Muslims, SCs, STs reflect better social indices, closer to national averages Early in the morning, Mohammad Nadeem, a 25-year-old ‘pakka adati’, big wholesaler, at one of Muzaffarnagar’s fruit and vegetable mandis, briskly sets about selling carrots and oranges. As he expertly sifts through sacks of fresh produce, it’s difficult to picture him hawking peanuts by the roadside. But for five years in this bustling western Uttar Pradesh mandi, Nadeem’s store...

-The Hindu   The Union government has directed the Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to take action for the exploitation of Jarawa tribal women, who were made to dance semi-nude before tourists. tribal Affairs Minister Krishna Chandra Deo told journalists that the Centre had directed the Lt. Governor to bring the culprits to book and enquire the circumstances in which the tribal women were subjugated to such abominable repression and prevent...

-Khaleej Times Online   Maoists have stepped up their campaign against the proposed bauxite mining in north coastal Andhra Pradesh, with the extremists asking lawmakers to pass a resolution in the state Legislative Assembly pledging not to take up mining in the tribal areas. The outlawed outfit, CPI (Maoist), put up banners and posters and distributed pamphlets in several villages in Visakhapatnam district warning of serious consequences if the legislators went ahead with...

Activists working for the rights of tribes people are concerned about their portrayal in the media in India. London-headquartered Survival International, which lobbies for the rights of tribal people across the world, said it is concerned about how tribals are viewed in India. “They are often referred to as ‘primitive’ and ‘backward’, implying that their way of life is in some way inferior and needs to be ‘developed,’” Survival’s South Asia campaigner...

The recent shocking video showing naked Jarawa tribeswomen being forced to dance for food by tourists may highlight the risks of isolated, indigenous peoples of the world having contact with the modern world. The Jarawas of India’s Andaman and Nicobar islands are only one of several reclusive tribes around the world that are now facing extinction. While the government of India and tribal affairs officials have tried to protect people like the...