-Scroll.in At the heart of the problem is a discrepancy between two laws on rights for Adivasis to the bamboo growing on their traditional forestlands. Across the world, taxonomists have classified bamboo as a grass. But under Indian law, it was treated as a tree. This definition has long given state forest departments monopolistic control over the valuable natural resource. On November 23, the central government loosened this grip by amending the...

-PTI A constitution bench would be set up to hear a clutch of petitions challenging the Centre's decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing various services and government welfare schemes, the Supreme Court today said.   A bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said the larger bench would commence hearing on these petitions in the last week of November this year.   Earlier today, the apex...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Posing a fresh challenge to Aadhaar, a writ in the Supreme Court has questioned the constitutional validity of the Reserve Bank of India's decision to make its linkage with bank accounts mandatory, adding strength to pending pleas challenging the unique identification on the grounds of violation of privacy. The writ comes a day after RBI stated that linking of bank accounts with Aadhaar has been made...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra has asked the National Human Rights Commission and State Human Rights Commissions to move appropriate courts if their directives relating to protection of human rights and award of compensations are not enforced by the authorities concerned. Addressing the 24th foundation day celebrations of the NHRC, the CJI lauded the sustained efforts made by the commission towards promotion and protection of human rights,...

-The Indian Express As incidents of violence against Dalits mount in Gujarat, it is worth recalling the India of Ambedkar’s dreams The steps, if any, initiated by the government through a special session of the Lok Sabha on atrocities after the Una incident last year, have not had an impact on the violence against Dalits in Gujarat. On the contrary, there has been an increase of incidents which the Supreme Court had...