-PTI NEW DELHI: NCW has recommended drafting of a special legislation against human trafficking which includes the UN definition of the crime, besides setting up of a central nodal authority to curb all such activities. Taking note of increasing cases of human trafficking in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the National Commission of Women (NCW) has sent a list of recommendations to the ministries of Home Affairs and Labour to prevent...

-The Hindu Sexual harassment cases usually have a marked power imbalance between the victim and the accused; this may well affect the negotiation scenario, with the victim being unable to hold her own In recent times, the issue of sexual harassment of women at the workplace has assumed prominence with serious allegations being made against a former Supreme Court judge, whose court pronounced verdict on huge scams, and the editor of a...

-The Business Standard Says she considers political parties to be public authorities because they get substantive financial funding from the government of India While a parliamentary Standing committee today supported the move to keep political parties outside the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, committee member Anu Aga, (former chairperson of Thermax Ltd) was the lone voice of dissent on the 29 member panel. Aga who is a nominated member...

-NDTV A Parliamentary standing committee has agreed with the government that political parties do not come under the Right to Information or RTI Act. The landmark transparency law, passed by the UPA I government in 2005, is often flaunted by Congress Number 2 Rahul Gandhi as a precursor to the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, currently being pushed by the government in Parliament. All political parties barring Odisha-based Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party...

-IPS News Bhubaneswar: More than a month after Cyclone Phailin battered Orissa, tribes in the eastern Indian coastal state are still feeling its wrath. Besides the damage to their homes and hearths, it has also meant a loss of their traditional food. "Calamities like Cyclone Phailin affect all equally, but the tribes are far more vulnerable to the impact of calamities because of lesser resilience," Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mahapatra tells IPS. This...