-The Hindu   His party will raise issue with NHRC, Scheduled Castes panel The Paramakudi police firing was State-sponsored, brutal murder of six Dalits and an attempt to suppress and oppress the democratic form of Dalit assertion in the State, said John Pandian, founder president, Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), here on Wednesday. Tension prevailed at Government Rajaji Hospital during his visit to meet those injured in the firing and rioting at Paramakudi and...

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Attorney General of India on a writ petition by advocate Ashok Pande and social activist Dr Nutan Thakur challenging the resolution issued by the Centre to constitute a committee on Lokpal Bill. The court asked the AG to appear before it to explain how and why the drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill was formed. The order was passed...

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...

The children of Khatima village couldn't take it anymore. The headmaster in their government school had been turning up drunk for over five years. That is, when he turned up at all. Last year, they finally took matters into their own hands. Activist Devendra Ojha had held a cartooning workshop with them. The comics produced by the children were photocopied and pasted all over the village: behind rickshaws, near the...

The deputy director of the education department, Anil Powar, has in a statement to the Panaji police said that rice and wheat allotted on a monthly basis to self help groups under the midday meal scheme can't be sold in the open market, police sources said. The police recorded Powar's statement after a diary seized from Devendra Shinde-accused of selling rice from fair price shops in the open market-revealed that he...