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Soni Sori is one of the five people worldwide recognized this year for their humanitarian work by human rights group Front Line Defenders. A fierce voice against the Chhattisgarh government’s excesses, this award highlights her struggle and the government’s apathy. Here’s Kamal Shukla’s report

Patthalgadi, an ancient ritual of the Adivasis, is the act of erecting a stone plank to commemorate the deaths of their ancestors. The ritual, given the string of extrajudicial killings today, has become an intrinsic part of the Adivasi’s fight for dignity, identity and resistance. Kamal Shukla sheds light on some poignant memorials in Bastar

Author, sociologist and social activist Professor Nandini Sundar is a protagonist of the cultural rights of Tribals and Bahujans and a supporter of the Mahishasur movement. Recently, she wrote in ‘The Wire’ that when police took action against FORWARD Press and its editors, they refused to be cowed down and that provided a fillip to the Mahishasur Movement

Whosoever espouses the cause of tribals becomes an eyesore for the police and the administration in Bastar. And that is the case with Soni Sori too

Some tribals have been attacked. Others haven’t been given the subsidized food items they are entitled to. This is not quite the ‘achhe din’ they heard promised in the rallies and on TV before the elections

Chendru, who had brought Bastar into international limelight way back in 1959, passed away on 18 September. As a little boy, Chendru Ram Mandavi used to play with tigers and spent most of his time with them

Bastar, often described as the key to power in Chhattisgarh, did not hold as much significance this time. Despite winning 8 of the 12 seats in Bastar, the Congress could not come to power in the state