-Live Mint ‘Give me any job... but please take me out of this hell', says 57-year-old Saraswati, a manual scavenger New Delhi: Saraswati doesn't remember the last time her bare hands touched the statues of the gods lying on a shaky wooden plank in a corner of her one-room house in Farrukhnagar village of Ghaziabad district. She doesn't remember the last time she prayed or fasted. She says every part of her body...

-PTI In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on Friday held that citizens have right to cast negative vote rejecting all candidates contesting polls, a decision which would encourage people not satisfied with contestants to turn up for voting. The apex court directed the Election Commission to provide ‘none of the above options' at the end of the list of candidates in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballot papers to allow voters...

-The Hindu     Governments have ritually abused the latitude granted by the Indian Penal Code and the Constitution to harass, intimidate and arrest scores of writers, journalists and artists It is common knowledge that Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian Constitution lays down that "all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression"; it is also common knowledge that this fundamental right is not absolute, as the immediately following...

-Kafila.org A Preliminary Citizens' Report September 20, 2013 A. On September 17-18, 2013, an 11 member team consisting of both independent activists as well as activists affiliated with 5 organizations based in Lucknow, Chitrakoot, Muzaffarnagar and Delhi visited relief camps in two affected districts of Muzaffarnagar (3 Relief Camps - Madrasa camp at Bassi Kalan, Madrasa camp at Tawli and camp at Haji Aala's house, Shahpur) and Shamli (3 Relief Camps -...

-The Hindu Lack of harmonisation of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 with those meant to protect children from sexual abuse has put gynaecologists in a fix. The abortion law guarantees absolute confidentiality to a woman irrespective of her age, while the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 - put in place after the horrific gang-rape of the 23-year-old girl in Delhi...