While Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is on Bharat Bhraman assuring Dalits, tribals and other unprivileged their share in growth, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has tasked himself with ensuring party scion’s mark in the government policy. Livelihood compensation for displaced landless on a par with landowners, share in the price appreciation of land with the project, acquisition in strict accordance with the tribal and Forest dwellers acts are the...

New-look programme to be rolled out in 2,000 most backward blocks within a year As part of a coordinated and aligned initiative, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, a re-energised Union Rural Development Ministry and the Planning Commission are working in tandem to make up for the time and money lost due to the underperformance in UPA-II on the government's flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Even as...

As the world watches peaceful protests of villagers against land acquisition for Posco project in Orissa, a silent protest is brewing in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh against number of small hydro projects in the Saal valley of the district. Since April this year the villagers from eight panchayats have prevented the construction of small dam hydro projects on Hull river, a tributary of river Ravi. “We have been sitting on a...

Right to Information activists across the state held a protest, on Sunday, against the rise in attack on them and repeated attempts to weaken their movement. Activists also declared that they would soon form a union or association to ensure protection of those who have been fighting against corruption in the system using RTI. Organised by the NGO CRANTI (Citizens Resource and Actions Initiatives), the dharna was held at Sardarbaug in Lal...

In the past 50 years or so, we have come face to face with unusual climatic occurrences, weather changes and environmental disasters. These are a corollary of the global pursuit of rapid growth, in particular rapid growth of industrialisation, and very often the mindless and predatory exploitation of natural resources. These have happened across the world, without distinguishing between rich and poor nations... In the increasingly integrated world that we live...