-The Hindu In a far-reaching decision, the Rajasthan government has announced that a person below 18 years will be considered as a child labourer if he or she is employed. Accepting the long-pending demand of child rights groups, the government announced a comprehensive standard operating procedure (SOP) for identification, rescue, protection and rehabilitation of children employed in various occupations. The decision has come as a major triumph for advocacy groups seeking the abolition...

-The Times of India The National Commission for Women has recommended removal of the word 'honour' from honour killing while describing crimes when a person is killed to save a family's 'honour'. The NCW's recommendation came after an inquiry into the hurried cremation of a girl by her family in a Greater Noida village mid-June. The girl, studying in a Bulandshahr college, had eloped twice from her home in Bhaipur-Brahampur village, police...

-Mid Day Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had filed 67 complaints at police stations across the state under various sections of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable advertisements) Act, 1955. These include complaints against advertisements of products such as 'Sandhi Sudha plus', 'Step up herbal oil' and 'Power Prash', which are promoted by leading Bollywood stars. The FDA had lodged complaints, demanding action against the drug manufacturers, scriptwriters and...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court on Tuesday admitted an appeal from Kerala challenging a Kerala High Court judgment declaring unconstitutional certain provisions of a law enacted by the State to allow meetings on public roads and road margins. A Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and Madan B. Lokur issued notice to the respondents (who were petitioners in the High Court) and directed the hearing to be expedited. When senior counsel K.K. Venugopal,...

-The Hindustan Times The country is once again dangerously adrift in a stormy sea of competitive hate politics. The signs are both ominous and familiar — the systematic creation of hatred against people because of their ethnicity or religion; rumours and hate propaganda choking the internet; the public moral justification of violence against targeted communities on grounds of ‘larger’ alleged wrongs; and weak-kneed State action against people and organisations which preach...