-The Hindu   Governments of all hues at the Center and state levels have always claimed to be working for uplift of dalits and tribals, two of the most deprived sections in India. Together, they comprise nearly a quarter of India's population. Yet progress has been slow and patchy despite decades of affirmative action. Why?  Part of the answer lies in gross neglect and insincerity of political rulers - this is the conclusion...

-The Business Standard Is river interlinking really worthwhile and viable? The Supreme Court’s startling directive to the Centre to set up a “special committee” to expedite river interlinking, which the Court declared was in the “national interest”, has caused the grandiose project to be, once again, closely examined. The idea has been fashionable in fits and starts; it was conceived as far back as the 1970s, and was promoted by the National...

India’s decision-makers seem to find it difficult to see that there are children in the country. Being unable to see them, they are unable to perceive that they are hungry. In an age when we are able to use euphemisms like ‘under-nutrition’, this is perhaps not surprising. But it is disgraceful none the less.   This country has a large population of children. Fortyone per cent of its total numbers. The national...

-The Hindu   Fears expressed over misuse of Forest Rights Act Fearing that the Forest Rights Act, 2006, will be used as a populist programme leading to ineligible people benefitting from land grants, the Director-General of Forests has written to all Chief Secretaries of States to exercise restraint in granting land ownership records (pattas). Kaushik Mukherjee, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment, said this at the national-level workshop on...

A well-established nexus between coal smugglers, Maoists and a section of police has ensured illegal mining is a thriving trade in the coal belt and it was no different in Bokaro today, barely 24 hours after a cave-in led to the death of five women at Jhungurghuttu, just about 400 metre away from Chandrapura police station. According to an intelligence bureau report, coal mined illegally from areas in Chandankyari, Chandrapura and...