Revenue officials on Saturday demolished two portions of a one-km-long compound wall in Nagarajapuram on the outskirts of the city, which had denied dalits in the area access to the main road. The demolition of the “untouchability wall” along two stretches of 30 ft and 23 ft has now provided residents of the Dalit colony an easier access to the main road that stretches from Thadagam Road to Thondamuthur Road. A...

In the end, Gangula Tadangi succumbed to tuberculosis. The Kondh Adivasi’s life could have been saved if he had made it to the hospital on time. But he was in judicial custody at Koraput district jail in southern Odisha for allegedly “waging war against the Indian State”. During his last moments, Tadangi, 25, is said to have whispered something in Kondh. But nobody could make out anything because no one...

Over 200 families in this district of Madhya Pradesh continue to bear the brunt of caste discrimination.Vidisha, a thriving trade centre of ancient India, finds glorious mention variously for Emperor Ashoka's governorship, for featuring in Pali scriptures and Kalidasa's romantic epic Meghdoot, as a premier tourist destination in glossy brochures of Madhya Pradesh Tourism and as the parliamentary constituency of Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok...

In a bid to re-target and empower the Dalit population — especially in States like Uttar Pradesh, which is bound for Assembly elections in 2012 — the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, under its new chairman P.L. Punia, has decided to organise camps to apprise dalits of their legal rights.According to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, these awareness camps will be held in all divisions and mandals of...

To ensure a free and fair trial, the Supreme Court has transferred a trial relating to mayhem of dalits allegedly by upper caste Hindus in Haryana’s Hisar district in April to a special court in Rohini in Delhi. A Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly ordered the transfer on Wednesday “to ensure that the trial is free from any fear or pressure from any quarter”. The...