-Down to Earth Faced with crop losses because of erratic rainfall and extreme weather, tribal farmers of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh turn to bewar and penda forms of cultivation that keeps them nourished all times of the year, but government agencies are bent on rooting out these farm practices Hariaro Bai Deoria should have been a worried person this year-an untimely spell of rain late last October flattened her paddy crop, and...

-The Hindu Sexual harassment cases usually have a marked power imbalance between the victim and the accused; this may well affect the negotiation scenario, with the victim being unable to hold her own In recent times, the issue of sexual harassment of women at the workplace has assumed prominence with serious allegations being made against a former Supreme Court judge, whose court pronounced verdict on huge scams, and the editor of a...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), sought to be empowered by the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill to oversee action taken by the states to prevent and control communal violence, has declined to monitor performance of duties by civil servants under the Act, saying that it was for their superiors to do so. The human rights body also insisted that collecting information on communal build-ups...

-The Hindu     The political executive and the permanent executive should realise they are public servants first and work in harmony to achieve the constitutional objectives There is a need to arrest the ‘laal batti' [red beacon] culture in public governance. The Supreme Court of India has been delivering a variety of judgments on matters of public governance, and these have been the subject of debate and discussion. Some of these related to...

-The Hoot The drafting of the application should be such that it points towards the specific documents required in relation to the information sought. An extract from the section for information seekers in the 2013 guide. FOR INFORMATION SEEKERS Method of Seeking Information A citizen, who desires to obtain any information under the Act, should make an application to the Public Information Officer of the concerned public authority in writing in...