Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, in an article on left-wing extremism (“From Tirupati to Pashupati?” The Hindu , October 14, 2011), observed candidly: “It is not the naxals who have created the ground conditions ripe for their ideology — it is the singular failure of successive governments both in the States and the Centre.” There lay the main cause of the festering sore of naxalism, often characterised as left-wing...

“Total abolition of child labour central to human development” The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has ordered a survey of child labour in five districts of Uttar Pradesh, where a large number of children are employed in carpet industry and other labour intensive units. The survey will include data on the number of children rescued and action taken for their rehabilitation. The survey directive was given by a jury...

-PTI   The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from Haryana government on giving a rehabilitation package to 125 Dalits who were forced to leave their village after the killing of a 70-year-old Dalit man and his physically-challenged daughter were killed last year. A bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi asked the state government to respond on the package by Friday. The court was hearing a PIL seeking monetary assistance for the...

-The Deccan Chronicle   Tribal organisations and Adivasi leaders, fighting against a proposal to develop Kawal wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve by evicting adivasis dwelling there for a long time, are willing to discuss the issue only if the state government is ready to hold gram sabhas, a prerequisite for setting up any project under the PESA (Panchayat Raj Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996. District officials concerned have declared the...

-IANS For over a year now a section of a Madhya Pradesh government website has not updated information on the Bhopal gas tragedy. And the facts and figures it gives out are two-three years old. The section of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and rehabilitation Department, a part of www.mpinfo.org, was last updated Dec 9, 2010, while the facts and figures mentioned on it are of 2008 and 2009. The site, which has 10...