-The Hindu The Delhi High Court order striking down the Begging Act heeds the Constitution’s transformative nature In 1871, the colonial regime passed the notorious Criminal Tribes Act. This law was based upon the racist British belief that in India there were entire groups and communities that were criminal by birth, nature, and occupation. The Act unleashed a reign of terror, with its systems of surveillance, police reporting, the separation of families,...

-The Times of India JAIPUR: The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has shot off a letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to discourage states, particularly Rajasthan, from diluting the Laws governing temporary suspension of telecom services and issuing orders for shutdown of internet and data services. In its letter dated August 8, the representative body for telecom service providers said that, as per rules, the direction to suspend internet services...

-PTI New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Wednesday decriminalised begging in the national capital, saying provisions penalising the act were unconstitutional, nearly three months after wondering aloud how it could be treated as an offence in a country where the government was unable to provide food or jobs. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said the inevitable consequence of the decision would be that prosecution...

-The Indian Express Can a democracy permit so many to be in a state of liminal legality? NRC poses a political and moral question The possibility — whether immediate or somewhat remote — that at the end of the process as many as 4 million people may lose their legal status as citizens should not be a cause of celebration in a democracy. Nor should it generate a mad rush among...

-MillenniumPost.in Attention must be drawn to the lakhs of domestic helps in India who do not receive any legal protection. The number of domestic workers in India varies from official estimates of around five million to loosely defined unofficial estimates of 10 million. Between 2000 and 2010, women (young girls included) made up for more than 75 per cent of the new entrants into the domestic workforce. In 2010, more than 68...