-Economic and Political Weekly The Government of India is considering a proposal to notify farming as an essential service. This is ostensibly to bring drought relief to farmers suffering from a weak monsoon - a laudable goal indeed. However, if farming is deemed an "essential service", farmers and farm workers could lose many of their political and civic rights because the government can then invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to...
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Raising the bar for the legal profession -NR Madhava Menon
-The Hindu Continued self-education is indispensable to honing the skills of lawyers in emerging areas of practice and to their social relevance in a changing world The Indian legal profession has grown over a short period of less than 50 years to become the world’s largest and most influential in the governance of the country. At the same time, it reflects the diversity of Indian society, its caste structure, inequalities and urbanised...
More »Agra children home inmates found severely malnourished -Bindu Shajan Perappadan
-The Hindu A National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) inspection team has found that inmates of the children’s home ( Shishu Sadan ) and the Observation Home for Boys in Agra are not being given adequate food, leading to malnourishment among many. NCPCR member Yogesh Dube, who led the three-member delegation, said: “An NCPCR team visited Agra on September 6-7 and stumbled upon various irregularities at the two homes for...
More »Let the healing begin -Harsh Mander
-The Hindustan Times As news filtered in of extended life sentences for 31 persons for the brutal slaughter 10 years ago in Naroda Patiya, a working-class suburb of Ahmedabad, my eyes clouded over. I remembered my first meetings with the traumatised survivors of the massacre in the crowded relief camps in the city, a full decade earlier. I was heartsick and stunned by their stories of incredible cruelty. I wondered if...
More »This land is my land-Garga Chatterjee
-The Friday Times How are demographics changing in Assam and Bengal? And what does this mean for 'indigenous' communities? Garga Chatterjee considers the argument for territorial purity The Assam state of the Indian Union has seen violence flare up suddenly from July 6th. With more than 40 people reported dead and upwards of one and a half lakh displaced in a week, the Kokrajhar riots between Bodos and Muslims have again brought...
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