World Vision India organised a public hearing for people living with HIV/AIDS at YMCA here on Thursday to highlight the general discrimination faced by these people, particularly in terms of access to public health care facilities, individual property rights and related issues that violate human rights. It was also aimed at sensitising policy-makers and civil society about the discrimination faced by people with HIV/AIDS. “People living with HIV/AIDS face stigma and...

Civil society's demand to appoint Kiran Bedi as the next Chief Information Commissioner has started an interesting debate. It has several dimensions. One section of media, albeit very small, is projecting that there is intense lobbying going on for Bedi. The word "lobby" has unholy connotations and at times, implies vested interests. Is it that one day I, Aamir Khan, Anna Hazare, Subhash Chandra, Baba Ramdev, Madhu Trehan, Shabana Azmi,...

A fact finding team of many civil society organizations has reported widespread occurrences of murders, tortures and cases of police atrocities in Chhattisgarh in the name of combating Naxalism. It is also being alleged that in the name of their own security, journalists are being stopped from going to so called “combat zones” where security forces have launched an Operation Greenhunt to flush out armed Maoists.  Fifteen members of the...

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been given two more weeks time by Lokayukta to respond to allegations of misuse of public funds during last year's Assembly polls in the national capital. The deadline was extended after the Chief Minister failed to respond to the notice issued by Lokayukta justice Manmohan Sarin on October 8 to file reply in the matter by October 27. However, following request from her counsel...

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (2005) differs from the other poverty alleviation measures in two significant respects. Where most welfare programmes cast the state in the role of benefactor offering handouts to the poor, the NREGS is built around notions of citizenship and entitlement. Secondly, the NREGS also facilitates disclosure by means of regular social audits. These audits, mandated to be done by the Gram Sabhas, are intended to...