Poverty and exploitation forced some tribal women in eastern Uttar Pradesh to turn to Naxals, who proved to be no different. Leading a pathetic life after being sexually exploited and abandoned by the extremists, eight tribal women have now sought CM Mayawati's intervention to help in their rehabilitation. Hailing from the Naxal-affected Kaimur range, which includes Robertsganj, Mirzapur, Sonebhadra and Chandauli, these women had joined the banned outfits between 2000-2005. Most...

Delhi is an anxious city this monsoon season, struggling to meet an onerous deadline. Preparations continue at a feverish pace for the 19th Commonwealth Games (CWG), which will bear down on the Indian metropolis October 3-14, along with some 8,500 athletes from the 71 states and territories that were once part of the British Empire. Around-the-clock construction and spells of heavy monsoon rain have turned Delhi into a swirl of mud...

The Election Commission was the first to do it, and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has followed the example — the transgenders of India are finally being recognised by its government. Enrolment forms of the UIDAI will have a third column — ‘T’, for Transgender — along with the ‘M’ and ‘F’ for Male and Female respectively, so that over a million eunuchs can register their unique identities. The EC...

 Adolescent girls from 22 districts of the state will now get Centre’s support to continue education and receive complete nutrition. The Centre has chosen 22 districts from Uttar Pradesh to implement the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent girls (RGSEAG-Sabla). To be formally launched across 200 districts in the country from mid-November, the scheme aims to empower out-of-school girls ¿ by educating them and providing them with nutritional support. The Department...

In the long speeches made at the opening ceremony of the CW games, every important individual, department or institution that made a contribution, was acknowledged. Did anyone hear a word about the workers who made these world-class games possible? Maybe it was just a slip or maybe it was not considered necessary. Anyway, the workers were not there for the speeches, having been driven out of the capital just a...