-The Indian Express The Rules, first released as a draft in July, inviting objections and suggestions, had been criticised by the LGBTQ community for “taking away’’ their dignity by mandating that a third person, such as a District Magistrate, would verify, and subsequently certify the gender of a person. Transgender persons who want to declare their desired sex will no longer have to go through a medical examination in order to do...

-The Telegraph The harassment at workplace act needs an upgrade to include men and transgenders in the MeToo conversation I have been sexually harassed and bullied by my boss. I was threatened I would lose my job if I didn’t comply — sounds like an excerpt from one of the hundreds of accounts of women that have been doing the rounds on social media? Well, it is a story of sexual harassment...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Indian Psychiatric Society has launched its first-ever campaign to assert that homosexuality is not an illness amid concerns that sections of the public and physicians continue to mistakenly believe it can be treated. Senior members of the IPS plan to address conferences open to the public and use social media platforms to argue that homosexuality and lesbianism are just variations in sexual orientation and provide science-driven guidance...

India has witnessed many fiery debates on poverty estimates. Equally contentious has been the issue of inequality. Now a new report on exclusion offers a fresh perspective on poverty, inequality and social justice. (See below a summary of the report) Based on data and knowledge resources available in the public domain, India Exclusion Report 2013-14 highlights the systematic discrimination faced by women, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Muslims, persons with...

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is facilitating the visits of representatives from several developing countries to witness India's amazing election exercise under South-South cooperation. Representatives from Lesotho, Nigeria, Malaysia and Namibia are already in India and have visited polling booths and electoral offices in various states of India including West Bengal and Karnataka. For inquiries or interviews, please contact Ms. Nandita Surendran-UNDP, phone no. +919810084776, Email: nandita.surendran@undp.org. Journalists and media...