Days after the death of 40-year-old Moreshwar Sathe in police firing during an agitation in Maval in Pune district against a pipeline project, two conflicting versions have emerged on not just how he was killed but also the number of bullets that had hit him. When The Indian Express visited Sathe’s village Shivane in Maval on Friday, eyewitnesses said he was shot at with a revolver by a police inspector after...

-DNA   The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), an umbrella organisation of farmers in Maharashtra, has claimed that the builders lobby was pushing for the Rs500-crore closed water pipeline project of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Addressing a press conference on Friday in Pune, BKS president Mauli Tupe said farmers of Maval taluka are protesting against the water pipeline project for the last three years. “Over 15,000 acres of agricultural land in Maval taluka depends...

Villagers from Chikpal village in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district have blocked traffic to protest the killing of a prominent resident on Saturday August 6. In a complaint submitted to the Dantewada Superintendent of Police, Ankit Garg, villagers have accused the district police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) of killing the village ‘mukhiya’, Madkam Masse in a staged encounter last week. The police and CRPF have denied these accusations, claiming that Mr....

-The Hindu   The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday urged the Government to reconsider the present design of Below Poverty Line (BPL) census expressing apprehension that the current format would result in “undercounting” of the poor. Referring to the Independence Day speech of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat found it “objectionable” that Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh called the BPL census design “non-negotiable.'' “I find...

A project engaging young men as allies against and not as perpetrators of gender-based violence acting as catalysts to bring about a constructive change in and around their community has proved to be an effective approach. Non-government organisation Independent Commission for People's Rights and Development (ICPRD) undertook the project in three Karnataka districts – Ramnagara, Bellary and Mysore – for three years beginning October 2008. An evaluation report of the project...