Students and young people are at the forefront of a protest against hydel projects that are being planned in Sikkim. AT THE VENUE of the relay fast that has continued in Gangtok since June 2007. The Affected Citizens of Teesta comprises students, professionals and former politicians. DAWA LEPCHA has a tube stuck up his nose. It goes right down to his stomach. Sometimes, while he is asleep, it moves and chokes him. But the tube is his only sustenance. The juices poured through it are the only nourishment that keeps him alive.

In Vidarbha, many farmers will not benefit from the waiver because they possess over two hectares of land. Above, Durpata Bhalerao Ataram, whose husband committed suicide in 2007.

IN the empty courtyard of Sajabhai Bodat's hut, there is nothing but a white, plastic chair propped against a mud wall in faded green.

As the phase of implementation of the law approaches, there is palpable unease among the tribal populations. At Pipalkhura, forest Department personnel destroyed tribal homes and took away their belongings. THE road to Pipalkhura is long, rocky and dusty. Across a parched, hilly landscape occasionally broken by a village, farm or bazaar, we make our way to this remote village in Madhya Pradesh. Suddenly, we see a cluster of white tents breaking out of the brown earth

WHILE writing out the receipt for Pandurang Kadam's onion crop on April 19, the trader did not realise that it would be used as forensic evidence. The next day Pandurang returned to the Lasalgaon market and set himself on fire. The town watched in shock as Pandurang burned in the yard where a thousand farmers' hopes are extinguished every day. In his pocket, they recovered the receipt.

Interview with Anil Naidoo, Director of the Blue Planet Project, which is fighting against the commercialisation of water.

"Kidney Sale Centre," proclaims a banner sprawled across a ramshackle bamboo tent at Shingnapur village in Amravati district of Maharashtra. The farmers here are threatening to sell their kidneys. "We have invited the Prime Minister and the President to inaugurate this kidney shop. They should allow us to sell our kidneys. We are all ruined by debt. Many farmers are killing themselves.

"WHY else do you think people who barely get enough to eat, who don't even earn Rs.50 a day, have borrowed money to come for this rally?" asked D.P. Vishe, a farmer from Shahpur in Thane district, Maharashtra. "Because this is the only hope we have left. To come together and fight the injustices against farmers."