The three-day Tarapur-to-Jaitapur yatra hit another roadblock on Sunday, as the police continued detaining Activists. Interrupting a rally at Pen in the morning, the police detained 22 protesters of the National Anti-Nuclear Plant Yatra for violating prohibitory orders imposed on Saturday night. “They were detained under Section 68 of the Bombay Police Act. Prohibitory orders were put in place last night. [We were told] the demonstrators would come, and there would be...

The National Litigation Policy (NLP) aimed at reducing the cases pending in various courts in India is nine months old, but the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which is supposed to implement the pro-citizen policy in the banking sector is unaware of it. The Department of Banking Operations and Development in the RBI's central office in Mumbai has told a Right to Information (RTI) Activist that it does not have any...

It is now certain that the higher judiciary wouldn’t be under the purview of the proposed Lokpal. Consensus to this effect emerged at a roundtable held here in which members of the civil society, including four non-government members of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee, two former Chief Justices of India and many prominent citizens participated. Another important issue on which there was “near unanimity” at the meeting was the procedure for...

A consultation here on Sunday threw up differences on bringing the Prime Minister under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill, being formulated by a 10-member joint drafting committee that includes five members from civil society. The round table, dominated by eminent judges and lawyers, however, excused higher judiciary from the ambit of the proposed Bill and favoured a “separate mechanism” to make High Court and Supreme Court judges accountable for misconduct. “When...

Health Activists and non-government organisation working against tobacco abuse, Health Related Information Dissemination Among Youth (HRIDAY), have written to Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, urging her to support the timely implementation of strong and effective pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packages. “The current pictorial health warnings in India are extremely mild and ineffective to communicate the hazardous health effects of tobacco use. Since the Department...