India’s first Aadhaar-holder Ranjana Sonawane (40) is angry. Her family couldn’t go to work over the past month because the state government kept them busy preparing for Wednesday’s launch ceremony. The Tembhli village resident was handed over her Aadhaar  — 78247431788 — at a ceremony attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “Sanmaanache kaay gheun basat, ithe khayaala kahi nahi. (Damn the honour, we don’t have anything...

Sitting on his father’s shoulders, two-year-old Rahul Kumar giggles and tugs on a lock of his father’s hair. A happy, healthy-looking boy, Rahul has already seen much of India. Born in a small village in northern Bihar, he has spent roughly half of his short life in Punjab, where his parents work as seasonal farm labourers. He has spent a few months in his parents’ village. The rest has been spent...

It's the untold tale of a village in the grip of the feudal system, and a quiet revolt brewing. Budihalli village of Karnataka's Chitradurga district is a glaring example of caste discrimination and bondage, with a yawning gap between communities. Here, landlords hold sway. They allegedly rape and torture women of lower castes while the men work as bonded labourers, paying off debts accumulated over generations. Breaking the stranglehold, 25...

The meeting of the standing committee on the rural development ministry on Wednesday saw members, cutting across party lines, pick loopholes, and complain of large-scale corruption, in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The parliamentary panel, which is headed by former Union minister and BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan, had on the discussion table the UPA government’s flagship rural development programme , and members voiced their...

Many projects for supplying water in Vidarbha remain on paper, though the money allotted is very real. Sarada Badre and her daughters have stopped their bi-weekly 20-km Walking trips. That was their routine for a while. “The orange trees have withered and there's no water anyway,” says Saradabai at her home in Sirasgaon village in Amravati district. In theory, watering their 214 orange trees shouldn't be too hard. Though the nearby...