Chhattisgarh police raided the residence of Jaipur-based human rights activist Kavita Srivastava early on Monday morning in search of a fugitive woman Maoist from that State. Ms. Srivastava, general secretary of PUCL Rajasthan, was not present at the house on Kisan Marg in Shanti Niketan Colony when men in uniform and plainclothes came looking for one Sumit Sodi. The police team, comprising commandos from Chhattisgarh and personnel of Special Task Force of...

Planning Commission’s affidavit to the Supreme Court states that adjusting for inflation, the poverty line for an urban person is Rs 32.5 per day per person and for a rural person it is Rs 29.3 per day per person. This has raised an outcry in media and the urban middle class, who consider them outrageously low. Based on these poverty lines, Planning Commission estimates that there are 40.74 crore persons...

A tiny road flanked by lush turmeric and maize fields veers off the state highway from Dharmapuri to Harur in Tamil Nadu towards Vachathi, a tribal village that has hungered for justice for nearly two decades after an irreparable tragedy destroyed its peace. Nineteen years ago, a large team of Tamil Nadu Police and officers from the forest and revenue departments swooped down on the village nestled in the foothills...

-The Times of India   A comprehensive and multi-sectoral mechanism for control of anemia, a highly prevalent disease among adolescents and women in rural Rajasthan, has been recommended for the state. The recommendation has ben made in a study report released by Vijay Shankar Vyas, an economist and deputy chairman of Rajasthan State Planning Board. The report titled 'Strengthening Adolescent Anemia Control Programme (AACP) in Bikaner and in Jaipur, is prepared by...

The Planning Commission's poverty straightjacket is but one of a series of obstacles faced by “aspirants” to the BPL status. Nothing illustrates the absurdity of current food policies more poignantly than the plight of Dablu Singh's family in Latehar district, Jharkhand. About two years ago Dablu, a young Adivasi who survived mainly from casual labour, fell from a roof at work and broke his back. He is paralysed for life and...