-The Hindu A catastrophe has hit India and there is no sign that the ferocious second wave is being dealt with competently Earlier this week, a young woman in Uttar Pradesh tweeted a cry for help. Her grandmother’s oxygen level had fallen to 40. “Pls help us in getting one bed in hospital in Bareilly,” she wrote in desperation. Soon a handle that called itself “Team Hindu Unlimited” was on her: “Stop...

-Press release by Common Cause dated 19th April, 2021 New Delhi: There are silences and gaps in the law that the questionable elements in the police take advantage of and undermine the rule of law, said Justice Madan B Lokur, former Justice of the Supreme Court of India. Delivering the Keynote Address on ‘Is the Rule of Law Backsliding in India?’ at the launch of the Status of Policing in India Report...

-TheCitizen.in/ IPS UNESCO and International Centre for Journalists Survey WASHINGTON: An alarmingly high number of women journalists are now targets of online attacks associated with orchestrated digital disinformation campaigns. The impacts include self-censorship, retreat from visibility, an increased risk of physical injury, and a serious mental health toll. The main perpetrators? Anonymous trolls and political actors. These findings are among the first released in a survey conducted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific...

-Down to Earth Karnataka, Assam and Sikkim registered biggest spike in cases of spousal violence Gender-based violence across most Indian states declined in the past half-a-decade, according to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS). There were, however, several outliers. Karantaka, Assam and Sikkim, for instance recorded a spike in spousal violence cases. In Bihar, the cases of Physical Violence almost halved during a woman’s pregnancy in the last five years. Factsheets for the...

-The Hindu As decennial census operations are limited, India needs new ways to know its cumulative human capital and potential Since India’s crimes data recording system is not built to capture subtleties, we do not know what proportion of pregnancies in India start off without the consent of the woman, even though the veil of marriage may cover it legally and culturally. While physical and mental violence can be ascertained by a...