-The Hindu Concerned over the extreme left groups' penetration into tribal territories and their ability to win over the hearts and minds of people deprived of basic necessities of life, the government has drawn-up a NINe point action plan to deal with a host of development challenges. The action plan is an outcome of series of meeting of a specially constituted Review Group of LWE (Left-Wing Extremism) under the aegis of...

-Rising Kashmir Jammu, Apr 14: Despite liberal funding from Government of India for its popular scheme of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), state government has failed to complete 34886 works since its inception from 2007. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report of 2011-12 found that the number of works taken up for execution each year had been very high and the number of incomplete works...

-The Times of India Reflecting the grievances of people in Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern states, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said prolonged deployment of armed forces in disturbed areas was bound to result in extra-judicial killings. Dealing with the issues raised by public interest litigations alleging 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur in the last three decades, a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana P Desai said, "Manipur's woes must...

-The Economic Times Tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deohas reportedly written to the governors of NINe states asking them to cancel miNINg concessions granted in violation of the law. The Forest Rights Act of 2006 mandates the permission of the gram sabha of a tribal community for using their habitat for purposes other than customary use. So, if miNINg leases have been granted without the permission of gram sabhas on tribal land,...

-The Hindu     The shortened lifespan of the quarry workers of Uttar Pradesh is spent breaking stones and residing among the pollution- laden boulders Mired with sandy roads and rocky terrain, the landscape in south-western Allahabad creates a remarkable mirage under the blue sky. Some of the larger rocks here have sizeable craters formed in them -- a sign of their depletion over time, by an activity that is hazardous yet critical to the...