Rubina Khan Shapoo

Sandhya Richariya was 18 when she was burnt alive inside her own home.She was killed in March 2010, allegedly by four neighbours in her village in Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh. They wanted to punish her for falling in love with a man from a different caste. None of them are in jail. After pouring kerosene on her and setting her on fire, the attack...

In the last fortnight, seven farmers have killed themselves in different parts of Madhya Pradesh. The youngest was 27 and the oldest was 70. Another three survived suicide attempts - just barely.  They are in a critical condition in hospital."The farmers are paying for their past sins. They have been using chemical fertilizers so much that the...

After five years, Bhopal is witnessing one of the coldest winters in the month of December. The temperature has dipped to an all-time low and the chill has spread across the state.A minimum of 7.7 degrees is not something Bhopal is used to, or prepared for. The worst hit are children living on the street, beggars and the homeless.Among these, three...

Savitri sits in her hut with her two young sons. Till recently, she had another child. The two-year-old died last month. In local parlance, he died of "sukhni"-which literally means a child shrivelling from hunger.In this part of north Madhya Pradesh, so many children die of hunger that the region has actually coined its own term to describe the ho...

Frustrated at the inefficiency of state health workers, especially in Bhopal and Sehore, Madhya Pradesh government is now resorting to desperate measures to control malaria deaths.The workers have now been told they could be charged with culpable homicide if there are any more deaths in their areas.''We have given them a clear warning. If anyone in...

When Prabha Sharma walked up to random people on the streets of Bhopal and asked them for Rs. 2 lakh, some found her hard to refuse. She said that as Mamata Banerjee's Personal Assistant, she could offer attractive jobs in the Railways. Ten people paid up in just the last week.Radheshyam Yadav, a college graduate who works as an assistant in a shoe...

It was a tough day at work for Mahendra Yadav. At 6 pm on Sunday evening, one showing of Salman Khan's blockbuster Dabangg had just ended, another was scheduled to begin shortly. At the cinema in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, where Yadav worked as security guard, the crowds surged. As Yadav attempted to control them, he suddenly found himself being attac...

Seven Indians, who were executives of Union Carbide, and were sentenced to two years in jail for their role in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984 could soon be looking at tougher charges. The Supreme Court has re-opened the Bhopal case.It's part of the government's new campaign to correct the infinite wrongs of the past which collectively led to a shoc...

If James Bond is available for hire - the recession has led to the indefinite postponement of his next on-screen adventure - he might want to consider a mission in Rajasthan. Sixty one trucks loaded with explosives - gelatin sticks and detonators - worth Rs 1.5 crore have disappeared. Between April and June this year, the trucks pulled out of ...

A hundred tribal families lived with this declaration painted on their walls: I am poor.  The humiliating disclosure was forced upon them by the local panchayats in Goplaganj in Madhya Pradesh. The intention was to clearly indicate which families are genuine Below Poverty Line (BPL) cases, so that they can collect their share of free rations. ...

Floods in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have hit vegetable supplies hard in North India. Prices have doubled, even tripled in some places over the last week.

Mythology will have you know that even Sita, the wife of Lord Ram, had to walk on burning embers to prove her innocence. And Vandana is no Sita. So there was no veneration when this tribal girl was ordered by a Panchayat to walk with a red-hot iron rod tied to her hand through her village in Madhya Pradesh. People jeered as she went through th...

Work at the controversial Maheshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh is on in full swing despite the environment ministry's ban.

The income tax department has raided the residence of an IAS couple in Bhopal. Rupees three corer in cash has been recovered from the house.

Sugar prices have seen a steady rise since the second half of last year. Packaged sugar now costs at Rs 44 a kilogram in the retail market and is moving towards Rs 50 a kilogram mark.

Sandhya Richariya was 18 when she was burnt alive inside her own home.She was killed in March 2010, allegedly by four neighbours in her village in Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh. They wanted to punish her for falling in love with a man from a different caste. None of them are in jail. After pouring kerosene on her and setting her on fire, the attack...

In the last fortnight, seven farmers have killed themselves in different parts of Madhya Pradesh. The youngest was 27 and the oldest was 70. Another three survived suicide attempts - just barely.  They are in a critical condition in hospital."The farmers are paying for their past sins. They have been using chemical fertilizers so much that the...

After five years, Bhopal is witnessing one of the coldest winters in the month of December. The temperature has dipped to an all-time low and the chill has spread across the state.A minimum of 7.7 degrees is not something Bhopal is used to, or prepared for. The worst hit are children living on the street, beggars and the homeless.Among these, three...

Savitri sits in her hut with her two young sons. Till recently, she had another child. The two-year-old died last month. In local parlance, he died of "sukhni"-which literally means a child shrivelling from hunger.In this part of north Madhya Pradesh, so many children die of hunger that the region has actually coined its own term to describe the ho...

Frustrated at the inefficiency of state health workers, especially in Bhopal and Sehore, Madhya Pradesh government is now resorting to desperate measures to control malaria deaths.The workers have now been told they could be charged with culpable homicide if there are any more deaths in their areas.''We have given them a clear warning. If anyone in...

When Prabha Sharma walked up to random people on the streets of Bhopal and asked them for Rs. 2 lakh, some found her hard to refuse. She said that as Mamata Banerjee's Personal Assistant, she could offer attractive jobs in the Railways. Ten people paid up in just the last week.Radheshyam Yadav, a college graduate who works as an assistant in a shoe...

It was a tough day at work for Mahendra Yadav. At 6 pm on Sunday evening, one showing of Salman Khan's blockbuster Dabangg had just ended, another was scheduled to begin shortly. At the cinema in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, where Yadav worked as security guard, the crowds surged. As Yadav attempted to control them, he suddenly found himself being attac...

Seven Indians, who were executives of Union Carbide, and were sentenced to two years in jail for their role in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984 could soon be looking at tougher charges. The Supreme Court has re-opened the Bhopal case.It's part of the government's new campaign to correct the infinite wrongs of the past which collectively led to a shoc...

If James Bond is available for hire - the recession has led to the indefinite postponement of his next on-screen adventure - he might want to consider a mission in Rajasthan. Sixty one trucks loaded with explosives - gelatin sticks and detonators - worth Rs 1.5 crore have disappeared. Between April and June this year, the trucks pulled out of ...

A hundred tribal families lived with this declaration painted on their walls: I am poor.  The humiliating disclosure was forced upon them by the local panchayats in Goplaganj in Madhya Pradesh. The intention was to clearly indicate which families are genuine Below Poverty Line (BPL) cases, so that they can collect their share of free rations. ...

Floods in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have hit vegetable supplies hard in North India. Prices have doubled, even tripled in some places over the last week.

Mythology will have you know that even Sita, the wife of Lord Ram, had to walk on burning embers to prove her innocence. And Vandana is no Sita. So there was no veneration when this tribal girl was ordered by a Panchayat to walk with a red-hot iron rod tied to her hand through her village in Madhya Pradesh. People jeered as she went through th...

Work at the controversial Maheshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh is on in full swing despite the environment ministry's ban.

The income tax department has raided the residence of an IAS couple in Bhopal. Rupees three corer in cash has been recovered from the house.

Sugar prices have seen a steady rise since the second half of last year. Packaged sugar now costs at Rs 44 a kilogram in the retail market and is moving towards Rs 50 a kilogram mark.