-Economic and Political Weekly The committee of inquiry headed by justice Verma is a landmark for the way in which it has inscribed into the very foundations of law, the equality and liberty of India’s women citizens. To uphold the constitutional guarantees afforded to women, it is essential that the rights given to working women in the Vishaka judgment (also delivered by justice Verma) are not elided or compromised, either by...

-The Telegraph The Centre has rejected a plea for removal of K.G. Balakrishnan as National Human Rights Commission chairperson for alleged assets accumulation when he was Chief Justice of India from January 2007 to June 2010. The Union home ministry said papers relating to Balakrishnan’s alleged corruption had been sent to the Union law ministry “for taking appropriate action”. In a recent letter to Common Cause, an NGO, the home ministry said...

-Outlook National Human Rights Commission today issued notices to West Bengal Government and Malda District Magistrate over allegations of sterilisation of more than 100 women by two doctors in a day without ensuring basic health care facilities. The notices, returnable in six weeks, were issued to Principal Secretary, Health, Government of West Bengal and District Magistrate of Malda on the basis of a media report and a complaint. The operations were reportedly performed...

-The Hindu Withdraw cases against villagers, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti: Civil society groups Several civil society groups have alleged abuse of Human Rights and registration of false cases by State government agencies in order to curb resistance against the land acquisition for the proposed Posco steel plant in Odisha. Highlighting instances of “biased and arbitrary” police action in the eight villages of Jagatsinghpur district affected by the plant, illustrated in the recently-released fact...

-Outlook This could be the UPA’s worst cut to its beloved aam admi. Healthcare has virtually been handed over to privateers. Not For Those Who Need It Most Govt seems to have abandoned healthcare to the private sector Diagnosing An Ailing Republic     70 per cent of India still lives in the villages, where only two per cent of qualified allopathic doctors are available     Due to lack of access to medical care, rural India...