In an unprecedented expression of anger, about 3,000 tribal women Wednesday demonstrated in Barwani before the district collector and the superintendent of police. The demonstrators, including children, were protesting against the arrest of fellow tribals who questioned the rising incidents of maternal deaths in the district government hospitals. The women were gathered under the banner of Jagrit Advasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS), which works for the welfare of tribal farmers. Since April 2010 at...

A small farmer in Maharashtra, whose high-yielding rice variety is popular in five States, is denied the benefits of his research. TWENTY-SEVEN years ago, Dadaji Khobragade of Nanded Fakir village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra noticed yellow seeds in three spikes of a paddy stalk in his field. Intrigued by the freak harvest, he preserved the grains. He subsequently planted them in a six-foot square plot, which he covered with thorny...

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act has in its four years faced many challenges in implementation, says a monitoring report. FIVE years ago, Parliament enacted a significant piece of legislation relating to women. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), 2005, designed as a civil law, came into effect a year later, in October 2006. The fundamental feature of the Act was that it empowered magistrates...

Twenty-two villages around the proposed site for the 9900mw Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) on Monday decided to boycott all educational institutes in the area for the next two days as a form of protest against the state’s propaganda in favour of the project. The villagers allege that the Ratnagiri district administration is forcing teachers from Zilla Parishad (ZP) schools to promote the JNPP by visiting the home of every student. “The...

The National Advisory Council has suggested amendments to the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, and to the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules. It is also awaiting the comments of the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) to its suggestions on the new Right to Information Rules. Finally, in a bid to strengthen the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS),...