“I had medical ailments to take care of, my child’s fees to take care of; but due to these arrears, I was unable to do anything,” recalls Ramlanga Bhuiya, a council member of Mahuawa Panchayat in Bihar state. Fourteen council members of the Mahuawa Panchayat were not paid their monthly...
Sheik Hussain was asked to pay a bribe of Rs. 20,000 to be sanctioned money to build a house under Indra Gandhi Awas Yojana. The Indira Gandhi Awas Yojana (IAY) is one of the many programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development in India. IAY deals with the housing issue...
5000 farmers from western Odisha, marched to the main square, Gangadhar Mandap, of Sambalpur city in agitation as Odisha government refuses to link farmer suicides to crop failure. The state inquiry reports state that the farmer deaths are mainly due to family disputes and excessive liquor consumption and not due...
Families spend nights scared of their houses collapsing down on them as sand was used instead of cement to build houses in Jharkhand. These houses were built under the Indira Gandhi Awas Yojana (IAY), one of the many programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development in India. IAY deals with...
The Constitution of India has clearly stated that education is the responsibility of the State towards its people. But the State has failed repeatedly, deliberately or otherwise, to fulfil this mandate, giving rise to the private sector. The Indian education system is mired in corruption where rampant illegal admissions, absent...
Twenty-two years ago, in 1994, Jugla Vasave was ousted from his home and farm in Chimalkhadi village in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, when the Sardar Sarovar Dam was built along the Narmada river. He, along with many others, was promised to be rehabilitated with an arable land by the state...
About 400 tea gardens workers from of Dooars and Terai regions of West Bengal joined a 10-day rally organised by the Progressive Tea Workers Union (PTWU) on January 5, earlier this year. The 390-km rally started in the village of Kumargram Sankosh and ended in the city of Siliguri of...
“We do not know laws. We are not educated, but we have lived near this jungle and in this village for years,” says Chandrabhushan Mahato who was arrested by forest rangers for collecting firewood. In Dumri village of West Champaran, Bihar, most of the residents belong to the Scheduled castes...