Villagers of Maharashtra surprise officials by their readiness to help themselves.

For decades donors like the World Bank and the Governments of Japan and Germany had waited with millions of dollars in funding for self-help projects in rural Maharashtra. The only precondition was that the villages must contribute 10% as their share. Politicians and bureucrats were certain villagers wouldn't fork out that share.

 New Delhi: Dalits are proud owners of Mayavati’s statues, a speaker at a Jawaharlal Nehru University lecture said, giving the other view not often heard in the mainstream media.“The handbags and chappals in her statues symbolise the rise in economic strength of the chamaar community she and Kanshi Ram belong to after liberalisation,” art historian Kajri Jain said at the lecture titled The Handbag that Exploded.

Bhagwan Das (1927-2010). His life was given over to the fight against caste and untouchability, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.

Bhagwan Das outside his residence at Munirka in Delhi, in 2009.

During the monsoon season of 1991, I began my dissertation research in Delhi. I always knew that the project was going to be hard: to write the history of the Balmiki community of North India. In graduate school at the University of Chicago I studied with Barney Cohn, who guided me deftly into the study of a “people without history”. Nothing about the Balmiki community was without history, but its absence in the archives made writing the history difficult.

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Indian Security Forces never held accountable for abuses | Operation against Sikhs blemish face of Indian Army-Troops committed worst HR violations in Kashmir, Manipur, restive regions | Soldiers and senior officers have an abysmal record on discrimination against Dalits, religious minorities | New Delhi playing a blatantly negative role at the UN Human Rights Council-Stakes hollow claims of vibrant judiciary and free, unbiased media

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There is a growing concern among the liberal minded individuals, social and democratic organisations and even international institutions on the rising trend of brutal killings of innocent youngsters in the name of family or clan honour in India. The United Nations also takes a very serious view of such heinous crimes. The naked brutality of such acts against women is in contravention of the spirit of the ‘United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)’ which has been duly signed and ratified by India.

An innovative business model for the 'Creative Poor' to democratize the media from the bottom up

Video Volunteers today announced the release of the 150th video made by its IndiaUnheard Community Correspondents. One of the most significant, growing collections of content ever created by rural communities reporting on – and changing – their realities, IndiaUnheard is Video Volunteers' flagship "Community News Service." A network of people from slums and villages in India who have been trained to make video news reports on corruption, human rights, health, sanitation and other issues, IndiaUnheard is making an impact in these villages and across the globe. Since the program's launch on May 1, 2010, one new video has been released each day on Video Volunteers' online portal www.indiaunheard.videovolunteers.org and through Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

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Recent crimes against North East girls in Delhi has compelled me to write this article before the completion of a research study on the subject undertaken by North East Support Centre & Helpline sponsored by All India Christian Council. Once against the plights face by the people of North East India in Delhi and NCR has come to lime light after the gruesome crime of kidnap and gang rape case of a 30 years old Mizo girl at Dhaula Kuan in a moving vehicle on midnight of November 23, 2010. Segregation society likes ours in India, unless pressure mounted up on law enforcing agencies, justice many times unheard and denied to communities like North Easterners and oppressed Dalits.