-The United Nations A top United Nations official today strongly encouraged governments to adopt special temporary measures, such as quotas, to boost the number of women in parliament and decision-making positions, pointing to the progress achieved by women in India as a result of affirmative action. “Here in India, quotas have spurred one of the world’s greatest successes in women’s empowerment and grassroots democracy,” Michelle Bachelet said in her keynote address to...

-Frontline Members of denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes, treated as criminal tribes by the colonial rulers, have no place to call their own and no land, no rights, and no support from the government.  Emaciated, eyes sunken deep into sockets, skin hanging loose, almost gasping for breath, Indro Devi and Sarvnath, a couple in their eighties, lie on polythene sheets in an 8×10 square-foot tent made of rags, by a stinking nullah...

-Outlook The bill providing 50 per cent Reservation for women in urban local bodies in Odisha was passed by the state assembly today. Opposition Congress and BJP raised a din and did not participate in the proceedings in the passage of the bill. The house had debated the Odisha Right to Public Service Bill, 2012 last night but there was no discussion on two other bills - The Odisha Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill,...

The Guwahati molestation incident throws light on the violence women face overtly and covertly in India, at home and outside. The shocking incident of the beating and molestation of a young woman by a mob in Guwahati in Assam on July 9 has exposed the ugly underbelly of modern, globalised India, where women face violence, covertly and overtly, at home and outside. The incident has also exposed the lackadaisical manner in...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: After Bhartiya Kisan Union(BKU), the All India Jat Arakshan Samiti(AIJAS) has also supported the diktat of the panchayat at the Asra village in Baghpat. The diktat puts restrictions on the movement of girls and women. A meeting was held in the village and it was decided that a Mahapanchayat will be held on July 21 in which khap panchayats from other parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan...