Articles by A G Noorani

collected in open meetings of the villagers in the areas near to the proposed protected forests. The Government of Madhya Pradesh had laid down a good procedure for collection of information through open public meetings, in its order relating to the regularisation of encroachments on forest lands. (Madhya Pradesh Government Forest Department Order No. 5/18/78/10/2 Bhopal, October 24, 1978. Sec also S D Kulkami, "Encroachmerits on Forest Lands: The Experience in Maharashtra", EFW, November 19, 1979.) The procedure laid down in the bill appears to be far from satisfactory and will deprive all the people living near protected forests of all their customary claims, essential for their living. The same practice should be followed to ascertain people's rights over protected forests and village forest.

December 12, 1981 cious of their powerful union leaders and the BOCL management The DC is under pressure to withdraw the cases; if he does, the incipient resistance to injustice will die out For, despite the blatant injustice of the case and despite the fact that the workers are all harijans and tribals

Right to March in Procession A G Noorani THE Jatindra Narain Commission's Report, published recently, on the Jamshedpur riots which erupted on April 11, 1979, on the occasion of the Ram Navami festival, raises some pertinent questions about the citizen's right to go in a procession over a public road. These very questions were raised in Justice D P Madon's Report on the Bhiwandi riots which broke out in May 1970 during the Shiv Jayanti festival. The central issue in both cases was the right of a group of citizens to go through a particular route despite the objection of another group and in an atmosphere surcharged with hostility between the two groups.

Externing Political Opponents A G Noorani DEPORTATIONS or externments are becoming increasingly common these days. The vital question is

Realism on the Border A G Noorani A SETTLEMENT of the India-China border dispute is best pursued for its own sake, for the gains of an agreed border and the completion of the 'unfinished business' of demarcating India's northern frontiers. The gaps arc obvious and dangerous. For example, most of the work of demarcating the frontier with Burma is over bar the last stage which is contingent on a settlement with China. The Indo-Bur- mese Boundary Agreement of March 10, 1967 leaves "the exact location" of the northern extremity "provisional pending its final determination" because that is the trijunction of the borders of India, Burma and China. Sino-Indian accord is, therefore, indispensable for a complete Indo-Burma border accord. Likewise, the Sino-Nepalese border protocol, signed on November 20, 1979, leaves the two extremities undefined because they represnt the trijunction points where the two countries meet India