Evolving Ideas with the Coimbatore Collector and Officials
September 23, 2022 By Vinitha Murukesan and Bagavanidhi M.Project Coordinator – Community Well-being (Coimbatore)Technical Coordinator – Governance We’ve been working with the Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP) for seven years now, with our projects largely based in the hills. With the two projects that were active in the plains (Periyanaickenpalayam and Narasimhanaickenpalayam) coming […]
Community Well-being at the HDCA Conference 2022 in Belgium
September 22, 2022 By Kanmani PalanisamyCommunity Well-being Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum theorized the ‘Capability Approach’ framework in the 1980s as a unique perspective on welfare economics. He proposed that a person or a community’s true capability (considering real world obstacles) to achieve a life that aligns with their values must be assessed rather than […]
Climate Stories: Shaping unique voices in environmental journalism
Keystone Foundation organised the first training session in environment journalism at its campus between June 9-10 as part of a new project titled #ClimateStories. The project, done with support from Earth Journalism Network, identified 15 IPLC (indigenous peoples and local communities) youth from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve to be trained to report on environment issues […]
A Conundrum After Years of Petitions
Irulas from the Pillur region are still facing issues while claiming individual forest rights. With several mismatches, the community are perplexed by the situation.
Strengthening Grassroots Governance in Pillur – Stories and Experiences
Direct community engagement has enormous benefits. It allows us to observe and understand first hand the felt needs of the community, power dynamics and social relations within the communities, and perceived challenges. It helps to establish trust and develop effective working relationships with community leaders and allies. With these aspects in mind, we dedicated a […]
Developing an Area-wise Forest Management Plan
For Indigenous people, their forest has been relevant in many spheres of their lives – social, economic, political and spiritual. This makes their culture inseparable from the forest. Under the FRA, to claim for Community Forest Rights (CFRs) – historical evidence of traditional dependence on the forest is one aspect, but the underlying fact is to profess sustainable forest […]
Path to Salvation
In my first field visit to Hasanasur area, I had a chance to meet Ittarai – oor thalaivar (Village Leader) Ayyasamy. When I asked him about the Forest Right Act, he became dull and spoke in frustration. He said that he is very tired of travelling to government offices and meeting with officials. He strongly […]
Indigenous communities using Right Information Act to strengthen FRA
It is said that access to information or being informed can be empowering as it allows one to make good choices or decisions. To access or receive information, one must ask questions. And to ensure robust and useful information, the questions must be framed in a way that is clear, crisp and representative. As citizens, […]
Why will they listen to us?
“We are finding it hard to eat nowadays because we are so scared to go and collect firewood. Even if we pick up a fallen stick they will catch us and put a case on us.” -says Saroja, a now-single woman, who vividly remembers her husband being fined and jailed for carrying firewood from the […]
Women Environment Human Rights Defender – A retreat for Indigenous women
On the 5th and 6th of November, 21 women from Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) and Chhattisgarh flocked together (15 in-person and 6 online from Chhattisgarh) as birds of the same feather for the country-level discussions on Women Environment Human Rights Defenders (WEHRD). The room was lit with a new energy of togetherness, laughter, songs, dance, thoughts and […]
