A horrifying video from Assam had gone viral in September 2021. It showed a police cameraperson stomping on the bullet-ridden, lifeless body of Moinal Haque, a 33-year-old Bengali-speaking Muslim farmer who was shot at for protesting a government eviction drive.  

Our latest story, as documented by Researcher Mahmodul Hassan, is a revisit to the spot where thousands were evicted for an agricultural project, claimed to be a dream project of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. After a widespread outrage against the brutal evictions, the state government agreed to resettle the evicted farmers and allocate a bigha to each family as compensation. In January 2023, the state had told the Gauhati High Court that the resettlement was complete.

On the ground, Hassan found a different reality than the government stated to the court. He came across families living in squalid temporary shelters waiting for the promised land. The agricultural project, he found, has been failing. Opposition leaders and activists allege that it was never about setting up a project, but a sinister “communal agenda” to drive away Bengali-speaking farmers. Read more in Frontline.

Europe Trampling on Poor Countries’ Red Lines

We’ve been tracking the global negotiations around Loss and Damage Fund since the last CoP or Conference of Parties, which is the annual meeting of countries who are party to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. . The fund is meant for poorer countries to help cope with losses due to climate change and Europe’s latest proposal suggesting changes to this fund has raised alarms among poorer and developing nations. 

Our Climate Research Lead, Mrinali, dug into the European Union's latest submission to a climate committee that tramples on several red lines drawn by developing countries for the fund. The proposal is to potentially make the fund inaccessible to several developing countries, including countries witnessing extreme weather events like India, Pakistan, and Libya. 

Plus, it suggests shifting the fund’s control away from the United Nations and placing it under the jurisdiction of the World Bank. Experts warn against such a move which threatens the principles of equity and climate justice. Read more about the controversial submission in the CarbonCopy.

Win for Indigenous Rights in Foreign Courts

By Priyansha Chouhan
Last month, Brazil saw a landmark step in securing the rights of its indigenous communities. On September 21, Brazil’s Supreme Court passed a historic judgement  rejecting a proposed regulation backed by the agribusiness industry. Dubbed the ‘time trick’ limit, it would force the indigenous communities to prove that they had been residing on their land since before the enactment of Brazil’s 1988 constitution, to be considered for their rights. 

The judgement will make inroads for the recognition of land rights of indigenous people and preservation of their inheritance and culture - especially when forests in Brazil face the risk of deforestation at the hands of farmers, landowners and timber companies.

Indigenous Rights Back Home

By Anmol Gupta
A new set of guidelines issued by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs last month introduced a new body which could threaten the way Gram Sabhas manage community forest resources (CFR).  Issued on September 12, the guidelines call for establishing District Level CFR Monitoring Committee (DLMC) but do not specify who will constitute these committees. 

CFR refers to the customary common forest land over which tribal communities have rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. According to the Act, CFR is meant to be managed by the Gram Sabha. 

Some ways that the DLMC could now obstruct CFR management, activists worry, include rejecting Gram Sabha’s CFR management plan or not issuing the authorisation letter necessary for Sabhas to even open a bank account. Experts have criticised the guidelines, saying that they seem ‘administration-driven’ as opposed to community holding the ultimate rights. 

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