Tribals to protest denial of right to forests

October 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Sikhs in the capital have planned major protests over the coming two days as they grimly observe the 25th anniversary of the anti-Sikh riots that followed former prime minister Indira Gandhi' assassination. We are planning a protest outside the Kakardooma court in view of the Tytler case hearing scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday).

October 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Students here from the northeast are planning to hold a massive rally in the capital Friday to protest the rising number of crimes against the community. A sensitization drive on the issue is also on the agenda, a Naga student union member said.

October 29th, 2009 SHILLONG - The Khasi Students Union (KSU), a dominant student-youth body, has temporarily suspended its road blockade against uranium mining in Meghalaya after the government invited it for talks, officials said here Thursday. The KSU was to begin its third phase of a night road blockade Thursday to protest proposed uranium mining in the West Khasi Hills district of southern Meghalaya.

October 27th, 2009 German court fines Holocaust-denying bishopBERLIN — An ultraconservative British bishop was fined $16,822 (€12,000) in Germany for denying the Holocaust in an interview with Swedish television, his lawyer said Tuesday. A court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg issued the fine against Richard Williamson for incitement in connection with his Holocaust denial, Williamson's lawyer Matthias Lossmann said.

October 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Perhaps wary of alienating Dalit voters, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government has refrained from interfering in the development of a Noida park that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati plans to turn into a statue gallery of Dalit leaders. The ministry of environment and forests has told the Supreme Court that development of the sprawling 33 hectare park does not need to be assessed for its impact on the environment as the built up area was less than 20,000 square metres or 50 hectares.

October 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Wearing body suits splattered in red and masks of a cow and a horse, activists of an animal rights group painted a gory picture of animal slaughter to protest the international leather fair that begun in the capital Friday. Talking about the protest, Akraprava Bhar, one of the organisers of the protest, said their aim was to sensitise people about animal cruelty and to raise awareness that leather is dead skin.

October 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Highly dissatisfied with the third draft of the HIV/AIDS bill which the law ministry has proposed, nearly 200 people, including those living with HIV, staged a protest outside the ministry office in the capital Wednesday. According to the protesters, many of whom have come from as far as Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata to take part in the protest, 38 key provisions necessary to safeguard the rights of HIV positive people have been deleted in the draft.

October 20th, 2009 SHILLONG - The influential Khasi Students Union (KSU) has decided to intensify its agitation by enforcing a night-long road blockade on national highways from Tuesday night to protest a proposed uranium mining project in the state. KSU president Samuel B.

October 13th, 2009 BHOPAL - Thousands of tribals, including a large number of women and children, held a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district Tuesday alleging inaction by the central and state governments on drought and high food prices. The tribals, who were protesting under the aegis of Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, said the rich and the corporate sector were being pampered with tax subsidies while they were being left to die of hunger.

October 10th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Journalists in Orissa are set to stage a protest outside the Raj Bhavan Monday against the arrest of a scribe last month on charges of sedition and assisting Maoists. "The mediapersons will wear black badges and stage a demonstration in front of the Raj Bhavan here," Prasant Patnaik, a member of a delegation that met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday night to register their protest, told IANS Saturday.

October 5th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Nearly 5,000 tribals on a protest for over two years at a rubber estate in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district demanding land, Monday called off their stir following assurance from the state government of compensation. Agreement came after a meeting of agitating tribal leaders with Chief Minister V.S.

September 27th, 2009 LALGARH - Chhattradhar Mahato, chief of a Maoist-backed body at the forefront of the violent agitation in this trouble-torn belt of West Bengal, was Sunday remanded in police custody till Oct 1. Mahato, arrested by police Saturday, was brought before the Jhargram sub-divisional court amid heavy security.

September 18th, 2009 AGARTALA - The central government is considering amending the tribal forest rights act to reduce the period of 75 years for granting title deed to tribals and non-tribals residing in forests, according to a Tripura minister. "The central Minister of State for Tribal Welfare Tusharbhai Chaudhary during his visit to the state earlier this week has assured to consider amending the act to reduce the 75 years cut-off period for granting patta (title deed) of the land on which the tribals and non-tribals had been residing for years," state Forest Minister Jitendra Chowdhury told IANS.

September 11th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Anti-Posco leader Abhay Sahu, who was released from jail last month, Friday threatened to intensify the stir against the South Korean steel major unless it relocates its proposed steel plant. Sahu told a public rally near Paradeep: "We warn the state government and Posco to leave their confrontational attitude and relocate to another location.

September 7th, 2009 PATNA - Dozens of handicapped students Monday blocked rail tracks at the Rajendra Nagar terminal near the Patna railway station Monday to protest the looting of handicapped passengers on a train late Saturday night, police said. The students on wheelchairs blocked the tracks for nearly an hour, shouting slogans against the incident and demanding stern action against criminals involved, police said.