-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...

The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...

-TheWire.in From books being banned to students and faculty facing criminal charges and being jailed, the past few years have been especially tough on India's universities. These tables – under six broad heads but disaggregated to record the separate experiences of faculty and students – are an updated, expanded version of the annexures first prepared in June 2020 by Nandini Sundar and Gowhar Fazli as part of a status report in response...

-The Hindu Increasing the number of women recruits alone will not be enough; institutional changes are as important At least since 2009, when the Home Ministry set 33% as the target for women’s representation in the police, increasing women’s recruitment in the police force has been the goal of the Central and State governments. Yet, India persists with a male-dominated police force. In 2019, women comprised less than 10% of police personnel....

-The Hindu 14.95 lakh samples studied; nearly 1,500 deaths in India as global total reaches 3 million. As many as 14,95,397 samples were tested in India on April 16 (results of which were made available on April 17), the highest number of tests conducted in a single day in the country. This is the second consecutive day the number of tests is crossing the 14-lakh mark. On September 24, 2020, 14,92,409 tests were...