Sul e Sudeste da Ásia e Pacífico

Eviction of traditional dwellers in forests opposed in India

Published in Tuesday December 18th, 2012 In In the media

The members of Karnataka Rajya Moola Budakattugala Okkuta staged a protest against the eviction of forest dwellers who have been residing inside the forest, for generations, in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office in Mangalore on Monday. The protesters shouted slogans against the eviction of the traditional forest dwellers. Addressing the protesters, Federation Vice-President M Sundar said that that the authorities should issue title deeds for the forest dwellers.

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Battle to balance urbanisation with ecological sustainability in China

Published in Thursday December 13th, 2012 In In the media

By the time you finish reading this article, more than 400 Chinese people will have left the countryside and put down new roots in a city. China’s cities, which already house a tenth of the world’s population, are swelling every minute. It is the largest migration in human history, and is a driving force behind China’s demand for everything from steel to sugar to electricity. Perhaps more surprisingly, cities have become a key front in the country’s fight against pollution and efforts to shift toward more sustainable growth.

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Why land is at the centre of all scandals in India

Published in Wednesday December 12th, 2012 In Opinion

Recent estimates indicate that the size of India’s shadow economy may vary from 25% to 50% of the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP). Among the 176 nations ranked in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (2012), India stood at 94, which was a lot worse than Brazil and China. India’s property sector is possibly the worst offender. Barun Mitra, the founder and director of the Delhi-based Liberty Institute, has calculated that all the land transactions, including those related to natural resources like mining, generate $20bn (£12.54bn) to $40bn of illegal money each year.

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Eviction threat hangs over 581 families in India

Published in Friday December 7th, 2012 In In the media

December 07, 2012 The threat of eviction is hanging like the sword of Damocles over 581 families living since many decades in Kalasa hobli. The high court has directed the forest department to evict them within December 31. With the decades-old inam land issue still remains unresolved, the residents are now caught in a catch-22 situation. […]

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China to flatten 700 mountains for new metropolis in the desert

Published in Friday December 7th, 2012 In In the media

In what is being billed as the largest “mountain-moving project” in Chinese history, one of China’s biggest construction firms will spend £2.2bn to flatten 700 mountains levelling the area Lanzhou, allowing developers to build a new metropolis on the outskirts of the north-western city.
The Lanzhou New Area, 500 square miles (130,000 hectares) of land 50 miles from the city, which is the provincial capital of arid Gansu province, could increase the region’s gross domestic product to £27bn by 2030, according to the state-run China Daily. It has already attracted almost £7bn of corporate investment.

Hindus and Sikhs – homeless Afghan citizens

Published in Tuesday December 4th, 2012 In News

For hundreds of years, Hindus and Sikhs have lived in Afghanistan. But even after the fall of the Islamist Taliban regime, they face growing discrimination, forcing many to leave. But, despite being there for centuries, they are discriminated against for their beliefs. The war years forced many people belonging to these two non-Muslim minorities to leave the country. Sometimes you can recognize them on the streets, usually because of their black or wine-red turbans and opulent beards. Others look no different from the rest of the pedestrians, aside from the fact that they may be homeless.

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Japan puts reconstruction projects not linked to disaster zones on hold

Published in Thursday November 29th, 2012 In In the media

November 28, 2012 Japan’s government has suspended 35 projects included in a budget for reconstruction from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami after criticism the spending was not directly related to recovery from the disasters. As much as a fourth of the 11.7 trillion yen ($148 billion) budget had been earmarked for unrelated projects, including […]

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One of the World’s Oldest Tribes halts Dam Construction in Malaysia

Published in Wednesday November 7th, 2012 In Social movement news

November 06, 2012 by Maxine Newlands (freelance journalist and academic researching environmental politics and the media) The controversial Murum dam in Malaysia is the first big overseas project for the China Three Gorges Project Company (CTGC) which is building hydro- and coal-fired power stations in 23 countries. So how it resolves its current conflict with […]

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Villagers face imminent forced eviction at a dam site in Manipur, India

Published in Tuesday November 6th, 2012 In Social movement news

November 1st, 2012 The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Mapithel Dam Affected Villagers Organisation and the Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur that the villagers of Riha, Thawai, Lamlai Khullen, Chadong along the Thoubal River in Ukhrul district, Manipur are likely to be evicted by force to […]

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Protesters in Cambodia Want Obama’s Support Over Evictions

Published in Tuesday November 6th, 2012 In In the media

November 06, 2012 About 100 residents embroiled in land disputes in Phnom Penh submitted a petition to the U.S. Embassy yesterday requesting that President Barack Obama raise the issue of evictions and reform of the country’s land concession policy when he visits Cambodia later this month. The plea comes on the heels of a resolution […]

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