The 3-1 conclusion of the POSCO panel that all clearances to the Rs 50,000-crore project be scrapped should haven’t come as a surprise to at least one person: Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. The panel’s report now wends its way through the Ministry’s official expert committees. For, Ramesh had handpicked these members and each of the three who opposed the project has, in the past, taken clearly stated positions on infrastructure projects,...

The Supreme Court today directed the Haryana government to file a fresh status report within three weeks giving details of the relief and rehabilitation measures undertaken in Mirchpur, the scene of violence against dalits in April this year. A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly passed the order after senior counsel Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the victims comprising about 150 families which had fled the village following the incidents,...

Dalit activist Meena Kandasamy: This is something that has to be changed dalits make up more than 16% of India's population of one billion. Yet, despite years of campaigning and state intervention, many of them still face discrimination in society. Their hardship has been highlighted at an exhibition in London. A little girl leans against a stained turquoise concrete wall. You first notice her face, which appears deep in thought - then your...

An ' untouchability fence' that prevented dalits from using roads in a hamlet near Krishnagiri in western Tamil Nadu was pulled down after it was brought to the notice of the police and revenue authorities. The barbed wire fence put up by non-dalits around an elementary school at Ittikkal Agaram in Krishnagiri district prevented eight Dalit families of the locality from using an approach road leading out of the village for...

Hundreds of dalits belonging to Chettipulam, a village near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district are planning to embrace Buddhism on December 6, the death anniversary of B R Ambedkar. During September 2009, the CPI(M) had alleged that the dalits were not being allowed entry into the temple by the villagers. The party organised temple entry agitations twice - on Sep 30,and Oct 14 of that year. On the first occasion, the temple remained...