-The Hindu They will go to temples where it is practised including Kukke Subrahmanya Speakers at a seminar on made snana here on Sunday demanded that the Government abolish the practice across the State, failing which protests against the ritual would be “intensified”. The dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkarvada), the Democratic Youth Federation of India, and the Sahamatha Vedike, which organised a seminar, resolved to intensify their protest by going to all temples where...

-The Hindu   Right to Information (RTI) activist R. Marijoseph has alleged that Hassan Taluk Panchayat Executive Officer threatened to kill him for seeking information about irregularities in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). Speaking to presspersons here on Saturday, Mr. Marijoseph said the dalit Vimochana Manava Hakkugala Vedike, under his leadership, had staged a protest on Thursday, demanding inquiry into irregularities in projects under MNREGA in many gram panchayats...

-The Times of India   dalit Venture Capital Fund is the next big idea as the Centre looks to roll out 'procurement quota' in government purchases from small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The Fund would seek to buy equity in dalit companies to provide capital support as investment. The Centre is mulling creation of a special purpose vehicle or a capital support system to help develop entrepreneurs among scheduled castes and tribes. The...

The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has called upon Parliament to reject the National Food Security Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. In a statement issued on Friday, the association said the Bill was a “more dangerous and rehashed version” of the current Targeted Public Distribution System, that proved to be an “utter failure” in view of the manner in which it eroded the food security of the...

The setting aside of 50% of seats in the proposed Lokpal for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, women and minorities, triggered a sharp debate within parties today around a central, normative question: should social diversity, especially inclusion of minorities, weigh in an empowered body to “fight corruption?”   While the BJP has opposed it and Team Anna, caught off-guard on a sensitive political issue, has declined to comment, legal experts...