The marginalisation of tribals in the last few decades has been enormous. Tribals have lost out in agriculture, and their forests also stand depleted, writes KD Singh In 2006, the Prime Minister described the Maoist threat as “the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by the country” and suggested development in insurgency-affected regions as the key remedy. In 2009, the Union Government announced a new nationwide initiative, the ‘Integrated Action...

In August 2010, the U.N. Secretary General set up a “High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability,” to formulate a “new vision for sustainable growth and prosperity” for the world. Co-chaired by the Presidents of Finland and South Africa, the panel submitted its detailed report in January 2012. The report is under consideration in the Secretary General's office, and will be a key input to the upcoming U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development...

-The Business Standard Govt cannot delay increasing diesel, LPG prices Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy, speaking after a ministerial-level meeting on inflation on Monday, said that the government had no immediate plans to raise the administered prices of diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). This comes after oil marketing companies raised the price of petrol last week by Rs 7.50 per litre, an increase of 12 per cent. Mr Reddy’s...

The global economic slowdown may pinch the poor in India. The Planning Commission is redrawing its projections for the 12th five year plan (2012-17) in wake of current global economic situation and could end up scaling down money for welfare schemes. Health, education and rural development are not expected to get the hike they had sought and allocations for some other ministries are likely to fall, prompted by a lower growth. The...

-The Assam Sentinel DIPHU: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), was introduced with an objective to provide legal guarantee of 100 days of wage in a financial year to every rural household, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work at the minimum wage rate as has been prescribed for agricultural labour in the State. However, instead of helping the poor in their uplift, MNREGA has become a...