Not only are the Forest Rights Act and the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act routinely violated in Chhattisgarh, the adivasis are also short-changed on legislative representation and reservations in government jobs. As the state cedes land to capital while reducing the adivasis to an ornamental presence, there is increasing assertion of adivasi identity, born out of class predicaments and experiences of displacement as much as notions of indigeneity. Supriya Sharma...

-The Telegraph The Election Commission has set January 11 as the deadline to cover statues of all political leaders and their party symbols before Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, a decision the CPI called “irrational” today. “The whole work of veiling the statues should be completed by 5pm on 11th January 2012. The district election officer of the districts concerned shall submit to the commission a compliance report in this regard by...

Salman Khurshid’s proposal to send law school graduates to remote districts for a year should also benefit those who need free legal aid THE UNION law ministry’s proposal to send students to practice for a year in far-flung districts of the country after finishing studies is an excellent idea — and long overdue. But it can be a progressive move only if it is thought through properly. Ways have to be...

-PTI Ahead of elections in five states, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal to fill pending vacancies in Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories in the central government, a move that will benefit around 50,000 people. The proposal, discussed and approved in the Cabinet meeting held here this morning, comes soon after the government decision to allow 4.5 per cent reservation to the minorities within the OBC quota. Sources said a...

-The Hindu They will go to temples where it is practised including Kukke Subrahmanya Speakers at a seminar on made snana here on Sunday demanded that the Government abolish the practice across the State, failing which protests against the ritual would be “intensified”. The Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkarvada), the Democratic Youth Federation of India, and the Sahamatha Vedike, which organised a seminar, resolved to intensify their protest by going to all temples where...