-Press release by National Alliance of Peoples' Movements dated 28 November, 2019 In yet another of its egregious legislative misadventures, the BJP Government with support from some other parties, passed the regressive 'Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights)' Bill, in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, despite wide-spread opposition by members of the transgender, intersex and gender non-confirming communities, seeking referral of the Bill to a Select Committee. We have all been witness to...
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Women don't have absolute right to terminate pregnancy, Modi govt tells Supreme Court -Debayan Roy
-ThePrint.in Health ministry's reply was in reference to plea that seeks to raise time period for terminating pregnancy from current cap of 20 weeks to 26 weeks New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has told the Supreme Court that a pregnant woman’s right to abort is not “absolute”, while making clear the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 shall make legal access “easier for vulnerable women” desiring...
More »Throttled at the grass roots -TR Raghunandan
-The Hindu Local governments remain hamstrung and ineffective — mere agents to do the bidding of higher level governments Democratic decentralisation is barely alive in India. Over 25 years after the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (they mandated the establishment of panchayats and municipalities as elected local governments) devolved a range of powers and responsibilities and made them accountable to the people for their implementation, very little and actual progress has been...
More »RTI law: paradigm shift in realizing Constitutional rights that cannot be taken back -Nikhil Dey and Aruna Roy
-The Telegraph It is in the unstoppable human search for truth and justice that the right to information will continue to shine Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party government flexed its legislative muscle, and successfully amended and diluted the Right to Information Act, many people have asked if the RTI Act has been maimed beyond repair and if its obituary should be written. While analysing the amendments, it is also necessary to...
More »Character of our nation is on test -Aruna Roy and Nachiket Udupa
-National Herald Those of us who care for integrity, principle and constitutional values as citizens of India have a huge task ahead. When Independence was dreamt of, it must have seemed impossible “Being part of a democratic government is hard. Being a citizen is hard. It is a challenge. It’s supposed to be. There’s no respite from our ideals. All of us are called to live up to our expectations for ourselves...
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