-The Hoot    A significant agitation against land acquisition and the bail and re-arrest of its leader were barely noticed by mainstream media. Isn’t it the media’s disdain for lower caste/class dissenters, wonders ARITRA BHATTACHARYA. I remember my first glimpse of Dayamani Barla: there she was on the screen, fierce, stoic, talking about the ravages the Koel Karo dam and hydel power project would bring to the people of the region. I remember...

-Tehelka Dalit and Tribal activists plan a “Dilli Chalo” campaign demanding an amendment to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act The National Coalition for Strengthening Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act on Thursday 25 October 2012, announced the launch of “Dilli Chalo” a nationwide campaign to pressurise the government to amend the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act. The campaign will culminate...

-The Hindu Women continue to be invisible to planners, despite their high levels of contribution to the national economy, says a UN Women paper on women and forests Some of the present policies in forest management are detrimental to the poor, particularly women, states a UN Women paper by NC Saxena, member National Advisory Council, even as he suggests changes that could ameliorate their condition. Despite economic growth, gender inequalities in “critical human development...

-The Hindu In the State that leads in incidents of rape, the shame-inducing statistics are pushing the administration into action Time was when Payal (name changed to protect her identity), a standard VII student from Madhya Pradesh’s tribal dominated Betul district, had only school, friends and family on her mind. But her little world changed dramatically in March this year. The 15-year-old, a resident of Betul’s Majhinagar slum, was abducted in public by...

-The Times of India Rising food prices during 2010-11 may have pushed three million Bangladeshis into poverty, and kept eight million Indians from getting out of poverty bracket, finds a UN report released on Thursday. In Asia and Pacific region, food inflation pushed nearly four million people into poverty. The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ( ESCAP) report on regional cooperation for inclusive and sustainable development says...