Nearly 166 jawans of the Indian Reserve Battalion rebelled in Jangalmahal on Wednesday, alleging they were being made to work in inhuman conditions and are getting no help from the police in high-risk operations. The flashpoint of the rebellion was in Silda, where maoists had massacred 24 EFR jawans in February 2010. Three other critically located IRB camps - Salboni, Barikul and Ranibandh - are affected. As news of the revolt...

At the Independent People's Tribunal in Delhi last year, a young tribal man, Lingaram Kodopi, had a question: "My family is well off, but they [security forces] accuse me of being a Naxalite. Why can't we adivasis wear a good watch or drive a car without being picked up by the police?" In September 2009, 10 men with AK-47s entered Kodopi's home in Sameli, Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. They wanted to know...

A question mark has appeared yet again on maoists' intention to open dialogue with the West Bengal government, with the gunning down of a local Trinamool Congress leader in the Jhargram area of Paschim Medinipur district on Tuesday. “A group of armed assailants waylaid Lalmohan Mahato when he was on his way to give tuitions at Pukuria village, and fired at him from point-blank range. He died on the spot. Posters...

-San Francisco Chronicle   Bihar's chief minister, Nitish Kumar, who runs India's poorest and one of its most corrupt regions, announced a novel bid to tackle endemic poverty: taking the state's bureaucrats out of governing. His administration placed advertisements in newspapers this week, seeking a team of professionals to manage a $1.3 billion annual budget for programs involving job creation, housing, infrastructure and microfinance. In Bihar, a state of 103 million people in...

maoists have apologized for killing MGNREGA activist Niyamat Ansari. In a release issued by Koyal Shankh zonal committee of the CPI-maoist, its spokesperson Dinbandhu said the rebels owned up the responsibility for the killing in April, describing it as unfortunate. "He was killed not because of his role as an MGNREGA activist, instead he along with his associate Bhukhan Singh was found guilty of capturing forest land in Jerua village for agricultural...