On the 148th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, cleanliness drives were officially organised across the country so as to promote Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. A few days before 2nd October, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), released a report that attempts to connect the dots between sanitation and nutritional status of children. Please click here to access the survey report from NIN.   On...

-The Indian Express Delhi High Court judgment in the Mahmood Farooqui case obfuscates the basic principle of consent. The December 16, 2012, gangrape in New Delhi, and the widespread public agonising and legal reform that followed it, helped redefine ideas of gender justice in progressive ways. Following the recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, criminalised voyeurism and stalking. These changes in the law have been accompanied...

-TheWire.in The new state laws, which are in line with the BJP’s land ordinance, undo consent procedures and legitimise land acquisition with terms favourable to investors. One of independent India’s landmark legal reforms has failed. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, (LARR) 2013, which replaced the colonial legislation of 1894, was one of the biggest reforms in the arena of land governance. But following...

-The Times of India Farmers can't keep them, traders don't want to buy them, and gaushalas are full. The result: Havoc on farms and roads. Sunday Times travels across the country to find out how the population of stray bovines is becoming a ticking time bomb. The problem of stray cattle is not new in India, but in the last few months, it has reached alarming proportions. According to 2012 data from...

-The Indian Express In zones of prosperity, agriculture faces crisis, jobs are few, social aspirations don’t match economic realities After Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, farmers from Rajasthan came out on the streets demanding loan waiver and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report. Protesting against government policies and demanding their share in the country’s development, which they argue have been denied to them, the farmers have shown unity across caste and class lines....