India's Supreme Court has granted bail to leading public health specialist and human rights activist, Dr Binayak Sen. In December a court in the central state of Chhattisgarh sentenced to life in prison for helping Maoist rebels. The lower court had found him guilty of carrying messages and setting up bank accounts for the rebels, who are active in large parts of India. Rights groups in India and abroad had called on the...

After forming syndicates, the liquor mafia in Nizamabad district is now targeting young workers of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme ( MGNREGS) to rake in more moolah. Towards this end, the powerful mafia succeeded by roping in village development committees (VDCs) to help them open more belt shops in villages. Though it was illegal, a majority of these belt shops are being run in residential colonies, slum areas and...

The National Human Rights Commission has directed its Director-General (Investigation) to depute a team to look into the plight of bonded labourers working at a brick kiln in Domanpur village of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh. Suo motu cognisance The Commission took the decision taking suo motu cognisance of a report telecast by a news TV channel recently with interviews of three such labourers. The workers alleged that they were being forced to...

The draft bill seeks to create an institution that will be independent of those it seeks to police, and will have powers to investigate and prosecute all public servants, and others found guilty of corrupting them. A number of commentators have raised issues about the provisions in the draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill. They have asked whether it would be an effective instrument to check corruption. They have pointed to...

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed its Director General (Investigation) to depute a team to look into the plight of bonded labourers in a brick kiln in Domanpur village of Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. The Commission took the decision, taking suo motu cognisance of a telecast by a television channel recently of interviews with three such labourers. The workers alleged that they were being forced to work as...