-The Indian Express Raipur: Bastar saw a major development recently with thousands of Tribals joining a rally organised by the CPI and Aadivasi Mahasabha last fortnight. Demanding implementation of the Schedule VI of the Constitution in Bastar, Tribals began their padyatra from Chhattisgarh’s southernmost tip in Konta on March 1 and ended it at the division headquarters on March 15. They said that the administration always ignored their requirements and the...

-The Times of India Jitendra Choudhury will probably never forget March 2, 2013, the day he was hung from a tree for beating his wife. A kangaroo court in Bokaro held at the behest of JMM legislator Jagannath Mahto reportedly meted out this medieval-style justice after his wife complained that he often got drunk and misbehaved with her. Primitive, powerful and potent, large swathes of India are still governed by kangaroo courts...

-The Times of India JABALPUR: When Rajkumar Ahirwar accepted an offer on March 13 to go to the neighborhood adda (local pub) from Deepak Rajak, a casual acquaintance, he had little idea what awaited him. The 22-year-old from Ashok Nagar woke up from his drunken stupor in a government district hospital the next day with a certificate in his pocket that said he had been vasectomised. In a bid to achieve sterilisation...

-The Hindu Hundreds of undertrials languish in overcrowded south Chhattisgarh prisons even as their trial proceeds sluggishly, says an RTI reply With most information regarding prisons closely guarded in the country, in conflict zones — some north-eastern States, Kashmir or Chhattisgarh — it is even more so. The only information about prisons that percolates to public space is about how inmates are becoming master painters, singers or dance drama designers. While those...

-The Times of India MANDLA/JABALPUR: Tribals in Kundam, a settlement 40 km off Jabalpur, call it a black demon, one who strikes select families and ensures an early and agonizing death by sucking its victims white. For once, medical experts couldn't agree more with this home spun wisdom that aptly describes sickle cell - an incurable genetic disorder which damages vital organs like liver, kidney, heart and spleen. The disease manifest at...