A recent survey carried out by the TNUEF brings to light details of the discrimination Dalits in Madurai have faced for generations. OVER seven decades have rolled by since the freedom fighter A. Vaidhyanatha Iyer successfully led Dalits into the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, overcoming all the impediments posed by the casteist forces that were hell-bent on thwarting the historic event. But the stark reality is that “hidden apartheid” against...

Away from the gaze of the media and the judiciary, the adivasis of Bastar are paying a heavy price … for just being there.  An operation is underway in Central India, but no one really knows what it is. Variously described as a media myth, a comprehensive hearts and minds strategy, and an all-out offensive by paramilitary forces and the state forces along the borders of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh...

Guwahati: The National Human Rights Commission has sought an explanation from the Manipur Chief Secretary as to why reports of 111 cases, which were reported as police Encounter cases, were not forwarded to the Commission. The NHRC, in an order, stated that the Commission had not been receiving any report from the Manipur government. It also directed the Manipur government to pay Rs.5 lakh as relief to the next of...

Analysts have documented in some detail the constraints facing the government: the countryside is vast; the forests help protect the militants; the adivasi population in particular supports them; the hit-and-run tactics of the Maoists keep the security forces off balance; the increasing unification of the various factions makes the movement formidable and not easy to divide and conquer; its access to money and guns is growing as is its political...

For interrogation on the orders of District Superintendent of Police  A tribal woman caught in a “cross fire” last September was allegedly prevented by the Chhattisgarh police from travelling to the capital on Sunday for follow-up treatment to her wounded leg. The woman was injured during an alleged Encounter between naxalites and security forces. According to Himanshu Kumar of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), a local Gandhian group, Sambho Sodi was...