The cartoon controversy provides the possibility of interrogating the functioning of the academic system to understand its relationship with the downtrodden masses. A new deliberation is needed in order to make the academic world more sensitive and responsive towards the issues and concerns of the subaltern-oppressed communities. This will be an ethical incentive for the present-day dalit movement in India and can bring greater democratisation to the education system. Harish Wankhede...

It was due to a civil society struggle that the government only last year removed the bar on outsiders from participating in the social audit of projects executed under its showcase legislation of MGNREGA. Barring Andhra Pradesh, no state has so far implemented this reform. Yet, in its report for the ongoing universal periodic review (UPR) before the UN Human Rights Council, India cited the social audit clause in MGNREGA...

-The Times of India Between 60 and 65 million people are estimated to have been displaced in India since Independence, the highest number of people uprooted for development projects in the world.  "This amounts to around one million displaced every year since Independence," says a report released recently by the Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR). "Of these displaced, over 40% are tribals and another 40% consist...

-Daily Bhaskar Indore: Thousands of tribals on Friday staged a dharna at Silawad police station in Badwani district to protest the district administration’s notice of externment against noted activist Madhuri Krishnaswami. The tribals said it is the district administration that deserved to be externed for resorting to unconstitutional step against Madhuri Ben. The move has sparked protests across the state. Tribals have now started serving “externment (zila badar) notices” to the collector and...

-PTI Ranvir Sena Chief Brahmeshwar Singh was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Bihar's Bhojpur district early Friday morning, police said. Singh was on a morning walk when he was accosted by gunmen who pumped several bullets into him, killing him on the spot at Katira Mohalla under Nawada police station, 71 kms from Patna, they said. Singh alias Mukhiya ji, who was earlier facing life imprisonment in various carnage cases, was...