-The Indian Express On the ground, SC ruling on Section 66A is frequently violated. In October 2018, we published a small study revealing how Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act 2000 [“IT Act”] continued to be used to prosecute persons despite being struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in Shreya Singhal (2015). We suggested that this afterlife was not merely wanton exercise of power by the police but...
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Lakhs of forest dwellers face eviction -Krishnadas Rajagopal
-The Hindu People across 21 States may be affected by the Supreme Court order that rejected their claim A recent Supreme Court order may lead to the eviction of lakhs of persons belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) categories across 21 States — their claim as forest dwellers have been rejected under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. A three-judge Bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Navin Sinha...
More »Defaulting Punjab farmers face jail as banks file criminal cases -Anju Agnihotri Chaba
-The Indian Express All the farmers who faced criminal action for defaulting on loans say they were made to sign on blank cheques. “If you write about our plight, will the government stop banks from sending us to jail?,” asks Ujagar Singh. The 60-year-old from Jhumba village in Bathinda district is among scores of Punjab farmers who have been convicted or are facing trial in criminal cases of cheque-bouncing filed by banks...
More »Who will pay for sops? -Arun Kumar
-The Indian Express Government’s claim that structural changes to the economy are paying off, and that is being used to give back to the people, is problematic. The Interim Union Budget 2019 is no less than a full budget with changes in taxation and announcement of lucrative schemes for various sections of the population. The recent losses in three major assembly elections rang alarm bells for the ruling dispensation. With the...
More »With an ocean of salt -Rajeev Gowda
-The Indian Express Interim budget does little to tackle unemployment, poverty. And it is clear that the government’s figures cannot be trusted. Last month, I was part of an all-party delegation of MPs from Karnataka, led by a Union cabinet minister, who met the Union rural development minister. We requested him to release the MGNREGA funds overdue to Karnataka. We pleaded that the poorest of the poor, who turn to MGNREGA...
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