-The United Nations Despite improvements in access to water, sanitation and hygiene, the coverage of these services could fall behind if adequate resources are not secured, the United Nations inter-agency group focused on water issues warned in a report released today. The report, released by UN-Water and the World Health Organization (WHO), provides data for 74 developing countries, and stresses that these nations have a chronic lack of technicians and staff in...

BANWARA, India – In the fall of 2006, Gita Devi was pregnant with her sixth child when her family fell on hard times. A severe drought made it more difficult than ever to find farm work here in India’s northeastern plains. The family couldn’t afford food. It was unable to get a government ration card to buy grains and rice at steep discounts, even though it clearly was poor enough to...

A group of 21 jailed Maoists, led by former “sub-zonal commander” of the Sone-Ganga-Vindhyazal zone Sudama Oraon, have accused senior comrades of “living in town” and exploiting the lower cadre, mostly illiterate and poor tribals. In a two-page “press release” on jail application paper, duly signed or carrying their thumb impression, the 21 say the senior Maoists “hobnob with jungle mafia and landlords, embezzle party funds and put the blame on...

HETA, India – At the entrance to this village in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand, a large pond glistened under the bright autumn sun. Yellow and blue lilies surrounded it. A tailor was stitching clothes outside his shop while a few boys nearby were playing carrom on the lid of a rusted oil barrel. It was a tranquil, rustic setting – a candidate for a landscape painting, it seemed. But it...

Amit Kumar, an Indian journalist based in the eastern state of Bihar, received a tip in 2009 from a village called Manan Bigha just two kilometers away from his home. There was a man there dying from starvation, he was told. The situation was urgent. Mr. Kumar rushed off to visit the man, Kangresh Manjhi, and exhaustively documented his story. He learned how Mr. Manjhi, a lower-caste, landless laborer, was forced...