I read Aman Sethi's piece on the Saranda Development Plan (“Nine months on, police camps sole development in Saranda plan”, June 4) with great interest but with greater anguish. Before I deal with his main charge — that private mining interests are behind the SDP — I want to lay out what the SDP is all about. It is the first systematic experiment in combining a security-oriented and development-focussed approach...
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APJ Abdul Kalam’s scheme to bridge urban-rural divide set to take off
-The Times of India Missile man APJ Abdul Kalam's vision of bridging the urban-rural divide through a new scheme is set to take off, with the Planning Commission agreeing to allocate Rs 1,500 crore in the 12th five-year plan and the Centre likely to start 15 projects this year. The Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) would target development in 'census towns' by undertaking key activities like sanitation, water supply,...
More »CRPF set up camps in Maoist affected villages of Jharkhand
Sarju (Jharkhand), June 5 (ANI): The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has set up camps in Maoist infested villages of Jharkhand to combat left wing extremism and bridge the gap between villagers and security personnel. For the past few years, the rebels have stepped up their efforts against the government and locals through killings and abductions. The CRPF and Jharkhand Police have launched joint operations in Sarju village of Jharkhand's Latehar District...
More »Problems in Orissa worsening, but the state's response is clueless-Niranjan Patnaik
Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is the foremost problem of Orissa and the most daunting challenge for CM Naveen Patnaik, whose 12-year tenure has witnessed a rapid rise in intensity and spread of Maoist insurgency in the state. Twentyfour of the 30 districts are now affected. Orissa has become a refuge for Maoist cadres who freely migrate to neighbouring regions. In many of the troubled territories, especially in south-western parts of the state,...
More »BD Sharma, mover behind the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act interviewed by Richard Mahapatra
Past two months saw B D Sharma negotiating release of high-profile hostages by the Maoists in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. TV viewers saw and heard Sharma, probably for the first time. Widely respected in the civil society, he has been championing the rights of tribals for four decades now. He served as collector in the undivided Bastar district of Chhattisgarh in the 1970s, after which he quit the Indian Administrative Service....
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