ON February 26, 2015 the Supreme Court of India pronounced that those Christian dalits who reconvert to Hinduism can get the benefits entitled to any Scheduled Caste as long as the caste community accepts that person as a member of their caste. This pronouncement will obviously give a fillip to the aggressive ghar wapasi campaign initiated by the Sangh Parivar in the recent months. Given the current political situation, the Sangh and its affiliates will use the judgment to induce Christians and Muslims to embrace Hinduism in a bid to increase their own social and political base.

The Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) has issued the following statement on March 4 THE Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch strongly protests against the sharp cuts in allocations for the Tribal Sub-Plan from Rs 26,715 crores in 2014-2015 to Rs 19,980 crores in 2015-2016. Even if the MGNREGA account is subtracted it still will be woefully inadequate since the allocations to MGNREGA also have been cut.

THE anganwadi workers and helpers were brutally  lathicharged , tear gas and water cannons were used to disperse thousands of workers who were agitating on their demands  in Chandigarh on March 11, 2015. The Anganwadi Workers Union Punjab (CITU) organised a massive rally in front of the office of director, social welfare department. The workers were marching in a procession to submit a memorandum when the Chandigarh police resorted to lathicharge on the workers. Many workers got seriously injured.

THE annual address by the president of India to a joint session of the parliament is always a balance sheet of the past year’s work of the government and a roadmap of its proposals for the next one year. This speech is both prepared and endorsed by the union cabinet and subsequently delivered by the president.  In both the houses of the parliament, a motion of thanks is moved by the ruling party expressing gratitude to the president for having delivered his/her speech.

THE other day, I was helping my child in learning paryayvachi shabd (synonyms) in Hindi. The children in the class were taught that the synonym for stree (woman) is abala (the meek). I was trying to convince my child that this is wrong and in fact this should be brought to the notice of the concerned teacher. In spite of the best of my efforts, my child, all of Class V too was not convinced that women are not meek and refused to discuss this with the teacher.