-NetworkIdeas.org On Wednesday August 8, the Delhi High Court decriminalized Begging in the capital. In the course of its hearing it had raised the question how Begging could be an offence in a country where the government was unable to provide food and jobs; its final verdict is in line with this thinking. Of course there was no central legislation, or legislation relating specifically to Delhi, that had criminalized Begging earlier;...

-The Hindu The Delhi High Court order striking down the Begging Act heeds the Constitution’s transformative nature In 1871, the colonial regime passed the notorious Criminal Tribes Act. This law was based upon the racist British belief that in India there were entire groups and communities that were criminal by birth, nature, and occupation. The Act unleashed a reign of terror, with its systems of surveillance, police reporting, the separation of families,...

-PTI New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Wednesday decriminalised Begging in the national capital, saying provisions penalising the act were unconstitutional, nearly three months after wondering aloud how it could be treated as an offence in a country where the government was unable to provide food or jobs. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said the inevitable consequence of the decision would be that prosecution...

-The Hindu The social activist whose new book on the RTI is just out, worries about the doublespeak in politics today, where rhetoric and substance never match The past couple of months have been hectic for Aruna Roy. The social activist and Magsaysay Award winner has been travelling across the country to promote her book, The RTI Story: Power to the People, which came out in April. After waiting more than a...

-TheNewsMinute.com 38-year-old Azhar Maqsusi is famous across the city and the country for relentlessly feeding hundreds of people every day. What do you do when you see children Begging at a traffic junction in a crowded city? What would happen if you give them ‘two rotis’ instead of money? This is exactly what 38-year-old Azhar Maqsusi from Hyderabad has been advocating for the past one year, with his ‘do roti’ (two rotis) campaign....