The number of cases in which the totally unconstitutional caste panchayats have openly defied the law of the land by issuing illegal diktats has increased manifold. In Haryana today, rapid capitalist transformation is accompanied by a regressive feudal consciousness. As education and political awareness spread among Dalits, women and backward sections, alongside there is a massive consolidation of caste (khap) panchayats in defence of the status quo. The number of cases...

In a letter to an RTI activist, the Department of Personnel and Training (Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions) has admitted to considering about a dozen amendments to the Right to Information Act, with the assurance that any amendment “will be made only after consultation with the stakeholders.” The letter to Subhash Chandra Agrawal is upfront about at least two of the amendments: exempting the office of the Chief Justice...

CBI has registered more than 200 cases of corruption against government employees, including some senior officials, between January and March this year. “The CBI has registered 2,439 cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act against public servants including senior officers during the last three years (2007, 2008, 2009) and the current year (upto March 2010),” minister of state for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Prithviraj Chavan told Lok Sabha in a...

Karupayee is one of the first at the panchayat union office, hoping there's work for her under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MNREGS). Her story is similar to millions of other Indians who have benefited from the government programme providing for 100 days of guaranteed employment. But Karupayee is 101 years old. Karupayee of Thanakankulam village in Thiruparankundram panchayat union in Madurai district is probably the oldest...

Last summer, about 150 families of Kachan village in Jharkhand’s Palamu district decided to pool funds to repair their only community tube well. A drought, the worst in many years, had dried up two ponds; there were no wells around; and the tube well had been dysfunctional for a year. It took a lot of hardship and one whole month for them to put together what the mechanic had asked...