-The Hindu Study conducted by Madurai-based NGO reveal Villupuram, Virudhunagar, Dharmapuri and Theni among districts topping the list Madurai: In the last 15 years, atrocities against Dalits touched their peak in 2012 across Tamil Nadu, with Villupuram, Virudhunagar, Dharmapuri and Theni among districts topping the list. A comprehensive study conducted by Madurai-based NGO ‘Evidence' recently reveals that except in the Dharmapuri incident, compensation and rehabilitation had not reached the victims across the...

-The Hindu Hailed as path-breaking, the scheme completes seven years on February 2. Six districts were chosen as part of the first phase in 2006. As in other parts of the country, the scheme has thrown up several issues such as livelihood security and gender empowerment. Starting today, we will be carrying a series of field reports. VILLUPURAM: Divergence of views prevails over the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment...

The alleged incident of two quarry workers in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district being forced to swallow faeces draws attention to larger issues. NORMALLY the villages and hamlets in and around Thiruvakkarai in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district are woken up by the loud noise and vibrations caused by the blasting of rocks and the pounding of boulders with sledge hammers, apart from the rattling sound of tipper lorries transporting stones from 40-odd...

The police action against Dalits in Paramakudi leaves indelible scars on the psyche of the oppressed people all over Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu Police, in its modern avatar, reflects a glorious tradition of over a century and a half. It was the only force to embark on State-sponsored modernisation in the early 1990s which was pioneered by me during my first tenure as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996....

In Tamil Nadu, untouchability is so deep-rooted that there are separate burial spaces for Dalits and upper castes even in some urban pockets. “Samarasam ulavum idame Nam vaazhvil kaanaa Samarasam ulavum idame… Jaathiyil melor enrum Thaaznthavar keezhor enrum bethamillathu Ellorum mudivil serndhidum kaadu Thollai inriye thoongidum veedu Ulaginile ithuthaan Nam vaazhvil kaanaa Samarasam ulavum idame…” (Here, in this place pervades equality Which one could not have seen ever in one's lifetime! Steering clear of caste discriminations Such as the high, the low and...