The tribal people of Chhattisgarh are in an extremely dangerous situation, caught as they are between the state forces and the Maoists. THIRTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD Soni Sori, an Adivasi schoolteacher from Chhattisgarh, was arrested in Delhi on October 4 on charges of acting as a conduit between the Essar group and the Maoists, the former accused of giving “protection money” to the latter. On October 7, she moved the Delhi High Court to...
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Tribals hungry as Congress-ruled Centre, Rajasthan squabble by Srinand Jha
Rs. 72 crore fund meant to stop chronic malnutrition and hunger deaths among the state’s 90,000 Sahariya tribals unspent or used for welfare of officials Baran, Rajasthan: The consequences of careless, uncaring governance in Jaipur and Delhi-both ruled by the Congress-are proving deadly to India’s poorest tribals and providing a warning to the dangers inherent in India’s upcoming multi-billion dollar social-security scheme. At a time when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)...
More »Government plans to revamp proposed food security Bill by Liz Mathew
Ahead of next year’s assembly elections, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government plans to revise a proposed food security law to bring it in line with a previous draft that is deemed more liberal, and expedite its execution. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who also heads the National Advisory Council (NAC) that drafted the initial National Food Security Bill, has suggested some crucial changes to the version that was made public...
More »Scavenging, NREGA kept PM, Sonia busy during 2G, Anna storms by DK Singh
What kept Prime Minister Manmohan Singh busy after securing minister A Raja’s resignation on the night of November 14 last year? He was writing a reply to National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s letter on the practice of manual scavenging. On November 15, he wrote to her that he was asking the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment to “examine how to strengthen” implementation of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and...
More »Food Bill: Government may raise general quota if output improves
-PTI The government has decided to redraft the National Food Security Bill to keep an option open for supplying more than three kilograms of subsidised foodgrains to general households in case of increased output. "We have received public comments and views of state governments on the draft Food Bill. We have decided to make some changes while finalising the bill," Food Minister K V Thomas told PTI. In cases of general households' entitlement...
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