Not only are the Forest Rights Act and the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act routinely violated in Chhattisgarh, the adivasis are also short-changed on legislative representation and reservations in government jobs. As the state cedes land to capital while reducing the adivasis to an ornamental presence, there is increasing assertion of adivasi identity, born out of class predicaments and experiences of displacement as much as notions of indigeneity. Supriya Sharma...

-The Hindustan Times   The Darul-Uloom Deoband’s demand to ban the entry of writer Salman Rushdie into the country took a political turn in Uttar Pradesh on Monday. With an eye on the 17% Muslim electorate in the state, leaders of most parties quickly took poll position. But leaders of the ruling BSP were unavailable for comment. Rushdie, who earned the wrath of Muslims worldwide for his book The Satanic Verses, is scheduled to...

After leaving its rivals in Uttar Pradesh, barring BJP, tongue-tied with its poll-eve announcement of 4.5% minority quota in central jobs, Congress has flashed yet another ace by wooing the community with the promise of 9% reservation, also within the existing 27% OBC quota, in state government jobs if voted to power.  The promise will be made in Congress' election manifesto for Uttar Pradesh. Salman Khurshid, who is part of the...

-The Hindu   Members quite satisfied with Chief Minister's stand on the issue   Sticking to the position that nothing short of closure of the Nuclear Power Plants in Kudankulam would satisfy them, members of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) on Monday announced a series of protests in January to highlight their demand. Talking to reporters, S.P. Udayakumar, Co-ordinator of the PMANE, said on January 14, the day of Bhogi, villagers in Kudankulam...

-The Economic Times   It doesn't need economists, environmentalists or water conservation experts to tell us that the promise of free water is a disastrous idea. It will encourage farmers to cultivate water-guzzling crops. And in the process, it will lower water table levels, making water an even more precious commodity.  But this is election season when parties consider the exchequer as candy-vending machines. It is also the season when bad politics prevails...