Book Review Title: Dudiya: In Your Burning Land Author: Vishwas Patil Translator: Nadeem Khan Publisher: Niyogi Books, New Delhi, 2023 Pages: 220 According to official data, 25% of India’s land is forest. In reality, only 12% is forest. The rest has been encroached on by the corporate sector with the permission of the government. Even the Modi government which pretends to be corruption-free and idealistic has altered the forest laws in order to hand over certain forest land to some corporate bigwigs under various guises including environment protection! The people who are most affected by these shady deals between the Indian government and the corporate sector are the tribals and Adivasis living in the forests. This novel by Vishwas Patil, written originally in Marathi, is about these shady affairs in the forests of the country, particularly in Dandakaranya in Chhattisgarh. Dudiya is a real character, an Adivasi woman whose people were betrayed first by the government...
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