Chhattisgarh police raided the residence of Jaipur-based human rights activist Kavita Srivastava early on Monday morning in search of a fugitive woman Maoist from that State. Ms. Srivastava, general secretary of PUCL Rajasthan, was not present at the house on Kisan Marg in Shanti Niketan Colony when men in uniform and plainclothes came looking for one Sumit Sodi. The police team, comprising commandos from Chhattisgarh and personnel of Special Task Force of...

-The Times of India   After taking lead in helping the country draw up the Rigth to Information Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to have drafted a policy underlining the importance and the need to preserve and secure common land (commons) in rural areas. The government has issued a series of orders to facilitate the process and aims...

Accuses the government of creating ‘false propaganda' that he gave up fast because of some "favourite ministers" Anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare has taken on the government yet again; this time through his blog. The activist, in his first blog entry, has accused the government of creating ‘false propaganda' that he gave up his fast because of some “favorite ministers.” “I came to understand some government agents tried to propagate and create an...

-PTI   Kerala-based, all-women micro-lender Kudumbashree will soon sign a pact for providing consultancy services to the National Rural Livelihood Mission with the objective of scaling up this flagship programme of the Rural Development Ministry. Under the soon-to-be-inked agreement with the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), a flagship programme of the Rural Development Ministry, Kudumbashree will offer its micro-enterprise consultancy services to the mission. "Kudumbashree will soon be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with...

-The Indian Express   Weighing in on the current debate on allowing voters the right to recall their representatives, the chief election commissioner has flagged off the destabilisation this could bring to the system. As the person in charge of overseeing free and fair elections in the country, he understandably focused on the wherewithal required to sustain such easy recourse to votes to recall legislators and elect their replacements that some civil...