-VillageSquare.in The country’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups, who live mostly in dwindling forests, have not been well served by the government’s administrative machinery, but have slowly been reduced to virtual serfdom Max Weber, the 19thcentury German sociologist, had extolled the virtues of bureaucracy. India used to celebrate its steel frame governing the country for decades, and which continues to rule us till date, though it is unfashionable to sing its virtues any...

-Scroll.in Several villages have erected stone slabs inscribed with details of constitutional provisions, laws that safeguard tribal rights over land and natural resources Budhua Munda greeted the visitors to his village in Jharkhand as they all settled down on a bamboo straw mat spread under the shade of a tree on the morning of May 1. The Adivasi youth, who wore a blue track pant and a white T-shirt, then pulled out...

-The Hindu A report on the status of policing in India says that Sikhs, mainly in Punjab reported the highest levels of fear of the police among religious communities. Highlighting the politicisation of police, former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh said during the Ayodhya agitation, he was removed as the police chief for a brief period and “the police was pulverised” as political masters didn’t want them to raise their little finger. The...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Dalit and tribal groups observed "national resistance day" on Tuesday to demand restoration of key provisions of a protective law that has allegedly been diluted by a Supreme Court judgment. Over a dozen organisations representing Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes held the protest in 70 cities across the country to demand a reversal of the judgment that stopped immediate arrest of offenders under the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities)...

-Scroll.in The Kisan Long March will leave an enduring mark, the journalist writes in the preface to a new book that documents the historic struggle. Weeks after the Long March, the idea and image still lingers – of 40,000 people walking over 200-km, the last 10-15 km in darkness and silence (as silent as it is possible for such a multitude to be). Those farmers and landless peasants walked into Mumbai,...