-The Hindu The social activist whose new book on the RTI is just out, worries about the doublespeak in politics today, where rhetoric and substance never match The past couple of months have been hectic for Aruna Roy. The social activist and Magsaysay Award winner has been travelling across the country to promote her book, The RTI Story: Power to the People, which came out in April. After waiting more than a...

-The Indian Express Quoting data from National Commission for Protection of Child Rights — the apex body for child rights — the minister said although 31 states notified their Victim Compensation Scheme under the POCSO Rules, the disbursements “has not been uniform or satisfactory”. New Delhi: Asserting that minor boys are the “most neglected victims of sexual abuse”, Union Minister for Woman and Child Development (WCD) Maneka Gandhi, on Wednesday, wrote to...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted anticipatory bail to four people accused under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act two months after ruling against the act's provisions that mandate automatic arrests and prohibit anticipatory bail. Maharashtra-based Gender Rights activist Trupti Desai, her husband and two others associated with her NGO had been accused of abusing a Dalit by his caste and robbing him in July last year. The...

-Civil Society News New Delhi: In 1974, Dr Samir Chaudhuri, a paediatrician working in Kolkata’s slums, founded Child in Need Institute (CINI) to tackle the many dimensions of child malnutrition. It struck him at the time that malnutrition wasn’t just a clinical problem but a complex phenomenon rooted in gender issues. Over the years, led by Dr Chaudhuri, CINI developed deep understanding of the social, economic and political underpinnings of malnutrition...

-The Indian Express Women form 80 per cent of urban migrants, but public policy is blind to their concerns. A recent UN report says India is on the “brink of an urban revolution”, as its population in towns and cities are expected to reach 600 million by 2031. Fuelled by migration, megacities of India (Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata) will be among the largest urban concentrations in the world. Interestingly, the 2011 Census...