The government will set up a National Tribal Council headed by the Prime Minister to monitor implementation of the many policies and schemes for tribals it has announced. The move comes at a time the Centre has identified tribal development as one of its two prongs to defeat the Maoists. The Congress too has stepped up efforts to woo back its once committed Adivasi vote bank, as Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit...

Sitting on his father’s shoulders, two-year-old Rahul Kumar giggles and tugs on a lock of his father’s hair. A happy, healthy-looking boy, Rahul has already seen much of India. Born in a small village in northern Bihar, he has spent roughly half of his short life in Punjab, where his parents work as seasonal farm labourers. He has spent a few months in his parents’ village. The rest has been spent...

Concerned over the increasing instances of iodine deficiency and hypothyroidism among women and children in the country, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath has demanded that early detection of iodine imbalance be made part of routine health check-ups. In a letter to Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ms. Tirath suggested that arrangements be made for early detection of this deficiency at the health...

As the tribal heartland seethes with anger over displacement and Naxalism, the PM has formed an apex advisory body of Centre and states to guide policies affecting the ethnic population. The Centre has formed a ' National Council for Tribal Welfare' to provide policy guidelines across the board. It will comprise key central ministries with a bearing on tribal lives and chief ministers of schedule V and VI states. It...

Realising it was losing the turf war with the hyperactive Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on a subject that has become a top priority for the United Progressive Alliance government, the once comatose Tribal Affairs Ministry has, in recent weeks, suddenly begun to assert its rights over its responsibilities. The first sign of this realisation was reflected in Tribal Affairs Minister Kantilal Bhuria shooting off letters in quick succession on...