements of the poor to be met. It is common knowledge that "Commons" are of ecological, social, cultural, religious, sporting and recreational value. Issues related to “Commons” have drawn attention of the academia, practitioners, policy makers, and researchers. It is significant to note that Prof. Elinor Ostrom, a political scientist, won the Nobel Prize this year for her work on the subject.