-The Indian Express Anna Hazare goes for broke again — after having ensured that Parliament was committed to taking his version of the Lokpal bill as a starting point, he now threatens another insurgency against the Congress-led government at the Centre if the bill does not become law by the end of the winter session. He and his team will campaign in the five states that head for elections next year,...
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Out of the bank, into the money-lender's trap by Yogesh Pawar
"Will you come in now?" screams 50-year-old Tanhibai Kale of Ganeshpur village in Jhari Jhamni tehsil of Yavatmal, the heart of Vidarbha's suicide country. Lightening streaks across the darkened skies, followed by loud thunder. Her drenched nine-year-old grandson Nandu comes in from the downpour and tries to slink in but not before getting two slaps. "Next, you'll fall ill and we'll have to go looking for money to treat you,"...
More »The curious case of Lingaram Kodopi by Javed Iqbal
I got a call around midnight in the Delhi summer. It was Lingaram, the young Muria adivasi from Sameli village in Dantewada, then studying in Noida’s International Media Institute of India. Linga’s misfortunes never seem to end: first he was accused of helping the Maoists, then tortured in the police station toilet, forced to be a special police officer, then released thanks to a habeas corpus petition. In a few months,...
More »Price of saving a life: 21 months in jail by Javed Iqbal
‘It is correct that... Kopa Kunjam tried to save me from the Naxalites,’ said Jhadi Nagesh in the sessions court of Bijapur, Bastar. Maoists kidnapped two men on June 2, 2009. One, Punem Hoonga, was killed the other, Jhadi Nagesh, was released. On December 10, Kunjam was arrested for the murder of Hoonga, who the Maoists killed. Nagesh, the man who was released unharmed by the Maoists, testified in court that...
More »Open letter to Narendra Modi from riot victims
The 2002 Gujarat riots victims gathered at Naroda Patiya and sent an open letter to Narendra Modi seeking justice. Here's the full text of the letter: Dear Narendrabhai Why do you have to undertake this Sadbhavna Mission by observing three days upvaas?? No other Chief Minister of the 26 States in India has to do such a prayaschit to earn sadbhavna! Have you finally realized after about a decade that all the...
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