-Outlook Ranchi: Demanding protection of tribal land under the fifth schedule of the Constitution, CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat today accused Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda of treating tribals like a "football". "Chief Minister Arjun Munda has taken the tribals for a football, hitting them wherever he wished. Under the 5th Schedule, tribal land cannot be snatched away," Karat said while addressing a rally organised by Adivasi Adhikar Rastriya Manch here. Accusing Congress...

-Rediff.com Today, Irom Sharmila, the Manipur civil rights activist, marks 12 years of her fast in protest against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state. She remains in judicial custody where she continues to be force-fed through her nose. Deepti Priya Mehrotra, author of Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur, recalls her association with the Iron Lady of Manipur. I met her initially in October 2006...

-The Times of India KOCHI: The private schools in the state which don't meet the infrastructure requirements as prescribed in the Right to education (RTE) Act have a reason to smile. The sixteenth joint mission of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, in its latest report, has suggested that instead of closing down private schools that are not RTE-compliant, the state governments should ensure that quality standards are met both by private as...

-The Hindustan Times In a report released in October, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Oraganisation (FAO), which leads international efforts to defeat hunger, said that economic growth is not enough to reduce hunger and malnutrition. To beat the twin menace, it added, a country needs nutrition-sensitive agriculture, social protection and purposeful and decisive public policies. Both statements hold true for India. But the unfortunate part is that while the country has been...

-Mail Today   THE edifice of Arvind Kejriwal’s guerilla war on politicians and big business has been bankrolled by corporate big wigs who donated to his Public Cause Research Foundation. India Against Corruption, which has unfurled the banner of revolt against all- pervasive corruption, actually draws its lineage from Public Cause Research Foundation. And if you were wondering where the movement got sustenance from, strangely it came from a combination of businessmen and bankers. They...