-The Times of India MUMBAI: The murder of a young Right to Information activist from Bhiwandi was no aberration for a state that has seen the highest number of attacks on RTI activists since the Act's debut in 2005. Data gleaned by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) shows Maharashtra has seen 53 attacks on RTI activists, including nine cases of murder, over the last eight years. Gujarat comes second with 34...

-PTI NEW DELHI: NCW has recommended drafting of a special legislation against human trafficking which includes the UN definition of the crime, besides setting up of a central nodal authority to curb all such activities. Taking note of increasing cases of human trafficking in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the National Commission of Women (NCW) has sent a list of recommendations to the ministries of Home Affairs and Labour to prevent...

-The Hindu Sexual harassment cases usually have a marked power imbalance between the victim and the accused; this may well affect the negotiation scenario, with the victim being unable to hold her own In recent times, the issue of sexual harassment of women at the workplace has assumed prominence with serious allegations being made against a former Supreme Court judge, whose court pronounced verdict on huge scams, and the editor of a...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), sought to be empowered by the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill to oversee action taken by the states to prevent and control communal violence, has declined to monitor performance of duties by civil servants under the Act, saying that it was for their superiors to do so. The human rights body also insisted that collecting information on communal build-ups...

-Down to Earth Union health ministry says 17 other deaths of infants reported in Haryana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were not linked to five-in-one vaccine The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has admitted that the pentavalent vaccine has caused at least three infant deaths in Tamil Nadu since December 2011 when the vaccine was launched in the state. The admission follows a Right to Information query after vaccine-related deaths were...