The impact of land-related conflicts on India’s society and economy has been vastly underestimated, according to two new reports released at an RRI co-sponsored workshop in New Delhi on November 16, 2016. The two reports found that disputes over common lands that communities depend for their livelihoods are more frequent than expected. The ongoing documentation of land conflicts in India can be found at the Land Conflict Watch Portal, which was also launched on November 16.
In December 2016, RRI also supported local civil society organizations in the organizing of a national convention and release of a new report: Promise and Performance – Ten Years of the Forest Rights Act. On the tenth anniversary of India’s landmark 2006 Forest Rights Act, the new report found that only 3 percent of the Act’s potential to recognize rights for over 200 million traditional forest dwellers has been achieved.