-The Hindu Modi government cracked down on critics: report. U.S.-based human Rights watchdog Freedom House has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of “driving India toward authoritarianism” with a “hamfisted lockdown”, scapegoating of Muslims, and a crackdown on critics, and downgraded India’s status from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’, in its annual report. “Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests...

-The Hindu/ PTI Nearly 96% of the people surveyed under a food Rights campaign in Maharashtra faced a drop in their earnings during the novel coronavirus-induced lockdown last year, a social body claims. Mumbai: Job losses and non-availability of casual work were the key reasons for this, and every fifth respondent was forced to go hungry because of no money to buy food, Mukta Srivastava, the State’s convener for the Anna Adhikar...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: On Tuesday, the government of the United States named Anjali Bhardwaj among 12 individuals from across the world as the recipients of the newly-instituted Anti-Corruption Champions Award. “When we don’t get ration, what do we do with information?” Sometime in 2005, right after the implementation of the Right to Information Act, activist Anjali Bhardwaj was holding an awareness camp at a Delhi slum when a woman threw this...

-PTI/ NDTV Farmers Protest: Nodeep Kaur, the 23-year-old activist, has also claimed that her medical examination was not conducted in violation of section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Chandigarh: Labour Rights activist Nodeep Kaur in her bail plea before the Punjab and Haryana High Court has claimed that she was severely beaten up at a police station after her arrest by the Sonipat police last month. The 23-year-old activist, hailing from Punjab's...

-Article-14.com A 25-year-old labour organiser from a Dalit family came to India’s attention only when the US vice-president’s niece tweeted about her incarceration. The stories of Kaur and colleague Shiv Kumar reveal the government’s discomfort with young, educated workers collectively demanding legal Rights amidst an economic decline Sonipat, Haryana: Most of India first heard of Nodeep Kaur on 2 February, when Meena Harris, niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, drew global...