Why do poor people in rural areas vote when they know the whole system is against them? JEAN DRÈZE talks to some voters and observes the voting process during the recent Assembly elections in Latehar district, Jharkhand, and comes away with some pointers...  At one booth (Rankikalan, Booth No. 69) a BJP activist was trying to influence voters before they entered the booth, under the guise of helping them. Latehar...

Ranchi: Since the inception of the new State of Jharkhand, there has been a substantial rise in the crime. With every passing year the graph has shown a sharp rise. Ranchi tops the list with 621 cases of various crimes. These include 267 cases of murder and 243 cases of loot and dacoity. The total number of cases registered in various crimes in the past two years (’07-’09) shows a...

As far as natural resources like minerals, land and water are concerned, Jharkhand is among the richest States of India. Yet, its people are among the poorest. Mind you, almost 30 per cent of them are tribal. Out of the total population of 288.46 lakhs, 223.1 lakhs live in rural areas and only 65.36 lakhs are urban dwellers. Even a cursory glance is sufficient to convince that most of the...

The Nobel laureate Prof. Amartya Sen said on child domestic workers that “it is not economic poverty but rather political poverty that is depriving children their rights to education and pushing them to labour force. Our actions should aim at attacking this political poverty to bring education to the reach of children and free child domestic workers from the bondage.” The child domestic labour is common and traditional form of...

If you plan to go to Potka from Ranchi you will have to go through Jamshedpur. The Potka Block is situated around 200 kilometer from Ranchi and 75 kilometers from Jamshedpur. The area is mainly inhabited by people of Sabbar tribe which is on the verge of extinction. The Indian government is making all out efforts to confront the delicate situation. The responsibility to do the work was given to Bharat...