Maheshwar (Khargone district, M.P.): “ Hamaari ladaai vikas se nahi, visthaapan se hai [Our fight is against displacement, not development],” Radhe Shyam Patidar of Pathrad village says, with a hint of aggression visible in the wrinkles around his ageing eyes. “We are only demanding proper rehabilitation for our village and we will not back down on that,” he says. Interestingly, whether the Maheshwar dam project, India's first privately financed hydroelectric project,...

In the course of a speech at a public event on the eve of Women’s Day, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan gave voice to his views on the victims of rape. “Due regard must be given to their personal autonomy since in some cases the victim may choose to marry the perpetrator or choose to give birth to a child conceived through forced intercourse,” he said in his address...

AS HE FINISHED an animated anecdote-filled account of how they wrested a tworoom apartment in return for bulldozed homes on the banks of the Sabarmati, Rajendra Nathalal Choudhary turned towards a middle aged man and said, “This is all thanks to Mohammad bhai. He inspired us to unite and fight for our rights. If not for him, we would have been homeless.” Mohammad bhai blushed, in the way a middle-aged man...

People in the southern state of Kerala are the heaviest drinkers in India, and sales of alcohol are rising fast. The BBC's Soutik Biswas examines why. Jacob Varghese says he began drinking when he was nine years old, sipping on his father's unfinished whisky and brandy in glass tumblers. It's a terrifying story of a descent into alcoholism for this 40-year-old health inspector. At school, he consumed cheap local liquor. He...

Central scheme boosts crop yields significantly, but suffers as NREGA’s success eats into the available workforce S. Mallika, 27, is expecting a windfall this year. The farmer from Kurumpatti village in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district owns a 5 acre tract, which has been yielding an annual income of Rs50,000 for her family—until now. This year, Mallika is confident her earning would be six times more—Rs3 lakh—and that too from just 1,000 sq....