-The Hindu The comprehensive reforms suggested by Justice Verma and his colleagues will protect the right to dignity, autonomy and freedom of victims of sexual assault and rape Starting with Tarabai Shinde’s spirited defence of the honour of her sister countrywomen in 1882, women’s movements in India have been marked by persistent and protracted struggles. But despite this rich and varied history, we have in recent weeks found ourselves shocked at the...

A report by a parliamentary standing committee entrusted to examine the National Food Security Bill, 2011 has revived the debate on what measures India must take to end its abysmal track record of hunger and malnutrition, (See several links given below) despite successive years of high growth and record grain procurement. The draft legislation is likely to be debated in the upcoming session of Parliament, even as the recent Jaipur...

-The Hindustan Times I am a 21-year-old transgender — a woman trapped in the body of a man. I am an outcast, abhorred by society. My family disowned me when I told them I wanted to live like a woman. I am pursuing BA from DU through correspondence. To earn a living, I became a sex worker. There was no other option as no one was willing to give me work....

-The Indian Express Mumbai: In 2006, soon after the Malegaon bomb blasts, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested a Unani medicine practitioner alleging he harboured Pakistanis and smuggled the RDX used in the explosives. After five years in prison, and a year outside on bail, Dr Salman Farsi Monday launched a NGO called Justice Legal Voice (JLV) to provide legal aid to the “wrongly arrested”. Farsi recalls that he was nothing but ‘accused...

-DNA If an RTI reply is to be believed, then the Maharashtra Navnirman (MNS) is the only party in the state which is assessed and is filing income tax returns regularly with the income tax department. The reply also says that the party has been receiving donations above Rs20,000, but as parties are exempted from tax on income from donations under section 13A of the I-T Act, no tax is payable...