BANWARA, India – In the fall of 2006, Gita Devi was pregnant with her sixth child when her family fell on hard times. A severe drought made it more difficult than ever to find farm work here in India’s northeastern plains. The family couldn’t afford food. It was unable to get a government ration card to buy grains and rice at steep discounts, even though it clearly was poor enough to...

The media's failure to recruit Dalits is a betrayal of the constitutional guarantees of equality and fraternity. There were almost none in 1992, and there are almost none today: Dalits in the newsrooms of India's media organisations. Stories from the lives of close to 25 per cent of Indians (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) are unlikely to be known — much less broadcast or written about. Unless, of course, the stories are...

'This will send a strong message that State will not compromise on corruption' Even as an hour-long meeting on Saturday between Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav indicated that the phase of Centre-State confrontation might just be over, the Central Minister has urged Mr. Yadav to recommend a CBI probe into the irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee...

In the first instance of Maoists targeting foreigners, two Italian tourists were abducted in the forests bordering Orissa's Kandhamal-Ganjam districts. The kidnapping came to light late on Saturday night after the Maoists released two men abducted along with the Italians, Bosusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo.  The Maoists claim the four were kidnapped on March 14. This came to light only after the release of Sontosh Moharana and Kartik Parida with audio...

A police constable, allegedly beaten up by a group of miscreants who harassed his niece three days ago, died of injuries here on Sunday. Ashim Dam, a resident of Birati on the northern fringes of the city, died at a private hospital. His family alleged that although they had named the seven persons who perpetrated the attack, none had been arrested so far. “The incident occurred on the day of Holi [March 8]....