-The Hindu “Accountability is a facet of the rule of law.” This established legal principle has acquired fresh significance after the Supreme Court ruled that the armed forces cannot escape investigation for excesses in the course of the discharge of their duty even in “disturbed areas”. In such notified areas, security personnel enjoy statutory protection for their use of “special powers”. While hearing petitions demanding an inquiry into 1,528 deaths in...
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Tech tonic for the heart of India -Shubhranshu Choudhary
-The Hindu Gondi is the lingua franca of the Maoist movement today, but All India Radio does not broadcast even a single new bulletin in the language. One winter morning, in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, I was watching a group of Adivasi kids peering into their mobile phones. The early morning sun was mellow, and they were so engrossed that they did not notice me drawing near. “We are doing Bultoo...
More »NHRC must create enabling environment for defending human rights -Mahtab Alam
-The Indian Express The time has come for the NHRC and State Human Rights Commissions to proactively recognise, promote and protect HRDs and create an enabling environment for defending human rights. On 28 May 2011, in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, two activists, Ramesh Agrawal and Harihar Patel, were arrested by the state police. Another activist, Rajesh Tripathi, went underground fearing imminent arrest. The trio, along with others, through their organisations—Jan Chetna...
More »SC orders Prosecution of Security Personnel involved in Fake Encounters in North East; Draconian AFSPA under scanner
-LiveLaw.in The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to prosecute security personnel, including of Army and CRPF involved in fake encounter killings in the Northeast under the cover of draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). “Better launch prosecution against the personnel involved. Now it’s like you kill 10 people, pay compensation and the matter ends there. We also wonder why people are found to have been shot in their back,”...
More »Unintended Consequences Of NREGS -Shailesh Chitnis
-Outlook Recent studies point to two areas where NREGS has had an impact — rural education and Naxalite conflict. "Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man." This rather depressing assessment of the field is the opening sentence of Henry Hazlitt's classic primer, Economics in one lesson. In Hazlitt's view, most economists only measure the immediate impact of their policies. A good economist, Hazlitt contended, looks not merely...
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