In Danta village, 15km from Bhilwara city, 30-odd women start filing in at 8.30 am daily to resume work on building a concrete water reservoir. The women are among the 2,000 people in the village who have got work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) since the scheme, promising 100 days of work a year to one adult member of every rural family, was launched two years ago...

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes on Thursday criticised the Tamil Nadu government for high pendency of cases and low conviction rate under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. Vice-Chairman of the Commission N.M. Kamble, who along with Member of the Commission Mahendra Boddh, conducted a State-level review meeting with Adi-Dravidar Welfare Minister Tamilarasi and senior officials of the government, pulled up the police department...

‘Steps needed to ensure effective utilisation of funds’  Taking a serious note of the non-allocation and under-utilisation of resources for various government schemes, civil society organisations have sought more funds for flagship schemes in the health and education sectors in the Union budget and steps to ensure utilisation of the funds allocated. The Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability and Oxfam India said on Tuesday that there was a need...

Ministries of environment and forests and tribal affairs have jointly set up a 10-member committee to study and assess the impact of Forest Rights Act on sustainable management of forest resources. Given the lead role played by the environment ministry in this committee, concerns have been flagged off by civil society organisations about the real intent and legality of the committee. The committee headed by former director-general of Forest Survey...

हालिया हिट हॉलीवुडी फिल्म अवतार के कथानक और उड़ीसा के गरीब आदिवासियों की जिन्दगी के बीच क्या समानता हो सकती है। एक तरफ थ्रीडी एनिमेशन में बनायी गई अवतार फिल्म है और दूसरी तरफ है सरवाइवल इंटरनेशनल की उड़ीसा के डोंगरिया कोंढ जनजाति की जिन्दगी पर बनायी हुई माइन- स्टोरी ऑव ए सैक्रेड माऊंटेन नाम की एक डॉक्यूमेंट्री। दस मिनट की इस डॉक्यूमेंट्री में डोंगरिया कोंढ़ जनजाति की दुर्दशा की...