-The Hindu The Act grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities Jawhar (Thane): The Additional Collector's headquarter here was abuzz even before its gates opened on Monday morning. Around 100 tribals from various villages in the Jawhar tehsil had already queued to begin what they had aptly named as first of its kind ‘RTI Satyagraha' against the alleged unlawful implementation of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest...
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A year on, RTI applicant still awaits education department response
-The Indian Express On January 12 last year, RTI applicant Dinesh Suryavanshi had sought information related to class XI admissions under Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. Even after two appeals and a showcause notice issued to education department officials, he is still waiting for a response from them. "I wanted to know about the total number of seats reserved for SC, ST candidates, the stipulated seats in management courses and the...
More »A cry in the dark -Esha Roy
-The Indian Express She was gangraped by 16 boys, nine of them juveniles. She was beaten, cut up and her genitals mutilated. She made it to hospital, but was sent home with first-aid. When she survived to fight, she ran into an indifferent administration and influential accused. Schools denied her admission, and others mocked and threatened her. Chances are you haven't heard this 16-year-old's story. Three days after the brutal attack on...
More »Finally, the patients prevail -Sarah Hiddleston
-The Hindu The Supreme Court has denied Novartis a patent for its anti-cancer drug Gleevec. This leaves the door open for Indian pharmaceutical companies to produce their own versions of the drug. Since these are sold at roughly one tenth of the patented brand price, for thousands of cancer patients it means the difference between medicine and no medicine at all. It is not just cancer patients that will benefit, but...
More »Patent justice-Sakthivel Selvaraj
-The Hindu Drug patents are designed to create profits that enable more research on diseases affecting millions. But in practice, they have often generated super profits for big pharma companies while erecting access barriers for the poor. The Novartis case spotlights much that is wrong with the system. The rejection of the Novartis petition challenging one of the most progressive tenets of the Indian Patents Act (1970), as amended in 2005 by...
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