In Vijaypura village, marginalised women, especially widows, have used the RTI tool to procure food grains under PDS and are living a healthy life. The movement, instigated by a young RTI activist, boasts of achieving the millennium goal of reducing hunger by half in the region. It was from the state of Rajasthan that the Right to Information (RTI) movement emerged as an idea that went on to capture national...

A hillock is strewn with empty bottles of whisky and sticks — remnants of what tribals allege was a 48-hour torture session by drunk BSF men. The enraged people of Panchangi village have accused the paramilitary force, along with Chhattisgarh police, of brutally beating nearly 40 men. Two teenage girls have also alleged that they were sexually molested. One of them says she was stripped, while another provided a detailed...

Once lauded as a model state for implementation of MGNREGA — the flagship programme of the UPA government — the state is on the backfoot nowadays as far as the scheme is concerned. Even as the Opposition BJP and the ruling Congress try to extract political mileage out of Sarpanches agitation, at stake is the very scheme that has not only reduced the migration of labourers to other states but...

Rajniben, a village panchayat member from Ahmedabad district, does not have a chair to sit in the panchayat office. Unlike the other members, who all have a chair, there is a gunny sack reserved for Rajniben which she uses to sit on the floor when the panchayat meets. This is because Rajniben is a dalit and is not allowed to sit on par with panchayat members belonging to upper castes....

Sarpanches in Rajasthan on an agitation against the social audit in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), clashed with police here on Wednesday. When the agitators hurled stones and tried to march towards the State Assembly premises, police used water cannon and then resorted to lathi-charge. At least one Sarpanch, who fell down while trying to escape lathi blows, sustained injuries and was admitted to hospital. About half...