-TheWire.in A report from several civil society actors has found that the Right to Information Act is not functioning as it should be. New Delhi: Two organisations working in the field of right to information assessment and advocacy and a publishing house have come together to bring out ‘Tilting the Balance of Power: Adjudicating the RTI Act for the Oppressed and the Marginalised’, which is a detailed analysis of the orders of...

-TheWire.in The homeless, especially women, have no place to go to during the winters in the capital. Despite a large population of the homeless, including women, unable to access night shelters in Delhi, not a single night shelter has been added by the Arvind Kejriwal government in the past two years. This has been revealed in a reply to a query filed by Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana under the Right to...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court has declared that animals have a right to protect their life and dignity from human excesses In recent years, the Supreme Court has upheld the rights of animals and birds to lead a life of “intrinsic worth, honour and dignity,” even at the cost of popular faith and practices of human beings. The starting point of the trend dates back to May 7, 2014 — the day of...

-Caravan Magazine Since the Aadhaar programme, which aims to provide Indian citizens with unique identification numbers, was launched in 2009, several petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court that oppose its application by the government. These petitions have challenged the Aadhaar programme on various grounds: the government’s right to ask the citizens to provide biometric data for Aadhaar verification without adequate safeguards against its potential misuse; the legality of the...

-TheWire.in Re-promulgation of ordinances is illegal, the apex court ruled, in a judgment that will be applicable to all central ordinances, including demonetisation. Thanks to a recent Supreme Court judgment declaring the re-promulgation of ordinances unconstitutional, the government’s effort to validate demonetisation through ordinances may come to naught. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, promulgated in December to give effect to demonetisation, faces the risk of becoming unconstitutional if re-promulgated after...