The central Indian state of Chhattisgarh has become a dangerous place for those who question the government. This, especially after the Indian government has vowed to unleash a massive offensive on Maoist rebels that human rights groups say doesn’t address the factors that has led to the Maoist insurgency in the first place.

A woman, who underwent sterilization surgery at a government mass sterilisation “camp”, walks to sit in a hospital bed at a district hospital in Bilaspur, in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh, November 13, 2014. © Reuters/M. Mukherjee

Women in rural India continue to lack access to proper family planning services. This issue came under spotlight with the tragic death of 16 women who were sterilized in a health camp in the northeastern State of Chhattisgarh in November 2014. The doctor who had performed the surgeries confessed in an interview that he had a history of completing 200-300 surgeries a day. It was also reported that women were given no follow up care.