As a fallout of the Ruchika molestation case, trials in all sexual offences including rape will now be completed within two months as far as possible and all victims will have the right to appeal against a court order, under new Amendments to CrPC. The Amendments which came into effect yesterday would come as a big relief to complainants as till now only the state could file an appeal against...

BEFORE ANY debate starts, we must remind ourselves that India has a tendency of corruption. India, though a democracy, has a history of reported corruption cases. While the Chief Justice of India, KG Balakrishnan, has demanded that PM Manmohan Singh amend the RTI Act to ‘protect’ the judiciary from ‘intrusive’ queries, what needs to be kept in mind is that the proposed Amendments will totally defeat the purpose of an...

Missing job cards, fudged muster rolls and diversion of NREGS funds through fake bills. What the Rajasthan social audit has revealed is the tip of the iceberg.  Bhilwara-2009 invited a swift and strong backlash — the government backed off realising it had stepped into a quagmire of corruption The battle being fought in the panchayats, streets, offices, and courts of Rajasthan is not just about social audit To understand why civil society...

Demanding equal educational opportunities for all children, a large contingent of people walked to Bal Bhavan here this past Friday in support of three key demands on the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. December 11 was the day India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to demand the right to education for every Indian child. Regretting that millions of...

The prime minister of Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, is now calling for a “political declaration” at the Copenhagen climate change conference, instead of the promised “ambitious” and “binding” outcome. In other words, brave words will take the place of bold deeds at Copenhagen. India and other developing countries are reluctant to accept this lowering of sights and are still hoping for substantive results. The Danish announcement is disappointing but not unexpected....