The National Alliance of Peoples’ movement (NAPM), an organization of dozens of grassroots movements and civil society groups all over India, has expressed full solidarity with noted Gandhian Himanshu Kumar of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram demanding restoration of peace and just governance in Chhattisgarh. Himanshu Kumar has gone on an indefinite hunger strike at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh from Saturday December 26 amidst reports of government’s preparation to launch an all out...

The outcome of the historic climate change negotiations in Copenhagen hinges on the issues of emissions reductions and financing, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as he urged world leaders to use the final days of the talks to strike an ambitious new agreement. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that to stave off the worst effects of climate change, industrialized countries must slash greenhouse...

Taking suo motu notice of reports of torture of two minors by the police in Jhundpura, Uttar Pradesh, that too for no cause, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday sought an explanation from the State. The NHRC issued a notice to the SSP of Gautambudh Nagar, seeking a “factual” report within four weeks. It said the matter was a serious violation of human rights of minor children. The notice related...

Introduction The phenomenon of disability is one of the pressing problems in the world. According to the projections of international agencies, about 10 per cent of the population are affected with physical, mental, sensory and other forms of impairments and around 75 per cent of the disabled population are concentrated in the rural and inaccessible areas of the developing societies. This data is based on recent studies carried out in various...

The functioning of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission has been rated as “satisfactory” by its chairperson, S.R. Nayak. This, however, comes with plenty of riders. If the commission is working, it is despite non-cooperation from the State Government in providing adequate staff and space and, worse still, active efforts by government representatives to bring discredit to the commission by indulging in “ill-conceived, motivated and misleading” attacks. Addressing a press...