-The Hindustan Times Despite constitutional protection, positive discrimination policies and earmarked budgets, India's 104 million tribal people remain among the poorest and most nutritionally deprived social groups. In 2005-06, 54% of tribal children under five years of age were stunted, which is a measure of chronic undernutrition; this is well above the national average of 48%. Studies carried out between 2006 and 2013 in different states reveal that the percentage of...

-The Indian Express The Rajasthan government has muscled through an ordinance to disqualify its uneducated citizens from contesting the coming panchayat polls - only those who have studied till Class VIII are eligible to stand for election on the general seats. That's a remarkable change in a country where the Constitution allows anyone above the age of 25, irrespective of sex, caste or education, to contest elections to the Lok Sabha...

-The Business Standard Govt suppresses report recommending radical reforms to improve their socio-economic status as it goes against Centre's rapid industrialisation agenda The National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre has suppressed the report of the High-Level Committee on the Status of tribals. The report presents a scathing analysis of how development activities and strategies in India have increased the socio-economic gulf between tribals and rest of the citizens of India and...

-The Hindustan Times Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Eight poor Gond tribals suddenly find themselves in the spotlight: they are the ‘owners' of 43.7 hectares of land worth several crores of rupees, at Pusaur in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh. Ironically, they still seek employment under the welfare scheme MGNREGA. The land in question was used for constructing the 600-MW Korba West Power Co Ltd, a coal-fired power plant, by the Avantha (Thapar) group. Last month,...

-Economic and Political Weekly India's scheduled tribes are among the most deprived socio-economic groups and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme has great potential in tribal areas. While the Andhra Pradesh government has made an effort to ensure implementation of the scheme in the scheduled areas, the gap between administrative orders and the grass-roots level is wide. This article lists measures that could radically improve implementation of the scheme...