Not only are the Forest Rights Act and the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act routinely violated in Chhattisgarh, the adivasis are also short-changed on legislative representation and reservations in government jobs. As the state cedes land to capital while reducing the adivasis to an ornamental presence, there is increasing assertion of adivasi identity, born out of class predicaments and experiences of displacement as much as notions of indigeneity. Supriya Sharma...

The much-vaunted NREGA has defaulted on many of its promises “There are many households in our village who have NREGA cards but have not sought work for over two years,” says 32-year-old Umesh Kumar, gram pradhan of Bhainswal village, in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Kumar recounts having to actually go around persuading people to come for work “whenever we get projects for implementation under NREGA”. This first-time...

-PTI Ahead of elections in five states, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal to fill pending vacancies in Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories in the central government, a move that will benefit around 50,000 people. The proposal, discussed and approved in the Cabinet meeting held here this morning, comes soon after the government decision to allow 4.5 per cent reservation to the minorities within the OBC quota. Sources said a...

India Against Corruption' spearheaded by Anna Hazare achieved spectacular success in harnessing public anger against corruption and converted it into perceived movement to drive home the seriousness behind their demand for Lokpal. Anna's 97-hour-long fast at Jantar Mantar in April forced the polity and political parties to admit the need for urgent legislative measures to assuage the public, who had now found a perfect icon in Anna to vent their frustration...

In U.P., where 70 per cent of the people depend on agriculture, FDI in retail does not produce any cheer. ON a misty Monday morning in early December in Muradnagar, a small town in western Uttar Pradesh, numerous tractors and trucks, loaded with jaggery and driven by farmers themselves, lined up in front of the smallest grain mandi (market) of the region. With unusual patience, the drivers waited for their...