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Dear Reader,
Gujarat has imposed prohibition since the state’s formation in 1960. However, alcohol has not stopped flowing, with a little help from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.
The Reporters’ Collective’s investigation into the anatomy of liquor smuggling from Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat finds that four of MP’s 11 distilleries, in the border districts of Jhabua and Alirajpur, have been the bridgeheads of the illicit operations for the last three decades. The investigation deep dives into the modus operandi of this illegal trade and the fleeting and faltering efforts of law enforcement to stem the flow.
In Kerala, there was outrage when it was discovered that 1,458 government employees and pensioners, including gazetted officials, were illegally availing pensions. The pilferage of these pensions meant for the poor, the old, the disabled, and agricultural labour, running into crores, went undetected for 20 long years.
The government cracked the whip issuing a directive instructing all department heads to collect the sums transferred illegally to the ineligible government employees with 18% interest annually, and has also announced departmental action against the officials who assisted in the heist. However, Keraleeyam Masika points out that the crackdown by the government is an insufficient remedy and there is a need to go to the root causes—the lack of oversight, bureaucratic collusion, and the non-use of technology—to weed out those misusing the system.
Almost two hundred years ago, while developing Assam’s tea plantations, the British forcibly brought Adivasi labour from the Chhota Nagpur plateau region of Jharkhand to the state. Constituting 20 per cent of Assam’s two-crore population—Santhals, Gonds, Oraons, and Mundas—they are among India’s most marginalised.
Steeped in generational poverty, they are now locked in a battle to be accorded Scheduled Tribe status which they think will improve their lot through better access to education and jobs. The Migration Story chronicles their lives and times.
Last Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the "Damocles’ sword cannot be kept hanging" on convicts on death row. The Court was hearing an appeal by the Maharashtra government on commuting the death sentence of two convicts in a rape and murder case who had been sentenced an agonising seventeen years ago.
The Supreme Court Observer says that the Apex Court’s views on the death penalty have been marked by contradictions. While it is among the few countries that permit the death penalty, last year, for instance, the High Courts confirmed just one death sentence, while the Supreme Court confirmed none, the lowest number since 2000. The story analyses the apex court’s evolving stance on the death penalty.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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