Child rights organisations and civil society representatives have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention in the selection of the chairperson and members to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights NCPCR). As the NCPCR, the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women are important mechanisms set up to play a critical watchdog role, it is imperative to ensure proper and fair selection to these...

There has recently been some triumphalism in Indian government circles over reports that the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) has been successful in reducing maternal mortality and infant mortality. Yet while the reduction in maternal mortality – from 301 to 254 for every 100,000 live births – does provide some cause for cheer, the reduction in child mortality – from 58 to 53 for every 100,000 live births – still...

Everyone has a right to information affecting their lives but too often government secrecy and a lack of accountability ensure that the public are deprived of vital facts, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as he called for a wholesale change in attitudes towards press freedom. Mr. Ban told a panel discussion being held at United Nations Headquarters in New York to mark the annual World Press Freedom Day that “there...

The Central Vigilance Committee on Public Distribution System (PDS) headed by Justice (rtd) DP Wadhwa has come down heavily on the Public Districution Syetem in its recently submitted report. The committee has ruled that the whole system of procurement and distribution of food grains is built on corruption and its benefits to the poor are low. His prescription: Innovative methods to improve the system. "The whole system has to be...

Days after the biggest Maoist attack, in which 76 security personnel were killed in Dantewada, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asserted that firm action would be taken against those challenging the authority of the state, but, in a careful moderation, added that one could not overlook the fact that Left-wing extremism flourished in underdeveloped areas. Singh's observations on the Naxal issue came at a gathering of the country's top bureaucrats on...