At least two cases of hunger deaths have been reported from Jabalpur district of MP and Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan in the past few weeks. The two states are run by different political parties-- the BJP and the Congress-- but there is quite a lot common in the victims’ circumstances. Both families were among the poorest in their villages but were not included in the BPL list and both the...

Is there a breakdown of rule of law and the Constitutional order in Chhattisgarh? Some of India’s most respected civil society organisations certainly think so, though the State Government disagrees. Several citizens’ organisations have written to the authorities, the courts and even the Prime Minister, about police excesses during the ongoing Operation Green-hunt that the government forces, their paramilitaries and vigilantes have waged on the armed Maoists. (See links below)...

The BJP has wrenched power in “yet another state”. The Congress is looking at long-term gains by refusing to back Shibu Soren. But the Jharkhand verdict has also opened the eyes of the two mainline parties to a disturbing realisation: their failure to “nurture” tribal leaders. “Both of us stand exposed as out-and-out upper caste parties who have failed to create, and worse, nurture tribal leadership. The mandate’s message is the...

tribals angry with activists fighting for human rights of Naxals while ignoring poor ‘adivasis’ threw rotten eggs and tomatoes at Magsaysay award winner Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey as they reached Dantewada town in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday. While Medha, being a woman, did not face much humiliation, her companion Pandey was pulled down from the motorcycle and given a hiding. He was pushed around and asked why the activists had...

The demand for a separate state of Telangana has brought into focus the economic performance of small states. Data brought out by the Central Statistical Organisation do show that most of the reorganised states tend to grow faster post-reorganisation and smaller states such as Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have grown faster after achieving state-hood than before, and at a rate higher than the average for the country. Moreover, we find...