--Press release by Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights dated 20th October, 2021 GENEVA (20 October 2021) – Water is increasingly being treated as a mere commodity and even as a financial asset, a UN human rights expert told the UN General Assembly today, undermining the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation and the sustainability of the environment. Pedro Arrojo Agudo, the Special Rapporteur on the...
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Why breastfeeding is crucial for building nutritional foundation beyond infancy -Puja Marwaha
-Down to Earth Breastfeeding is at the core of infant nutrition. But mothers in rural areas are avoiding it due to COVID-19 fears As India celebrated National Nutrition Month under the shadow of COVID-19, it’s time we put the spotlight on breastfeeding, which lies at the core of newborn and infant nutrition. In a remote village of Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, Jamuna (name changed), 28, gave birth to her daughter a few...
More »16th Years of RTI Act: Defunct Commissions, Huge Backlog
-Newsclick.in 2,55,602 appeals and complaints were pending in the 26 information commissions till June 30, according to a report. October 12 marked 16 years of the RTI Act, 2005. The law has empowered millions of citizens to seek information and hold the government accountable. Section3 of the Act states: “Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the Right to Information.” Under the Act, information commissions (ICs) are the final...
More »The RTI Law: 16 Years On, Still a Contested Space -Nikhil Dey and Aruna Roy
-TheWire.in On the anniversary of the day the Act came into effect, a look at that 'heaven of freedom' that will sustain even the most oppressed and marginalised people. Right to Information users, like dissenters and democratic activists in India’s troubled democracy, have been under siege. As the Right to Information (RTI) Act completes 16 years it becomes increasingly clear that democracy, and the Right to Information are inextricably linked to one another....
More »No data on private vaccine procurement: Health Ministry -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu ‘Private hospitals procure vaccines directly from manufacturers, so no data available’ The Health Ministry says it does not know how many COVID-19 vaccines were procured by private players, nor does it have separate data on how many vaccine doses were administered by private hospitals and service providers, according to its response to a Right to Information request filed by Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd). Despite the fact that the government had reserved...
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