Amnesty International has appointed Salil Shetty, an Indian who headed the UN Millennium Campaign, as its next secretary general. Shetty takes over the job in June 2010, succeeding Irene Khan who stepped down after eight years as Amnesty Secretary General on Dec 31, 2009. Amnesty - the global human rights watchdog - said Shetty, with a strong track record in the non-government and inter-government sectors, will lead its 50th anniversary...

Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh was today gheraoed here by people opposing the introduction of Bt Brinjal in the country. The protesters from Left-affiliated farmers' outfits and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) raised slogans like "Bt Go Back" and Mobbed the minister on the dais at an event organised at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) here. The event was organised as part of...

The Maharashtra government will amend its Development Control Rules, in a bid to contain criminalisation of realty. It also plans to strictly implement the provisions of Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code to stem the growing nexus between builders and gangsters and easy flow of black money into the sector. "If builders are found guilty, they will be blacklisted. They will be debarred from any contract from the government or...

Recent directions of the Delhi High Court to improve conditions for homeless people housed in Delhi’s night shelters need to be widely welcomed. At the same time, it should be realised that the problems of the nearly four-million homeless deserve wider and more regular attention as the lack of basic facilities for them at a national level is simply too glaring. Pucca and permanent shelters which can be used throughout...

Activists realise it takes a fight to translate democracy from thin paper to thick action In the winter of 1997, advocate Ashok Agarwal filed a petition in the Supreme Court opposing the nearly 400 per cent hike in school fees. This was the year the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations were implemented and the salaries of teachers shot up. Parents trying to cope with the overall price rise were suddenly hit by...