Conceding there is a “development deficit” in some areas, particularly those inhabited by tribals, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that a “holistic development program” is needed in bridging the alienation of people from these areas who are exploited by Maoists. Singh admitted government-sponsored schemes have not worked. “The problems of marginalised sections, many of whom live in areas affected by Left-wing extremism, call out for special attention,” Singh said,...

The four-member panel, which holds the fate of Vedanta's bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa, has been given an expanded mandate. The committee has now been given the job of investigating the “likely physical and economic displacement due to the project, including the resource displacement of forest users and the rehabilitation plan.” Open-ended course It has also been given an open-ended mandate, with permission to “inquire into or investigate any...

The UPA flagship MGNREGA will now be used to address Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s concerns over lack of development in the Tribal Areas. Taking note of the lack of coordination between various implementing agencies involved in tribal welfare, the rural development ministry wants the various schemes under the ministry of tribal affairs to be converged with MGNREGA. To explore this model, the rural development ministry has set up a working group to...

In this land of rolling hills, made lush by the monsoon, traffic ceases after dusk. So it is unusual to hear jeeps running through the night on the winding roads of tribal south Rajasthan. Through the day, the local police, villagers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are out in force, trying to stop what they can only slow—the mass trafficking of children across the border into Gujarat from the Rajasthan districts that...

Ahead of the July 24 National Development Council (NDC) meeting, the Planning Commission will come out with a report on the problems in the Naxal-hit areas and the issues being faced by tribals. "We are going circulate a supplementary report on the special problems of the tribal districts. This will also cover those districts which are in the grip of Naxalism," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters in...