There is a recent directive by Ministry of Home Affairs to convert all police complaints into FIR is a knee-jerk reaction (yes reaction) to the recent news of an ex-DGP’s indictment in a molestation case. But Yodha feels that
If good intentions could lead to good governance, we could already be living in Utopia or Ram [...]
Archive for the 'Human Rights' Category
Crime and Punishment
Published by January 2nd, 2010 in Government, Human Rights and India. 1 CommentJustice for the High and Mighty
Published by December 22nd, 2009 in Activism, Gender & Sexuality, Government, Human Rights and Justice. 0 CommentsSudhadeep Bhattacharjee comments on the ridiculous punishment handed down to ex Haryana DGP S P S Rathore in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case :
Is the price of a young girl’s life compelled to commit suicide by a man just six months? How is it that Rathore a criminal who committed that crime in police [...]
Assimilate or leave
Published by November 12th, 2009 in Human Rights, India, Politics and Society. 0 CommentsThe Mad Momma profiles the various forms of intolerance in the world today :
Be it the injured Marathi manoos Raj Thackeray who considers everyone else a threat to the Maharashtrian ‘culture’ and langauge – never mind what they contribute to the state.
Or the French burqa ban earlier in schools. And now objecting to it on [...]
Can I have my privacy ?
Published by November 10th, 2009 in Culture, Human Rights and India. 0 CommentsScribe Silhouette raises the question of just where do you draw the line at a couple’s right to privacy?
Time and time again, it keeps happening – if you are nice and polite, people take your basic decency to be a sign of weakness. They try to absolutely bulldoze their way through, and heaven forbid, if [...]
Justifying reservations
Published by October 15th, 2009 in Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Human Rights, India, Justice, Politics and Society. 2 CommentsWinnowed argues for caste-based reservations:
In my opinion, purely caste-based reservations do perpetuate caste divisions in the short term. However, they also uplift untouchable and backward castes, to a large extent, though it is at the expense of the upper castes. If (social and economic) upliftment of the lower castes is the sole objective behind reservations, [...]
The Dalits of Europe
Published by October 15th, 2009 in Activism, Dalit, Human Rights, Prejudice, Racism and World. 0 CommentsJai Bhim Network is a group that is working among the Romas (derogatorily referred as Gypsies) in Hungary. In their effort of creating linkages with the Dalit movement of India and draw inspiration the network has been in constant interaction with many of the young Dalit activists in India. The network is also instrumental in [...]
The hurt within
Published by October 15th, 2009 in Feminism, Fiction, Human Rights, Society and Women. 0 CommentsRohini narrates what a woman might be thinking as she goes through her day after being a victim of abuse and harassment:
She stopped in front of the police station but found herself unable to go in and lodge a complaint. She knew that all those who were in there to ‘protect society’ were men. Men [...]
Remembering K.Balagopal
Published by October 14th, 2009 in Activism, Adivasi, Capitalism, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Development, Feminism, Human Rights, Justice, Politics and Poverty. 4 CommentsA site dedicated to the memory of human rights activist Balagopal who passed away recently.
Anand Teltumbde recalls his association with his ‘dearest friend and comrade’:
I knew Balagopal since 1980s and admired him for his sharp intellect and deep commitment to human rights. Not many in the movement knew that he was a brilliant mathematician and [...]
R.I.P. Dr.Balagopal
Published by October 10th, 2009 in Adivasi, Capitalism, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Development, Government, Human Rights, India, Justice, Policy, Politics, Poverty and Violence. 0 CommentsAditya pays tributes:
A relentless crusader for human rights for three decades now, Andhra Pradesh HC lawyer Balagopal has fought cases from extra-judicial killings of political dissenters to atrocities against Dalits and women. And he has often suffered personal attacks for his efforts, by the police and others shamed by his exposes. But he has never [...]
Justice for Dalits looks at caste bias in the judiciary:
Nowadays too much people claim their right in India.Without ever recognizing that this country never was theirs.
How can Dalits ask their right if India is the sole property of upper castes.How did they believe that the apex court, though legally it was out of their juridiction, [...]
Racism on an elite campus
Published by October 9th, 2009 in Human Rights, India and Racism. 0 CommentsRead Ishita describing instances of racism being practiced in India’s elite Delhi School of Economics :
In this context I was horrified to come across a magazine article by an African-American man living in Delhi and pursuing his PhD in Economics at the Delhi School of Economics. His situation of dealing with outrageous and blatant racism [...]
India and HDI ranking
Published by October 8th, 2009 in Democracy, Development, Economy, Education, Health, Human Rights and India. 4 CommentsLekhni is ‘rapidly coming to the conclusion that 15 minutes of fame’ is all the UNDP’s Human Development Index list deserves:
But the last part is the best – the report says they take an average of life expectancy and literacy and GDP, and compute the average HDI for that country.
This means that if you have, [...]
Bigamy flourishes….
Published by October 7th, 2009 in Gender & Sexuality, Human Rights and India. 0 CommentsBigamy may be ostensibly legal for Muslims, but it flourishes in various guises. Deepali Gaur Singh explores :
Bigamy is outlawed in India with the exception of the Muslim minority community which is governed by its own personal/ family law. What this has, in effect, meant is that even non-Muslim men have been able to use [...]
