-The Telegraph New Delhi: Tweaks the home ministry has proposed to rules governing foreign funding for NGOs will leave these organisations at the mercy of the government's unilateral interpretations of what violates an undefined idea of "national interest", social activists have said. More than the suggested new rules themselves, put up on the ministry website for feedback yesterday, it's the mandatory declaration proposed for NGOs at the end that critics have termed...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The National Commission for Women has decided to form an expert panel to help institutions deal with complaints of sexual harassment at workplace after many organisations said it was difficult finding a "credible outsider" who could be part of their internal committees. At least one employer, who had approached the NCW for advice, said it was tough to decide who was credible enough and claimed that the solution...

-The Hindu The problem with guardianship in any form, is that it tends to be of a "blanket" form – the denial of all decision-making capabilities. A person with a psychosocial or developmental disability needs her guardian’s permission do a number of things that most people would consider routine: opening a bank account, getting married, managing property, entering into a contract, obtaining insurance, and even making a will. The reason? The enabling...

-The Times of India Despite a historic amendment in 2005, the Hindu inheritance law still suffers from gender bias. It is 10 years since the daughter has been brought on a par with the son under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (HSA). This historic amendment of 2005 never made much of a splash though, unlike other farreaching enactments of the same year such as RTI, NREGA and even the domestic violence law. The...

-Down to Earth Apex trade regulator finds nothing amiss in India's intellectual property laws after exhaustive review India's intellectual property Rights (IPR) regime, under constant attack from the US and multinational companies (MNCs) over the past few years, has been given a clean bill of health by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). At a two-day trade policy review conducted by the apex organisation in early June, there was no criticism of a...