In a major bid to overhaul governance in areas vulnerable to Left Wing Extremism, the government is all set to launch a Centrally-sponsored scheme for nearly 300 blocks across seven states. The scheme, christened as Central India Tribal Plan, would be implemented from the next year and executed by hand-picked officers with an impeccable career profile under the direct monitoring of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) to be set up...

IF YOU walked down the streets of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi between 3-5 August, you would see what TV cameras aren’t putting out on primetime news. Thousands of farmers from Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh to Rohtak in Haryana. On protest. Against the systematic grabbing of their land by various state governments across the political spectrum. On one side of the road, on large green carpets, are about 3,000 farmers,...

-The Indian Express   Two months after the Supreme Court issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government to respond to alleged anomalies in MGNREGS pointed out in the survey report of the Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), the state government has formed special teams to investigate the complaints in five districts of bundelkhand. Five teams have been formed to do spot verification of the anomalies pointed out in the report,...

In Uttar Pradesh's most impoverished region, bundelkhand, government officials feed off not just the living but also the dead. Headlines Today has exposed how corrupt officials exploit the grieving families of farmers, who have committed suicide.   In a visit to bundelkhand in 2008, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi repeated a phrase borrowed from his father Rajiv Gandhi: "Out of 100 paise, only 15 paise reaches the poor".   While travelling through this dustbowl...

-MSN   New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) Taking cognizance of complaints on farmer suicides and corruption in giving aid to families in bundelkhand, the NHRC today issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government asking it to submit a report within four weeks.   The National Human Rights Commission said the action came following a media report and a complaint alleging that corrupt officials in bundelkhand region were feeding off aid for the dead...