The government claims that the Maoists cannot be defeated just with force and that their threat must also be countered with development. If that is so then the government should remember that access to quality education for India's most marginalised children is an indispensable ingredient for progress. And if the Naxalites seek to justify their bloodshed by saying they are fighting for India's poor, then their destruction of one of the few services that can empower these communities is abhorrently perverse.

Both the Naxalites and the government need to recognize that the continued targeting and occupation of schools will neither protect the marginalized nor secure the state. Instead, these tactics cut off tens of thousands of Indian children and huge areas of the country from their hope for a better future.

The ongoing conflict between Maoist insurgents and government forces is disrupting the education of tens of thousands of India’s most marginalized children.

A vibrant democracy with raging debates about health care. A country that prides itself on pioneering medical treatment but continues to see shocking disparities between the wealthy, who can afford expensive, quality care, and the poor, whose access to health care is spotty or simply nonexistent.

In discharging the mandate contained in OP 6 of Human Rights Council resolution 11/8 to identify the human rights dimensions of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, we encourage the OHCHR to include substantive as well as procedural human rights dimensions.

Government forces and anti-government Maoist fighters should ensure that civilians are protected during armed operations in central India and elsewhere.

India is falling behind other countries in meeting international commitments to improve obstetric care because it does not adequately monitor deaths and injuries in the critical period following childbirth and fix gaps in its health system and programs.

The failure of successive Indian governments to bring to justice those responsible for mass revenge attacks on Sikhs after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi 25 years ago is a severe blot on India's legal system and democracy.