-Frontline The government’s passage of the Aadhaar Bill in complete disregard of even basic parliamentary procedures and in subversion of an ongoing judicial process puts at risk a number of constitutional rights and liberties of citizens. The benefits cited are just ploys to realise a neoliberal dream. “Congressmen are dancing as if [Aadhaar] was a herb for all cures. With the Supreme Court pulling up the Centre, people are now seeking...

-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: The recently released United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) report on child marriages shows that Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Telangana have high prevalence of child marriages. The report, "Reducing Child Marriage in India A Model to Scale up Results", mentions Gujarat's Patan among districts with highest numbers of child marriages in India, along with other such districts from states like Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Telangana....

-Livemint.com The latest round of NFHS-4 shows than even in wealthy states such as Tamil Nadu, about four out of every 10 married women experienced some form of spousal violence Mumbai: A week ago, minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi said that India cannot have a law to criminalise marital rape, citing various factors such as “level of education/illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs, mindset of...

-The Hindu The question whether marital rape should be treated as a criminal offence has once again arisen after Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi repeated the government’s stand in a written reply in Parliament. She said, “The concept of marital rape as understood internationally cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors like level of education/illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious...

-The Hindu The Aadhaar Bill opens the door to mass surveillance. This danger needs to be seen in the light of recent attacks on the right to dissent. No other country, and certainly no democratic country, has ever held its own citizens hostage to such a powerful infrastructure of surveillance. The Aadhaar project was sold to the public based on the claim that enrolment was “voluntary”. This basically meant that there was...