-The Times of India NEW DELHI: For the longest time, most calls that came to Childline would be from a kid on a railway platform asking for help after a brutal police beating or desperately looking for shelter. But the decline of public call offices (PCOs) across the country have led to a sharp drop in calls from marginalized children to India's first toll-free helpline for children in distress. The decline...
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Lok Sabha clears bill to wipe out manual scavenging
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Lok Sabha today passed the protection and rehabilitation of scavengers bill, which had been on the backburner for years. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012, is aimed at amending and replacing the existing Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, which activists say remains just on paper. Bezwada Wilson, founder and national convener of the Safai Karmachari...
More »LS passes bill for street vendors
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The goons and police can hang their heads in shame. Together, for once. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha today with overwhelming support, with almost every speaker narrating how the police and criminals harass hawkers. The debate wove a tragic tale of exploitation and neglect of the poorest "entrepreneurs" of society while powerful support systems were available...
More »Landmark UN labour treaty extends rights for domestic workers worldwide
-The United Nations A United Nations treaty entering into force today will extend the labour and social rights of some 53 million domestic workers around the world. From today, the Domestic Workers Convention will be legally binding for signatory countries. The treaty was adopted in 2011 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and is the first of its kind. "Today's entry into force of Convention 189 sends a powerful signal to more than...
More »Child rights on Dispur agenda-Sumir Karmakar
-The Telegraph Guwahati: Assam has become the second state in the country after Goa to notify setting up of special courts to fast-track cases relating to child rights and sexual offences. Assam social welfare department deputy secretary Kavyashree Mahanta told The Telegraph today that the state legal affairs department had already issued a notification for setting up the special courts in all district and sessions judge courts. "These courts will exclusively...
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