-Maintream Weekly In order to reduce and remove the many-sided disadvantages and problems faced by Dalits and adivasis, sub-plans for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been introduced to ensure adequate and justice-based availability of funds for these communities. Summarising the basic idea and rationale for this, the Planning Commission says: “the persistence of socio-economic backwardness of the SCs and STs in spite of the development efforts had warranted a special...

-The Times of India Despite more access to education, better household amenities and increased incomes, the economic gap between upper castes and dalit and tribal communities continues unchanged over the years, according to latest economic data from the NSSO. A comparison of average monthly expenditure of households belonging to dalit communities with upper caste households showed that in rural areas there was a gap of about 38% in 1999-2000 which changed only...

-The Hindu Business Line   Land holders deserve a just, dignified deal. The 2013 came close to that; now, we are turning the clock back It isn't really surprising that the public debate over the land acquisition law has been reduced to a simplistic narrative of whether farmers have become the stumbling blocks to India's growth story by refusing to part with their land. In the past, debates over big dams and nuclear...

-The Hindu Health workers conducting a survey in 10 mandals in the district have so far identified over 10 per cent of the 6,000 respondents carrying different breast infections Adilabad (Telengana): The high incidence of breast infections among Adivasi women of Adilabad in Telangana has created apprehension of more serious health impacts for this remote population. Health workers conducting a survey in 10 mandals in the district have so far identified over 10...

-The Times of India INDORE: After LPG subsidy, Union government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for job applicants under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The move, however, is being criticized by activists. "MGNREGA Management Information System (MIS) is refusing to accept work demand or generate musters for workers unless Aadhaar number is mentioned," said Madhuri from Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan. Terming it latest effort of government to derail MGNREGA, Madhuri...