Maharashtra weeded out 2.9 million bogus ration cards last year, launching an identity verification drive to make the system foolproof. Residents had to provide electoral roll numbers, electricity bills and rent receipts to receive a ration card. Migrants had to present an official document confirming their change in residence. That led to the exclusion of many poor, homeless and migrant families as they lacked the necessary papers. This is the kind...

Investments worth Rs 100 crore in silica sand mining and beneficiation in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh are in jeopardy due to the state government’s insistence on acquiring the mineral-bearing land for developing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), protests the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi). The Institute of Indian Foundrymen wrote to the Union mining ministry early this month, urging its intervention. There is no alternative area nearby for mining...

India’s rapidly growing private microcredit industry faces imminent collapse as almost all borrowers in one of India’s largest states have stopped repaying their loans, egged on by politicians who accuse the industry of earning outsize profits on the backs of the poor. The crisis has been building for weeks, but has now reached a critical stage. Indian banks, which put up about 80 percent of the money that the companies...

Nearly 300 Dalits offered prayers on the occasion of ‘Thirukarthigai' Day The Dalits entered the temple on October 3 “for the first time in their lives” Amid heavy police security, the Dalits in East Rajapalayam in the Gengavalli block in Salem district successfully re-entered the ancient Sri Chidambareshwarar temple in the village on Sunday, from which they were barred. Dressed up in their best, 300 Dalits including women and children, carrying garlands...

The joint committee on the Forest Rights Act (FRA) has termed the implementation of the Act in the state as extremely poor and recommended that it should be enforced in the state and not confined only to the tribal areas. It is of the firm view that there should be no diversion of forest land till the FRA is enforced fully. Disagreeing with the general perception on the part of the government...