A girl too many?

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Could a family that dared to defy the widespread household practice of female infanticide in Jaisalmer thirty years back by raising a girl have killed their newborn girl child a week back? That's the question the Jaisalmer district administration is now holding an investigation to answer. It's the first case of its kind registered against a family for alleged female infanticide in Rajasthan where the 2011 census shows a drop of 26 in child sex ratio since 2001. And while the investigation is on the Sub Divisional Magistrate Ramesh Chandra Agarwal who exhumed the child's body and sent it for a post mortem has shockingly been posted out. While that brings a rather unsavory distinction to Devra village, the last time Devra saw a 'first' happening was in 1999. A young Jayant Kanwar the first girl her village to survive in the hotbed of....

The K-Soaps of Rajasthan

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Faraway from Ekta Kapoor's K-world, the word K, to Ashok Gehlot's ears -- just as those of many others in the Congress -- sounds anything but musical. To give the K-factor its due though, the quotient of high drama it's lending to the political snakes and ladders in Rajasthan easily equals that of the K-soaps on telly. Courtesy a certain Kirori Lal Meena. Last Thursday Dr Kirori Lal Meena sat sulking on the sofa. His head held in his hands. As we rolled our cameras he pulled out a pocket comb which I suspect he picked up from his Assembly constituency Toda Bhim ahead of Dausa. And took his time trying to do a Lalu once again. The last time he did a Lalu was when his wife became a mantri in the Gehlot government making him a 'mantri pati'. On much insistence from us -- the reporters....

Beyond rains, royalty and razzmatazz

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For anyone who thought there was little more to Rajasthan's politics than royalty, razzmatazz and rains, the results of the Assembly polls couldn't have fixed those ideas better. And now the Congress juggernaut is on the roll in the state. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP that sent a whopping 21 out of 25 MPs to the Lok Sabha in the last elections, has lost a lot more than just its confidence. But someone who got it all wrong in the Assembly polls is Vasundhara Raje. Right from her politics to her PR, within and outside the party. Raje had many things going for her. Her political lineage. High degree of autonomy from the party bosses. Her way with the women voters. Charisma and a progressive vision. After all how many politicians in the country we know can walk the....