He dreamt of becoming a successful lawyer. Hailing from Jalgoan, it isn't surprising that his career was destined to be elsewhere. Today, 40-year old Hemchandra Dagaji Patil has no regrets. "The black coat beckoned me. I used to imagine myself in court rooms but finally my father persuaded me to stay back in the village as there was a drop in crop yield and there was no one to look after the...

The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs “must become more than a post office: it must become a genuine nodal agency for issues concerning the welfare of the tribal communities,” National Advisory Council (NAC) member and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Dayal Munda said here on Wednesday at the conclusion of a three day conference of the All India Adivasi Mahasabha at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here. Focussing attention on land alienation and...

DEALS WITH MULTINATIONALS AND OTHER BIG AGRIBUSINESS COMPANIES A wide range of farmers’ organisations, Gandhian organisations, people’s movements and NGOs have united to oppose a series of disturbing agreements which the Rajasthan Government reached with various multinational and other agribusiness companies including Monsanto. These agreements, which greatly increase the control and influence of these companies over the agriculture sector in India’s biggest State (in terms of area), have proved so controversial...

Surrounded by lush green wheat and yellow flowering mustard fields at Ekdanta primary school, it is noon and the 57 children in two combined classes are fidgety - impatient for the school served midday meal. The hot meals are served by the Akshaya Patra Foundation, the largest non- profit in India, in partnership with the government’s school meal programme that covers 120 million children in 1.26 million schools across the country. A...

The Budget should be an instrument of economic discipline and a promoter of healthy social development. As it is, it is like a leaky tap; it cannot halt inflation without disciplining political skulduggery. March 21, 2011:   A lot has been written about the Budget, how it affects this or that industry or business, or how it will increase or decrease the GNP growth rate. Undoubtedly, all those factors are important. But...