-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Unhappy with failure of state authorities to preserve and protect the fast diminishing water bodies in the capital, the Delhi high court has issued contempt notice to the environment secretary and the DDA vice-chairman. Justice G S Sistani recently sought a response from the state government and DDA's top officials why they should not be charged with contempt of court for being unable to effectively curb...

-Tehelka.com There are few figures from the adivasi community in India who have made a bigger dent in the collective imagination of the country than Dayamani Barla. The "iron lady of Jharkhand" has been instrumental in articulating adivasi struggles against displacement and deprivation on national and international platforms. Dayamani, who was recently imprisoned in Jharkhand for her involvement in the Nagri people's movement, has won the first Ellen L Lutz Indigenous...

-Outlook The Maoists want a military conflict as it brings more adivasis into their fold. The Indian state's best bet is in ensuring that it wins over the aam adivasis to its side.   May 25th's condemnable attack by the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, which ended up killing and injuring over 50 people from Congress politicians to migrant adivasi labourers, cannot be understood without recognising the Maoist party's explicit political aims. These...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought a reply from Delhi government on a petition accusing it of failing to provide free books and uniforms to students belonging to economically weaker sections in unaided private schools which is in violation of right to education. Issuing notice to the Delhi government and its education department, a division bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath...

-The Hindu     The killings of Mahendra Karma and his colleagues call not for retributive violence but for a deeper reflection on the discontent among the tribals of central India and their dispossession In the summer of 2006, I had a long conversation with Mahendra Karma, the Chhattisgarh Congress leader who was killed in a terror attack by the Naxalites last week. I was not alone - with me were five other members...