It has been a long and difficult road to justice for the tribal residents of this village in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district The injustice done to the tribal people of India is a shameful chapter in our country's history. The tribals were called ‘rakshas' (demons), ‘asuras', and what not. They were slaughtered in large numbers, and the survivors and their descendants were degraded, humiliated, and all kinds of atrocities inflicted on...

The death recently in Nairobi of Kenyan environmental crusader and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai brings to mind the work of another development activist and Nobel peace laureate (2006), Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh. Their fields were different but their goals were the same: empowering poor, ordinary women for social and economic growth. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has gone to three women who are...

-The Hindustan Times   A day after he quit Team Anna, activist Rajendra Singh accused Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal of autocratic behaviour and expressed unhappiness over politicisation of the India Against Corruption campaign.  In an exclusive interview to HT, Singh said, "I have left the core team. But I will continue to campaign against corruption in various spheres of life."  Singh, a Magsaysay award winner for his work on water conservation in Rajasthan,...

Used to getting jobs done through contracts, government department assigned budgets under rural employment guarantee schemes have failed to use earmarked funds, while job card holders in the countryside are making the best of what is available. Government documents showed that of the Rs 880 crore funds available under MNREGA for Himachal in 2010-11, ten line government departments under the flagship programme had spent only Rs 15.57 crore till September. Besides a...

NPCIL asked to submit documentary evidence   If the commissioning of the first two units of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) has been stalled by protests from the locals backed by the State Government, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is sweating it out with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to obtain final clearance for units three to six (KKNPP 3–6). MoEF's Expert Appraisal Committee once again deferred...