The government has a panoply of legislative measures that can counter Maoists more than strengthening security measures against the ‘criminals’. Principal among these is the provision in paragraph 3 of Part A of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution which vests in the Centre the right to ‘issue directions’ to states with regard to administration in the Maoist-affected tribal areas. Invoking this provision becomes imperative in light of the failure of...

In the least remarked upon move by the government to take on the development challenge in left-wing extremist (LWE) areas, Sudha Pillai was elevated to member-secretary of the Planning Commission on the eve of her retirement from the IAS. A topper in her batch, Sudha was initially posted to her home state of Punjab and then moved to Kerala after her marriage to her batchmate, present home secretary Gopal Pillai....

UPA-II leadership is seen struggling with both food act and the achievement of its ministers. Numbers don’t add up Political leadership of the Congress party will take a final call on the number of people eligible to receive subsidised food-grain under the proposed national food security law. While a preliminary report of the Suresh Tendulkar Committee puts the number at 372 million, the government’s official estimates say it is only...

A social audit on the working of the ban on child labour in the domestic and hospitality sectors reveals a sorry state of affairs.  LIKE any normal child, Illyas from Varanasi, a 13-year-old, wanted to go to a regular school and become an important man some day. But poverty forced him to start working at an eatery for Rs.200 a day so that he could feed his younger siblings. He,...

The Institute for Human Development (IHD) & UN World Food Programme (WFP) have jointly prepared a `Food Security Atlas of Rural Bihar'. The first-ever atlas, prepared under the guidance of a Technical Advisory Committee chaired by Planning Commission member Prof Abhijit Sen, has analysed and depicted the food security situation in various districts of the state. It has identified regions in the state that require priority attention for improving food...