42,000 teachers have not been paid salaries for five to 10 months Even as the State Government attempts to stave off uncomfortable questions about its financial health, claims are surfacing that thousands of government and aided high school teachers have not been paid their salaries for over five months. In some cases, teachers of aided high schools have not been paid for nearly a year. A top official attributed part...

A recent survey carried out by the TNUEF brings to light details of the discrimination Dalits in Madurai have faced for generations. OVER seven decades have rolled by since the freedom fighter A. Vaidhyanatha Iyer successfully led Dalits into the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, overcoming all the impediments posed by the casteist forces that were hell-bent on thwarting the historic event. But the stark reality is that “hidden apartheid” against...

As the central paramilitary forces launched their ground offensive against the Maoists in two districts bordering Maharashtra, the Chhattisgarh Police are also stepping up their own campaign — Operation Green Hunt — in other areas in order to mount pressure on the rebels in the state. “The joint operation, involving the paramilitary forces, has almost started in Rajnandgaon and Kanker in North Bastar. It’s a slow but sure operation. The...

Food prices have shot up by more than 20 per cent in the course of the past 12 months. A vast proportion of the nation is being battered by the price rise — the fixed income group, the working classes, landless peasantry and small farmers who have to buy at least a part of the grains they consume from the market. There is, however, no upheaval among the suffering people....

HIV/AIDS screenings on job applicants and existing employees may be banned under a proposed policy that says the infection should in no way affect employment. The National Policy on HIV/AIDS and Work Place, crafted by the Union labour ministry with the International Labour Organisation’s assistance, will form part of the HIV bill being drawn up by the health ministry. The bill seeks to make employers liable for discrimination against staff with...