We are delivering relief materials, claim maoists A local newspaper has claimed that six Adivasis died of starvation at Morpalli village in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, where the security forces allegedly burnt 34 homes and granaries, sexually assaulted two women and killed one man on March 11. Last week, The Hindu reported the allegations that the security forces had torched about 300 homes and granaries, sexually assaulted three women and killed at least...

One officer allegedly beat him with rifle butt, accusing him of sending food to maoists Two days after The Hindu reported that security forces burnt down close to 300 homes and granaries in three villages of Chhattisgarh's violence-wracked Dantewada district, Special Police Officers (SPOs) assaulted a truck owner for delivering emergency rations to these villages. According to eyewitness reports, Koya commandos (tribal police corps), during a five-day anti-maoist offensive from March 11...

Collector, Senior Superintendent of Police transferred following reports of torching of villages A large group comprising Special Police Officers (SPOs) of the Chhattisgarh police and members of the Salwa Judum attacked social activist Swami Agnivesh on Saturday as he attempted to deliver relief to a village allegedly torched by security forces in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. On March 23, The Hindu published reports and photographs alleging that SPOs had torched about 300 homes,...

Social activist Swami Agnivesh phoned Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, briefed him on his travel plans, and then embarked on a trip to the three villages allegedly burnt by the police in Dantewada. But he still could not get there. Along with his co-travellers, two teachers of 'Art of Living', he was physically obstructed and abused by a crowd on Saturday morning at Dornapal town, roughly 50 kilometres short of the...

The Prime Minister's focus on double-digit growth is not due to any ‘growth mania'. It is for the benefit of the poor. At a recent function for police officers, the Prime Minister observed: “If we don't control Naxalism, we have to say goodbye to our country's ambition to sustain a growth rate of 10 to 11 per cent per annum.” Some commentators (like Prof Prabhat Patnaik of JNU) interpret this (in a...