Casteism is one of the main causes holding up the country's progress Calling a person by caste name, if used with intent to insult, is an offence under SC/ST Act Society regarding a section of its own countrymen as inferior is simply unacceptable While deprecating the caste system in the country, the Supreme Court has declared illegal ‘khap panchayats' which often decree or encourage honour killings or other institutionalised atrocities against boys and...

Anna Hazare’s group today released purported evidence that the audio CD implicating Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant was doctored, alleged government involvement and threatened to move the Supreme Court. The development threatens a fresh standoff between the Centre and the civil society members of the Lok Pal Bill drafting committee, which includes both the Bhushans. Prashant and fellow panel member Arvind Kejriwal said they had got the CD examined by two...

Samiti has written to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh Posco protesters say the area was a forest from 1930 and not from 1961 They refute Orissa government's stand of “other traditional forest dwellers' South Korean giant Posco's integrated steel plant in Orissa could face another hurdle as the palli sabhas (local bodies set up to determine forest rights under the Forest Rights Act) of Dhinkia, Gobindpur and nearby villages plan to approve several hundred...

The Jan Lokpal Bill should be modelled on the lines of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act. That's the firm belief of Lokayukta Justice Santosh N Hegde whose inclusion in the 10-member committee to draft the bill was suggested by Anna Hazare, the Gandhian who recently led the popular movement to include civil society in the process. Justice Hegde said the state Act has all the necessary elements to ensure success in the...

It is a little known fact that in roughly a fifth of our country’s land area, a different legal system operates. In some of these places, if you are caught with certain items, it is up to you to prove that you are innocent of a crime — and whether you go to jail depends on whether a government official kept proper records years earlier. If you are using some...