-Outlook Ranchi: Demanding protection of tribal land under the fifth schedule of the Constitution, CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat today accused Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda of treating tribals like a "football". "Chief Minister Arjun Munda has taken the tribals for a football, hitting them wherever he wished. Under the 5th Schedule, tribal land cannot be snatched away," Karat said while addressing a rally organised by Adivasi Adhikar Rastriya Manch here. Accusing Congress...
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'Irom Sharmila feels fasting is what she is meant to do in life'
-Rediff.com Today, Irom Sharmila, the Manipur civil rights activist, marks 12 years of her fast in protest against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state. She remains in judicial custody where she continues to be force-fed through her nose. Deepti Priya Mehrotra, author of Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur, recalls her association with the Iron Lady of Manipur. I met her initially in October 2006...
More »Over two billion people now connected to Internet but digital divide remains wide–UN
-The United Nations While citing the rapid development and growth of the Internet, a top United Nations official today urged greater efforts to bridge the ongoing digital divide and ensure that everyone around the world can harness its benefits. There were 2.3 billion Internet users worldwide at the end of 2011, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo, said in his address to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which...
More »Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan backs schools that are not RTE-compliant -Preetu Venugopalan Nair
-The Times of India KOCHI: The private schools in the state which don't meet the infrastructure requirements as prescribed in the Right to education (RTE) Act have a reason to smile. The sixteenth joint mission of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, in its latest report, has suggested that instead of closing down private schools that are not RTE-compliant, the state governments should ensure that quality standards are met both by private as...
More »There is little on their plates
-The Hindustan Times In a report released in October, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Oraganisation (FAO), which leads international efforts to defeat hunger, said that economic growth is not enough to reduce hunger and malnutrition. To beat the twin menace, it added, a country needs nutrition-sensitive agriculture, social protection and purposeful and decisive public policies. Both statements hold true for India. But the unfortunate part is that while the country has been...
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