Bikram Jeet Batra from Amnesty International talks about the general lack of interest in prison issues in Indian ‘civil society’. He claims that these groups have restricted themselves largely to the domain of the ‘political’ prisoner while the few NGOs that work on prisons limit their interventions to humanitarian instead of human rights concerns. According [...]
You there, Chinky!
Published by August 13th, 2009 in Human Rights, India, North East, Prejudice and Racism. 1 CommentThe collective marginalization of everyone from the North-East of India as “Chinky” is offensive in itself. What adds pain to the misery is when they are assaulted for no other reason than being a “Chinky”. Deke Tourangbam shares some such stories and wants tofight this prejudice:
No matter how much we try to divide within ourselves [...]
Stop Homophobia
Published by July 21st, 2009 in Human Rights, LGBT, Prejudice, Society and Violence. 0 CommentsSam talks about the new face of Indian homophobia:
We condemned Aussies when they unleashed racial attacks on Indians. We gasped in horror when we saw how inhumanely the assailers had brought injuries on the victims. Now what do we have to say when Indians themselves are proving that they are no different from those Aussie [...]
Perceptions are tougher to change?
Published by July 5th, 2009 in Human Rights, India, Justice, LGBT, Prejudice and Society. 0 CommentsRituparna Bhowmick asks: will India accept gay couples?
But it’s difficult to predict whether conservative Indians would change their perception of the gay community.
India has traditionally been a study in curious contradictions that are deeply interwoven in its social fabric through centuries. If it is embracing and tolerant of alien customs, it is also proud and [...]
Today is our heritage..
Published by July 2nd, 2009 in Gender & Sexuality, History, Human Rights, India, Justice, LGBT, Prejudice, Regulation and Religion. 5 CommentsDilip says – today gives reason for every Indian to celebrate:
Well, the best news of I don’t know how long is what transpired in the Delhi High Court today. The judges there did overturn Section 377. No longer are our gay brothers and sisters breaking the law by doing what the rest of us do [...]
Petition for Patients’ Rights
Published by July 2nd, 2009 in Activism, Health, Human Rights and Justice. 0 CommentsJan Arogya Abhiyan, an NGO working to defend and foster people’s right to health care in Maharashtra addresses a Petition to the Minister for Public Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra, urging the Maharashtra government to adopt the Standard Charter of Patients’ Rights:
We believe that in Doctor-Patient relations, patients are inherently vulnerable. Hence they need to [...]
E-Campaign for Patient Rights
Published by June 30th, 2009 in Activism, Democracy, Health, Human Rights, India, Justice, Policy, Recommended Links, Regulation and Society. 1 CommentAditya’s 3 year old son was prescribed a drug overdose by a pediatrician for the recurring fever. This led to very severe consequences and the child needed ICU care for 3 days and a painful process of recovery due to this excessive medication. Aditya wanted to register his complaint against the pediatrician and the hospital [...]
How to claim an insurance
Published by June 29th, 2009 in Corruption, Development, Human Rights, India, Justice and Law and order. 2 CommentsAfter filing for an RTI, now it’s compensation or insurance claim. Ajay at
कोर्ट कचहरी explains us the details needed to claim for a compensation in an accident case.
ऐसे दावों में पंचाट पीड़ित व्यक्ति को चार विभिन्न मदों में भुगतान करने का आदेश प्रतिवादी को देती है. इलाज, यात्रा भत्ता, पोषाहार देतु तथा प्रभावित दिवसों में हुए आय का नुकसान .इसलिए पीड़ित व्यक्ति को चाहिए वो इलाज से सम्बंधित प्रत्येक कागज़ .दवाइयों की रसीद,अस्पताल आने जाने,रहने में लगे खर्चे की रसीदें तथा तथा पोषाहार हेतु लिए गए विशेष भोज्य पदार्थों पर हुए खर्च का सारा ब्यौरा संभाल कर रखे एवं गवाही के समय अदालत में उपस्थित करे.
LGBT issues
Published by June 28th, 2009 in Gender & Sexuality, Human Rights and Prejudice. 0 CommentsGaybombay is happy that India media is focussing more on LGBT issues- find a compilation of recent news stories in this post.
Silence and resistance
Published by June 25th, 2009 in Caste, Dalit, Feminism, Gender & Sexuality, History, Human Rights, Patriarchy, Politics, Prejudice, Violence and Women. 0 CommentsAnu explains that silence doesn’t mean the absence of resistance:
This on the face of it seems like pretty sound explanation, so with a magic wand if we push the upper caste down the ladder, upper caste men lose their ‘manhood’ when their women are appropriated and humiliated, right? Any caste that finds itself at the [...]
Unveiling martyrs
Published by June 23rd, 2009 in Culture, Human Rights, Racism, Religion, Secularism, Women and World. 0 CommentsAlankrita doesn’t understand why a democratic nation would want to impose a dress code:
The veil , however confuses me. I find the basic idea of covering up to prevent others from getting tempted, unadulterated nonsense. But there are those who choose to. I might find that choice stupid, or ill-informed or even regressive. But then [...]
Ordinary crime
Published by June 22nd, 2009 in Democracy, Human Rights, India, Justice, Media, Policy, Politics, South Asia and Violence. 0 CommentsAjay Govind spends what seem to be ten not-so-ordinary days in Kashmir:
But the words that caught my attention were from the title of that piece. ”I’ve learnt how ordinary crime becomes an issue”. Here were his ‘exact’ words from the interview itself “…It’s a case study for me to understand how if not handled right, an [...]
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