India has been accused of "failure" to curb incidents of sexual violence against women and for "restrictions" on right to free speech by global rights group Human Rights Watch, which said the country continues to have "significant human rights problems".
A resolution commemorating the life of Indian human rights defender Father Stan Swamy and seeking an independent investigation into the death of the Jesuit priest has been introduced in the US Congress, Congressman Juan Vargas has said.
While India remains low in terms of control over corruption, scoring -0.21 points according to the World Bank's Control of Corruption Index, the UN report, "Tackling Corruption Transforming Lives," highlights several positive examples in India of the media and civil society exposing corruption.
Political leaders cutting across party lines have joined hands with the civil society to launch a nationwide campaign against GM crops and the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill.
The three-member committee of jurists, constituted to give recommendations on amending laws to provide speedier justice and enhanced punishment in sexual assault cases, began its work on Monday by issuing notice seeking public comments on the issue by January 5.
Yogendra Yadav: 'For all practical purposes, the Constitution has been rewritten. Only the formality remains, which can be done in 2025.'
MAG was constituted by Department of Electronics and IT in February 2014.
It is a difficult problem and will require the Union, state governments and civil society, meaning NGOs, to work together, points out Aakar Patel.
Government is considering a proposal to make Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) into a multi-member body, a move that came under sharp criticism from the opposition and civil society.
A legal tussle is currently on between a civil society group led by a professor, ostensibly working to further public interest, on the one hand, and the state government and an influential but controversial real estate developer, on the other. The dispute, which is over the way in which the Rajasthan government is seeking to re-develop Jaipur's historic Mansagar lake and its environs, is expected to be resolved soon by the Supreme Court.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw some amendments it had proposed to the Right to Information Act after protests from civil society, which was also backed by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi. A meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to withdraw the amendments which had sought to restrict disclosure of file notings only to social and development issues under the transparency law.
Most of the Kuki MLAs irrespective of their party affiliations are unlikely to attend the Manipur assembly session slated to be called from August 21 in view of the continued ethnic violence, according to leaders from the community.
A local court in Vijayawada remanded Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu in judicial custody for 14 days in an alleged multi-crore corruption scam on Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Joe Biden have expressed 'deep pride' and appreciation about their nations' close cooperation to fight the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, as they noted that all sections of the society were mobilised in unprecedented ways to share emergency relief supplies during each country's times of need.
The Delhi government on Friday strongly rejected charges of civil society activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan that it has allotted land to realty major DLF which in turn allegedly favoured Robert Vadra.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Friday accused news channels of helping civil society activist Arvind Kejriwal to malign the image of people by airing his "unsubstantiated allegations of wrong-doings".
Members of the civil society including former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami, ex-navy chief L Ramdas and former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian on Thursday approached the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the coal block allocation scam.
Tight security has been thrown around Srinagar for Saturday's concert by music maestro Zubin Mehta.
A BJP defeat in Gujarat will deliver the party a seismic political and organisational shock and mark a historic setback for the entire Sangh Parivar.
With its refusal to accept the modern social values, the Indian Muslim community is going down the slope of progress, says Najid Hussain.
A 60-page report by the Human Rights Watch titled 'Between Two Sets of Guns: Attacks on Civil Society Activists in India's Maoist Conflict', documents human rights abuses against activists in India's Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh states. Rediff.com brings you this report in a three-part series
Presenting some of the most scintillating pictures from around the globe in the last 24 hours
'There are many things we need to work on.' 'At the heart of it is, one, the extent of inequality, which is not good for democracy and nation; two, a structural decline on how a country ought to function, how people should be held accountable, whose role is what.'
As Manipur grapples with protracted ethnic strife, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre and the state government to ensure uninterrupted supply of basic commodities like food and medicines to people facing economic blockade in certain areas of the border state.
There are some flyovers, JNNURM logo-bearing buses and terribly designed housing for the poor. That's it.
Yet another instance of the sharp divisions between Union ministers and Team Anna members came to surface when they discussed structure and powers of the proposed Lokpal during their meetings.
Civil society activist Aruna Roy, who has quit the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council over the issue of minimum wages, on Thursday said that she would go back to activism now in a total sense.Roy claimed she has no differences with the National Advisory Council.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi launched a no-holds-barred attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha on Monday, saying the leaders of the ruling party are not Hindus as they engage in "violence and hate" round the clock, drawing massive protests from the treasury benches, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the Congress leader of calling the entire Hindu community violent.
Gateway House interviews Sarah Chayes, Foreign Press Club and Sigma Delta Chi award-winning former reporter at National Public Radio, on the anti-corruption and democracy movements around the world as a response to governments turning into mafia syndicates.
Confidence in the state of the world economy has improved to some extent but majority of experts from business, government and civil society are still pessimistic, says a survey by World Economic Forum.
The study was constituted in March 2011 when the nation was debating on the amount of black money stashed within as well as outside the country with figures being projected by politicians and civil society to lakh of crores.
'From March 2020 to November 2021, the combined wealth of the billionaires of this country has doubled.'
Finance Minister pegs 2011-12 growth at 8.6 per cent, expects inflation to fall to 6-7 per cent by end of the financial year.
Joining the bandwagon of politicians and filmstars seeking pardon for actor Sanjay Dutt convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case by the Supreme Court, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said he had 'already suffered a lot for the blunder'.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has advised veteran social activist Anna Hazare, who turned 74 today, to refrain from going on frequent fasts due to his old age even as he sharpened his attack on Baba Ramdev.
"Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist will stage a protest against Donald Trump's visit to the country. The agitation is likely to take place on February 24," said CPI General Secretary D Raja.
The Centre on Wednesday requested the Supreme Court to consider leaving questions raised in the pleas seeking legal sanction for same sex marriages to Parliament.
The information and broadcasting ministry has issued a stern advisory to all TV channels against telecasting programmes promoting superstitions, occult practices and blind belief, warning that punitive action will be taken in case of any violations. The advisory comes in the wake of the civil society and many media critics expressing concern over a flood of such programmes of late -- especially on Hindi and regional language channels -- to garner TRPs.
In a significant development, India is believed to have placed a funding request of around $55 million in its first call with the Pandemic Fund of the World Bank, sources said. The fund has been set up to finance critical investments in a bid to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. It was created in the aftermath of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
