-IPS News BETUL, India- Mamta Bai, 36, distinctly remembers the first time the police came to her village: it was December 2014 and her neighbour, Purva Bai, had just been beaten unconscious by her alcoholic husband, prompting Mamta to make a distress call to the nearest station. Once in the neighborhood, policemen pulled the abusive husband out of his home and asked the village women if they wanted him to be arrested. “Yes,”...
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Rapes, women’s abductions in Mumbai rise sharply this year -V Narayan
-The Times of India MUMBAI: A statistical study of crime in Mumbai in the first three months of 2015 shows that abductions of women rose more than one-and-a-half times (165%) over the same period last year. The response to the right to information (RTI) query also revealed that cases of rapes increased by 43%, although the number of gang-rape cases dropped from seven to four. The data sought by activist Chetan Kothari...
More »Cookstoves and the climate -Mridula Ramesh
-The Hindu A promising area of change for the better In the last article, we considered the climate impact of India’s love for milk (short summary: not good). This time we will consider another aspect of our food: how we cook it. Most readers of this newspaper will perhaps not have more than the slightest acquaintance with wood-fired stoves. Most of us are still wondering whether or not to voluntarily give up...
More »Hungry For Homework -Yashodhan Ghorpade
-The Indian Express Without better quality schooling, attempts to curb child labour can only go so far. The Union cabinet has cleared amendments to the child labour act, introducing stricter penalties on employers, outlawing all work done by children below 14 and banning children from doing any hazardous work — up from an existing list of 18 hazardous industries and processes. However, it makes an exception: children are allowed to help in...
More »New child labour framework leaves it open to misuse
-Hindustan Times The realities of India’s socio-economic situation are often cited as the reason for some of our more retrograde laws. The one on child labour is a case in point. The Union Cabinet has increased penalties for offenders but at the same time allowed children below 14 to work in select family businesses after school hours. The caveat is that such businesses cannot be hazardous but should be things like entertainment and...
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