A routine road trip from Ranchi to Dhanbad was enough for an aghast senior functionary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to pull up Jharkhand for illegal mining and exploitation of tribals at the hands of the coal mafia. A source told The Telegraph that NHRC secretary-general Rajiv Sharma had visited the state in January.

Calling Dhanbad district a “hotbed” of gangs indulging in illicit coal trade, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday issued notice to Jharkhand Government over economic hardships faced by tribals and “illegal mining” in the Naxal-affected area.

The Commission said that “abject poverty” was the reason behind spread of Naxalism in the region.

Regarding mining, the NHRC said that gangs were recruiting local tribals to illegally mine coal and pointed out the inadequate response to the threat posed by underground coal fires in the region.

The Government has announced the creation of six projects in public-private partnership mode in non-timber forest produce (NTFP), covering around 60 Naxal-affected districts in the country.

The projects, to be executed within six months, will cover Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, according to a Rural Development Ministry release here on Friday.

The State government has dropped a proposal to expand the Bhadra Tiger Reserve as well as include Kudremukh National Park under Project Tiger after local people opposed it, Law Minister Suresh Kumar told the Assembly on Thursday.

Replying to the issue raised by Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, the minister said the government shelved the plan in the interest of tribals and other forest dwellers.

The Planning Commission has given its investment clearance for a Rs 115.9 crore project titled ‘Protection of Majuli Island, Assam from flood and erosion, Phase II and III.’

According to an official statement here on Wednesday, the project will be completed by the current fiscal and Plan accounts would be closed by March 31, 2012.

The political endeavour under the Saranda Action Plan (SAP) — not just to bring the government closer to the local tribal population but also to give them a stake in the democratic set-up and unfetter the control of the Naxalites who infest the dense forests — seems to have made some progress.

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh and Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda had launched the Rs.250-crore scheme about two months ago to benefit about a population of about 35,000 at Digha Panchayat, about 40 km from Chotanagra panchayat of Manoharpur block.

BHUBANESWAR: Baunsipada is like any other village in remote Khairiput block of Malkangiri district inhabited by Bondas, the primitive tribal group (PTG). Home to just 26 Bonda families, all that the village has are some rows of neat mud houses. But, each of these houses is treading a success story in its own right. With Baunsipada yet to be electrified, all the villagers depend upon solar LED lanterns and torchlights that have been prepared by 12 Bonda women of the village.

Madhya Pradesh accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the total area under certified organic farming in the country. Though most of it is due to cotton fields, the state has an immense potential to bring even food crops under organic cultivation.

What may help the state’s cause is that agriculture is already organic by default in many tribal-dominated districts because farmers either don't have the resources to use chemical fertilizers or lack access to them.