-NDTV A board outside a temple for the Goddess Kali orders Dalits to stop at this point. "Harijans can pray from here," it declares. The warning sign was put up in August last year after three schoolgirls entered the shrine to offer Prasad to the Goddess, an icon of empowerment and Shakti. The caretaker of the temple in Orissa's Puri district offers no apologies for the discrimination. "It is against tradition,"...
More »SEARCH RESULT
A bill to settle a terrible debt by Siddharth Varadarajan
For decades, the victims of communal and targeted violence have been denied protections of law that the rest of us take for granted. It's time to end this injustice. In a vibrant and mature democracy, there would be no need to have special laws to prosecute the powerful or protect the weak. If a crime takes place, the law would simply take its course. In a country like ours, however, life...
More »NAC to finalise Food Security Bill draft today by Smita Gupta
It will also discuss Communal Violence Bill and condition of endangered Jarawa tribals BJP and other right wing groups are against the use of word ‘minority' in Communal Violence Bill The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) hopes to finalise its Working Group's draft of the Food Security Bill, take the discussion on its Communal Violence (CV) Bill draft further and hold a discussion on the plight of Jarawas in the Andaman...
More »A very special case by Partha Chatterjee
I must begin with two disclaimers. The Singur land development and rehabilitation bill, 2011 was moved in the West Bengal legislative assembly last Tuesday by the industries minister with whom I happen to share a name. However, I believe he does not share any of the opinions or sentiments expressed below. Second, I was a persistent critic of the Left Front government when it was in power and what I...
More »Jobs for weaker sections in private sector: Centre for voluntary disclosure
-The Hindu “No positive response seen for enforcement of reservation ” The Union government is working on a mechanism of ‘voluntary disclosure' by the corporate and private sector on enhancement of employment opportunities for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a conference of State Social Justice and Empowerment Ministers here on Friday that the government had taken a number of initiatives to increase ‘affirmative action' with...
More »