-Outlook The Jaipur Literature Festival today witnessed fireworks after political critic Ashis Nandy made a controversial comment on corruption and people belonging to OBC, SC and ST communities which drew a strong response from the audience. At a panel discussion at the Festival, Nandy said, "Most corrupt people come from OBC, SC and ST communities". Journalist Ashutosh, who was among the panelists, and most members from the audience took strong exception to the...

A report by a parliamentary standing committee entrusted to examine the National Food Security Bill, 2011 has revived the debate on what measures India must take to end its abysmal track record of hunger and malnutrition, (See several links given below) despite successive years of high growth and record grain procurement. The draft legislation is likely to be debated in the upcoming session of Parliament, even as the recent Jaipur...

-The Hindu The Justice J.S. Verma Committee stands firmly against lowering of the age criteria for juveniles accused of heinous crimes including rape Standing firmly against lowering of the age criteria for juveniles accused of heinous crimes including rape, the Justice J.S. Verma Committee report on ‘Amendments to Criminal Law’ has noted that “the Juvenile Justice Act has failed MISerably to protect the children in the country. We cannot hold the child...

-The Indian Express Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh police have produced the two tribal women of a Chhattisgarh village who had gone MISsing after a police raid on January 12 before a magistrate in Khammam court. They sought remand of the women stating that they were arrested of being Maoist militias and informers. The police move comes two days after the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Forum (HRF) filed a Habeas Corpus in the...

-The Hindu ‘Bring new constitutional authority for education, non-discrimination of women, children’ Standing firmly against lowering of the age criteria for juveniles accused of heinous crimes including rape, the Justice J.S. Verma Committee report on ‘Amendments to Criminal Law’ has noted that “the Juvenile Justice Act has failed MISerably to protect the children in the country. We cannot hold the child responsible for a crime before first providing to him/her the basic...