Admitting that the growth of Naxalism was as much because of failure of the Union Government as for a variety of other reasons, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has underlined the need for a renewed sense of urgency to address problems afflicting the masses through a stratagem hinged on synergy of security forces and implementing agencies. Delivering the annual Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture here on “Tirupati to Pashupati: Some reflections...

Why were two tribals and the Essar group framed by the Chhattisgarh police? Why are Soni Sori and Linga Kodopi being systematically silenced? This chilling story of one family reveals more about India's Naxal crisis than any official document can. AS I sit to write this, at 12.20 pm on 4 October 2011, an SMS pops up on my phone: “Soni Sori has been arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch.” The...

The media imagery of a “liberated” Red corridor extending from Andhra Pradesh, cutting across the heart of India, all the way to Nepal is the most vivid representation of the threat that Maoists pose to our country. The Prime Minister describes the Maoists as India's most serious internal security challenge and the Home Minister rates it as a “problem graver than terrorism.” In search of an effective response, official committees have,...

It would have meant endless sorties and waste of fuel for choppers but for the combined technology of GIS and GPS used by the forest department to map wildlife areas that gave the pilots the much-needed coordinates to carry out relief operations in the almost inaccessible Dzongu. Crafted by the forest department to prepare maps meant for delineation, protection and management of wildlife areas, the Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global...

-The Times of India   India's food security situation continues to rank as "alarming" according to the International Food Policy Research Institute'sGlobal Hunger Index, 2011. It ranks 67 of the 81 countries of the world with the worst food security status. This means that there are only 14 countries in the world whose people have a worse nutritional status.  The GHI is composed of three equally weighted indicators - the proportion of the...