An argument between a Dalit and a Jat over the former’s dog led to near-unbridled violence in a village in Hisar district which was tense throughout Thursday after an 18-year-old physically challenged Dalit girl and her father were burnt alive on Wednesday. The Dalits refused to cremate the bodies, demanding a CBI probe and compensation, apart from sacking of the Jat tehsildar of Mirchpur village where the violence began. Angry...

Bihar is one of the poorest performing States in the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGREGS), noted a team of activists and researchers led by social scientist Jean Dreze. Professor Dreze, along with activists Ashish Ranjan and Kamayani Swami of the Jan Jagran Abhiyan (JJA), and economist Reetika Khera, on Wednesday alerted Chief Minister Nitish Kumar about the dismal state of affairs. According to data presented by the team, Bihar lags...

Interim Observations of the Jury of Independent People’s Tribunal on Land Acquisition, Resource Grab and Operation Green Hunt The Independent People’s Tribunal on Land Acquisition, Resource Grab and Operation Green Hunt (organised by a collective of civil society groups, social movements, activists, academics and concerned citizens) was held in New Delhi from April 9 to 11, 2010. Its jury comprised retired Supreme Court judge Justice P.B. Sawant, retired Bombay High Court...

The Right to Food Campaign on Tuesday expressed its disappointment with the “narrow manner'' in which the proposed food security Bill was being formulated and sought a public debate on the subject. They resolved to intensify their efforts to secure a legal right to food and nutrition for all. At a meeting with Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, a delegation of activists said the proposal to provide 25 kg...

Haryana’s powerful khap panchayats have served an ultimatum on all MPs and MLAs from the state to extend their support to amending the Hindu Marriage Act to ban same gotra marriages. The panchayats are up in arms against the judiciary and police after a Karnal court recently sentenced five people to death and one to life imprisonment for killing a young couple, Manoj and Babli, who had married going against...