ENVIRONMENT There is an illegal market for the trade of tiger body parts and the restless industrialisation process leading to tiger displacement from forests further renders it difficult for tigers to enjoy a safe environment. The sharp fall in the number of tigers makes it urgent to initiate solid plans for tiger conservation.

AGRICULTURE The Kalahandi farmer suicide is not a unique case but representative of the larger agrarian crisis faced by India. The suicide of more than 300,000 farmers since 1998 points towards the need for state initiative that transforms the existence of India’s farmers.

POLITICS A bandh was organised in Assam to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 to grant Indian citizenship to all non-Muslim refugees who left India due to religious persecution and entered India prior to December 31, 2014. The BJP opposed the bandh and the Congress and AGP supported it.

EXPLORATION In the outskirts of Mangalore, an illiterate fruit seller dedicated his time and savings to build up the only school in his village that not only promised the light of education to many but also became the symbol of people’s agency.

ANALYSIS Legislation have banned manual scavenging but despite these, the practice continues to exist in most states of India. Without a change in social orientation and sustained state initiative, it is impossible to abolish this inhuman compulsion that rules over the lives of lakhs of Dalits employed as manual scavengers. Sundaresha D. S.