-The Times of India Six years ago, the Sachar Committee reportshowed that the Muslim community in India suffers from severe deprivations in education, employment, health services, public infrastructure, access to financial services leading to much higher poverty than other religious groups, somewhat like the condition of scheduled castes and tribes. The government responded by setting up a separate ministry for minority affairs, and launching several programs to provide benefits to the...

-The Hindu Rural newspaper Gaon Connection, recently launched in Uttar Pradesh, seeks to project the hinterland as it really is For long the national media has been accused of shutting its door on rural news. And by now, the largely city-centric media has won the argument too that news about villages and small towns just do not bring them the advertisers. So we are in an age when the ‘business of media’...

-Outlook Tharu tribals residing in 300 forested villages surrounding the Valmiki Nagar Tiger reserve in Bihar's West Champaran district are likely to be displaced if a proposal to increase the area of the tiger reserve is implemented. The tiger reserve area is proposed to be increased from 335 square kms at present to 599 square kms to create a core and buffer zones, an official of the sanctuary said. CPI(M-L) Liberation leader Kumar...

-The Hindu A campaign launched by a community service institution to make selected villages in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan shed the below poverty line (BPL) tag has immensely benefited the poor families in the region and facilitated creation of new employment opportunities, small entrepreneurships and income-generating ventures. The youth and women are especially getting involved in new enterprises in large numbers. Kheria Purohit village in Deeg tehsil of Bharatpur district, where 15...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Faced with an imminent Jharkhand High Court hearing on the progress made at Nagri where three premier educational institutes are coming up, a cornered state government has planned a desperate defence to counter allegations of mishandling the issue and escalating the battle of ownership of 227 acres. According to sources, the government will tell the court of a plan to set up police barracks at the construction sites of...