Abhay Singh Rathwa is a Gujarati tribal boy who is cycling with Himanshu Kumar of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram Dantewada from 27th June from Raj Ghat in New Delhi. When the yatra reached Baroda police has visited Mr Rathwa and enquired about his future plans. Himanshu Kumar feels that it is a scaring tactic and in future police may harass Mr Rathwa as they are already harassing many tribal activists in Gujarat by calling them Naxals

After order from Chhattisgarh high court administration has paid interim relief of Rs 1 lakh each to widows of 3 tribals who were killed by police and SPOs in a Salwa Judum camp called Matwada on 18th March 2008. The ongoing case demands a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each, a CBI enquiry and punishment for perpetrators of the crime. This is one of the first cases where state has paid relief to an alleged victim of state atrocity

Himanshu Kumar on his cycle yatra has reached villages in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan. He reports from there that people from evicted villages of Vedanta’s Hindustan Zinc are sitting on a protest from last 135 days but no one has taken notice of them. No media or politician has visited them. In water scarce Rajasthan Vedanta is also digging deep tube wells and making ponds to supply water to the factory which will also submerge the golden triangle road

Himanshu Kumar updates us about his ongoing cycle yatra along with Abhay Singh Rathwa in Rajasthan. Recently, a large rally was organized in Jaipur with the help of of Kavita Srivastav which was attended by the activists and intellectuals of the city including the likes of Aruna Roy. Continuing with the yatra, they came across an area where nine of the villages, including Bagrukhur, Tilawal, Dariya, Palri, Talwara had been given to the Mahindra and Mahindra group for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) without the consent of the villagers. However, they also met with a a ray of hope in the form of a girl who had resisted getting married when she was in Class 8, and has now passed her MA. Since then she has helped in avoiding at least 15-16 other child marriages like her’s. The yatra has reached Tiloniya, home to Bunker Roy’s Barefoot College. They will then proceed to Ajmer, where they are scheduled to meet a group of college students.

Himanshu Kumar has reported from his Cycle Yatra in Rajasthan that he is encountering illegal stone mining which is creating huge trouble for nearby villages and may destroy the habitations in the years to come. Mining is happening in connivance with administration and police and people are harassed when the complain