-Times of India Sunday Times had on April 1 reported about Assam man Jadav Payeng's unparalleled feat of single-handedly growing a forest spread over 550 hectares on a sandbar in the Brahmaputra over 30 years. Following that, Jawaharlal Nehru University decided to have him over on Earth Day. On Sunday, Payeng was honoured at a function organized by the School of Environmental Sciences, JNU, for his remarkable achievement at a public...

Anand Patwardhan’s paean to Dalits, that took 14 years to compose, probes even as it praises, says Saroj Giri THERE IS an entrenched tendency to represent Dalits fighting for rights and reservations as just (another) competitive bloc vying for self-interest and power. It leads to a pernicious inversion: ‘Dalit rights’ dividing the nation along caste lines. Victim as perpetrator! Anand Patwardhan’s film Jai Bhim Comrade takes us beyond the grid of...

75% of the youth. Every third student. 65% of all families in Punjab are in the throes of a sweeping drug addiction. With little or no hope in sight. THE RAILWAY barrier in Angarh, a locality in the border city of Amritsar in Punjab signals the end of too many things. The rule of law. The reign of sense. The fear of crime. The signs of normality. Even the divisions of...

-The Hoot The West Bengal Chief Minister has made it clear that any public voice of dissent would be curbed by whatever means required. “If required, I will tell the people which newspapers to read in future”: this gem of an announcement was made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in an interview given to selected news channels recently. Giving interviews to a chosen few, especially those who would not dare...

Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing a boom in places of worship and prayer, although some academics say this does not necessarily mean the state’s population is turning more religious. Figures released yesterday by the directorate of census operations also suggest a rise in prosperity, with the state’s people living in better houses than before. The state has witnessed a 53 per cent increase in the number of religious places in a decade,...