Access to land and its resources is important since it determines the extent of poverty and deprivation one faces. Historically tribal populations and other traditional forest dwellers did not enjoy any legal entitlement such as ownership rights or user rights of the forest lands where they had been living since ages, both communally and individually. The Forest Rights Act (FRA) is, thus, seen as a progressive legislation that attempted to...

-The Hindu Report lauds scheme but finds fault with the government for not identifying deserving beneficiaries in each area Chennai: The deficit in local bodies such as Chennai Corporation was widening owing to the increase in expenditure on Amma Canteens. According to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on local bodies for the year ended March 31, 2015, the expenditure on Amma Canteens in 2014-2015 crossed Rs.100 crore in...

-Outlook A crusader for Dalit rights, Bezwada Wilson, on reclaiming for the Dalits a life of human dignity in a structurally apathetic society. On many occasions, the Ramon Magsaysay Award has been bestowed on individuals of various ilks and ideological persuasions. For the first time, perhaps, it speaks to an issue that touches the lives of millions of people because an award for Bezwada Wilson (50) is an international acknowledgement of the...

The state of Jharkhand has been in the news recently but for the wrong reasons. The NREGS workers who worked for constructing dobhas (small farm ponds) across the state during April to June 2016 have been treated unfairly by the officials in the sense that they were not paid their due wages, alleges a group of local activists. Despite complaints being made by the aggrieved workers, no action has been...

Rising prices of dal: How to deal with it? The 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. In India, however, ordinary citizens are under enormous duress due to the skyrocketing prices of dal/ lentils since the last one year. The website of Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs shows that dal prices varied across places. For example, the...