Nineteen years after he allegedly molested a 14-year-old tennis player who later committed suicide, former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore was today sentenced to six months in jail, a punishment the victim’s friends considered too light. Rathore, who retired in 2002, has been granted bail till a higher court decides on the appeal he said he would file. Ruchika Girhotra had accused the officer of molesting her on August 12, 1990, when...

While the government may have got reprieve with the fair and remunerative price, the mills are expected to move the courts On October 21, the Central government came out with an ordinance that it will henceforth announce a fair and remunerative price for sugarcane, instead of the statutory minimum price. Millions of farmers across the country grow sugarcane which they sell to sugar mills. To make sure that prices don’t tank...

Since state financial corporations are set up to encourage the establishment of industries by providing loans on liberal terms, the recovery of debts from chronic defaulters is seen by courts from two angles. One is that public money is lent for starting private enterprises and, therefore, the financial institutions should be tough on the debtors. The other approach is that these units benefit the public and, therefore, the endeavour should...

In a year of sparse rains and spiralling food prices, with hundreds of districts being officially declared as drought-hit, a rally by activists in the capital demands a Food Entitlements Act.  Perhaps the most vocal demands at the rally were those aimed at a complete revamp of the Public Distribution System (PDS), starting with universal — instead of targeted — coverage. Over 5,000 grassroots activists, agricultural workers, farmers, lawyers, doctors and...

The distribution of iron fortified rice is part of the Government of India's push to combat anaemia and it will become a near mandatory programme for the poor, for whom this rice will be inescapable i.e., PDS, ICDS, school meals, etc.  The fact-finding visit was organised by Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) and the Right To Food Campaign (RTFC) between June 13th to 15th 2022, and included a...