-The Times of India LUCKNOW: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports that a 14-year-old girl was detained at a police chowki and a police station in Noida for eight days. She was beaten, burnt with cigarettes and given electric shocks. Reportedly, the girl, a domestic help, was detained after her employer accused her of theft. The Commission has observed that the contents of the...

-Scroll.in The committee goes on to list the ‘basic elements’ that make an individual indigenous to Assam. The transfer of agricultural land should be restricted to people indigenous to the state, a committee appointed by the Assam government in February 2017 for “ensuring the protection of land rights of indigenous people” has recommended in a report submitted in January. The Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state has said that it...

-Hindustan Times Citizens for Green Doon on Tuesday submitted a PIL to the NGT demanding an environment impact assessment of all-weather roads connecting the Char Dhams in Uttarakhand Dehradun: A non-government organisation, Citizens for Green Doon (CFGD), on Tuesday submitted a public interest litigation (PIL) to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) demanding an environment impact assessment (EIA) of all-weather roads connecting the Char Dhams in Uttarakhand. After submission of the PIL, the tribunal...

-The Hindu Jaitley blames ‘spurt in demand’; Congress recalls note ban Amidst reports of a cash crunch from different parts of the country, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government was “tackling the issue quickly” to overcome a “temporary shortage” caused by a sudden spurt in demand. But with hash tags #cashcrunch and #ATM trending on Twitter all day, Opposition leaders launched a scathing attack on the government. Minister’s assurance Responding to the currency...

-The Hindu The Compensatory Afforestation Fund is a deeply flawed and unjust mechanism Last month, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Mahesh Sharma informed Parliament that his Ministry has collected over ?50,000 crore in a Central compensatory afforestation fund (CAF). This money is to be used though the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act, 2016 or CAF, a purported mechanism to offset forest loss. Before issuing forest clearances to a...