Victims have not forgotten the following brutal tragedies in the life of independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have. 1984—Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for ‘Operation Bluestar’. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3000 Sikhs—men and boys—were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and...

Cells of children rapidly divide and hence are more sensitive to any radiation. The brain area exposed to radiation is also large If the World Health Organisation has classified mobile phones as “possibly carcinogenic” on May 31, the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly took a proactive step by adopting a resolution on May 27. The Council has recommended restrictions on the use of mobile phones and wireless internet access in all schools...

If access to information is the first step towards empowerment, then it is important to make internet accessibility a human right because a lot of useful information, particularly relating to government schemes, is either unpublished or inaccessible by other means for most citizens The government’s approach towards universal internet access is marred by dichotomy. While the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, calls internet one of the most effective means of...

-The United Nations   An independent United Nations expert on freedom of expression today warned that governments are increasingly restricting the flow of information on the internet due to its potential to mobilize people to challenge the status quo. Frank La Rue, a Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today: “Governments are using increasingly sophisticated technologies to block content, and to monitor and identify...

An arrest in a small corner of Chhattisgarh has become the subject of an 'urgent action' petition circulating worldwide. Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog, has urged people to write to authorities "calling on them to drop the false charges against Ramesh Agrawal and Dr Harihar Patel and release them immediately". A week ago, Agrawal and Patel were arrested in Raigarh based on a complaint filed by Jindal Power Limited. A...