The Supreme Court order against the Salwa Judum’s vigilantism in Chhattisgarh must be read by all, especially government officials. The details of the civil war in the tribal districts of Chhattisgarh are largely unknown to most readers of this newspaper. For the region is remote and inaccessible, and easily ignored by the national media.   This civil war pits, on the one side, Maoist extremists, and, on the other, a band of...

TODAY, India is considered around the world as a rapidly developing country posting economic growth rates of around 8-9 percent consistently over the last several years. Along with China, which is much further ahead, India is seen as a powerhouse of the global economy in the decades to come and already it is home to a very large number of dollar billionaires, perhaps the largest such number in Asia. In...

A marked jump in the number of Maoist kangaroo courts this year points to an expansion in rebel “guerrilla zones” and “liberated zones” in central and eastern India, government sources have said. The Maoists initially form “guerrilla areas” by pushing in militia and introducing the local people to their writ. These develop into “guerrilla zones” in the second stage and into “liberated zones” in the third. The so-called liberated zones in Maad...

-The Economic Times   Chhattisgarh will set up seven Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Maoist-hit districts in a bid to stop youths from joining the rebels, officials said Saturday. "The central government has approved a proposal of the state government for setting up seven ITIs in districts worst hit by Maoist militancy. Each ITI will cost Rs.3.72 crore, which includes the cost of constructing the building and a 100-student capacity hostel," a...

Power comes through the barrel of a gun, Mao Zedong said. For Lekha-Mendha, though, such power seems rooted in bamboo. The village in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli today became the first in India to win the right to grow, harvest and sell bamboo, a key goal of a five-year-old central law which aims to give tribal communities control over some resources of the jungles they live in. “This is a historic day. Bamboo has...