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Article141.png”” alt=””Article141″” />Taking a serious note of the death of 11 children with special needs in a rehabilitation home in Jaipur, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the State Chief Secretary, Director General of Police and Director General of Health Services and sought a reply within two weeks. Taking suo motu cognizance of the incident, the Commission has observed that the contents of the press reports, if true, raise a serious issue of human rights violation of the child victims. As many as 11 children have died in a State-run Home in Jaipur, under mysterious circumstances in the past 12 days.

Allegations of government’s failure in maintaining the upkeep of the Home have also been reported as the reason behind the incident. Reportedly, the children were referred to J.K. Lone and SMS Hospitals when their condition deteriorated, probably after drinking contaminated water at the Home, the NHRC said in a statement. Meanwhile, there is outrage in the State over the deaths with the women’s groups and civil society organizations demanding the resignation of the Social Justice Minister Arun Chaturvedi.

Three children from the home are still admitted in the ICU of J.K.Lone, one is recuperating in the General Ward while eight others were discharged after treatment. The Rajasthan Health Minister Rajendra Rathore visited the hospital and enquired about the health of these children. Describing the episode as unfortunate, the civil society groups have said that the government had not only kept these children with mental retardation in sub-humane conditions but was also guilty of violating the directions of the Rajasthan High Court which in 2003 had asked the State to ensure all such homes should have adequate facilities for good food and other facilities including a provision for a clinical psychologist.

Expressing surprise that the State Child Rights Commission, the State Human Rights Commission and State Child Welfare Committee were silent on these deaths, the civil society groups have said that all these people had also lost the moral right to continue on their posts. The joint statement was issued, among others, by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, National Federation of Indian Women, All India Janwadi Mahila Samiti, National Muslim Women’s Welfare Society, Beti Zindabad Abhiyan, and Centre for Advocacy and Research.”

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Article140.png”” alt=””Article140″” />Things have come to such a pass that there is a backlog of 30 million cases. It was finally left to the Chief Justice of India Justice T S Thakur to make an emotion appeal to the Narendra Modi government to rectify matters speedily at a meeting of chief ministers and Chief Justices of the High Courts in the national capital last Sunday. If the Prime Minister was caught on the wrong foot, he wasted no time in having a closed door session with the CJI to sort out matters. The judiciary and the centre as well as the states will have to work in concert without wasting time in dealing with the backlog issue on a priority basis. Let us not forget the adage that “”justice delayed is justice denied”” especially as those large number of undertrials continue to languish in jails without bail. The talk of the judiciary being overburdened has been going on for years with decision makers inexplicably compounding matters.

Allowing matters to drift in respect of one of the main pillars of the democratic system is rather disconcerting. The role of the states cannot be undermined. This is particularly so when the litigant and especially the teeming poor have to wait endlessly for justice being entirely at the mercy of the lawyers and the judges. The judiciary and the executive have to accept responsibility for the abysmal state of affairs because of the crumbling and poor infrastructure facilities, dilatory judicial procedures and non-cooperative lawyers who have a vested interest in seeking repeated adjournments which is summarily granted.

Judiciary’s Performance

Despite these burgeoning problems legal experts acknowledge that the judiciary has performed admirably having seen through some tumultuous times and emerged with flying colours. Nearly three decades back in 1987 the Law Commission had recommended the appointment of at least 30,000 judges. That figure has now risen to 40,000. It reflects poorly on how well the rule of law is implemented.

Sample the statistics of the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB). In 2014 there were nearly 418000 people crammed in jails all over the country. This is nearly 100000 in excess of the capacity of 356000. What is shocking is that 67% of them are undertrials. The situation is alarming while the political class is on its own trip and the common refrain of the judiciary is that it is overburdened.

As chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi had suggested that judges should reduce their leave and extend their working hours to reduce the backlog. Even though this would not have erased the humongous backlog but certainly gone some distance in reducing it. Even though it is accepted that any person is innocent until proven guilty, the reality of daily life is entirely different when it comes to an alleged criminal. Lets consider what needs to be done urgently. The country requires no less than at least 50 judges for every million people but the present strength is barely 15-16 judges.

The BJP-led NDA government appears to be dragging its feet on the 170 odd names for being appointed as High Court judges recommended by the Collegium of the Apex Court. Last year in October the Modi government suffered a setback when the Supreme Court rejected the National Judicial Appointments Committee Act and the 99th Constitutional Amendment which sought to give politicians and civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the highest courts.

“”It is difficult to hold that the wisdom of appointment of judges can be shared with the poitical executive. In India the organic development of civil society, has not as yet sufficiently evolved. The expectation from the judiciary, to safeguard the rights of the citizens of this country, can only be ensured by keeping it absolutely insulated and independent, from the other organs of governance,”” Justice J S Khehar, the presiding judge on the five-judge bench, affirmed in his separate judgement.

In a majority of 4:1, the bench rejected the NJAC Act and the Constitution Amendment as “”unconstitutional and void.”” It held that the collegium system, as it existed before the NJAC, would again become operative. The Bench admitted that all is not well even with the collegium system of “”judges appointing judges””, and that the time is ripe to improve the 21-year-old system of judicial appointments.

A disappointed Union Law minister Sadananda Gowda observed the NJAC was backed fully by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. It had 100 per cent support of the people. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi described the judgement as flawed as it ignored the unanimous will of Parliament, half the State Legislatures and the will of the people for transparency in judicial appointments. One wonders if the judiciary is considered as a non-productive organ of the state as less than one per cent of the union budget is spent on it.

At the same time the government’s initiative might be laudable in setting up commercial courts without separate manpower and infrastructure for it. The unfortunate part is nearly seven decades after gaining independence, access to affordable and timely justice remains a distant dream. On his part Justice Thakur has alluded to making amends, if needed, in the Collegium. This might moment for the Centre in undertaking direly needed reforms in the country’s obsolete land laws. To sustain fast growth India needs to overhaul its legal infrastructure. There is need for expanding the lower judiciary in all the states along with speeding up the judicial process.

Technology needs to be exploited to meet fresh challenges in the judiciary along with ensuring that access to law is widened along with infusing necessary confidence in the justice system.”

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Article144.png”” alt=””Article144.png”” />A new trend has heralded in Kerala with film stars and directors crossing swords in the Assembly elections to be held on May 16. Unlike voters in the rest of Southern region, Kerala has been politically conservative in letting film stars contest elections.However, ace Malayalam comedian Innocent Vareed Thekkethala’s victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Chalakudy constitutency, has made the political parties to field film stars in the coming elections. That perhaps explains the one-off electoral win of someone from Malayalam film industry.Ace film-maker Ramu Kariat, who directed the path-breaking move Chemmeen, was elected to the Assembly in 1964 from Nattika constitutency in Thrissur district as an independent backed by the Communist Party till the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 when Innocent became an MP.

Even yesteryear super star Prem Nazir, an ambivalent Congress supporter, dithered over entering electoral fray. A headcount of the aspirants and probables from Malayalam film fraternity for the Assembly elections on May 16 shows that Innocent’s win was a watershed moment. Innocent trounced Congress veteran P C Chacko in Chalakudy in 2014 general elections. Kerala gave a thumbs-down to film-maker Lenin Rajendran who tested the electoral waters twice from the Ottapalam Lok Sabha constituency in the early 1990s. All three major parties in the polls–Congress, CPI (M) and BJP– have roped in a handful of matinee idols to woo the voters. Among the Left probables is actor Mukesh from Kollam, a known CPI (M) fellow traveller, though the party toyed with the idea of fielding KPAC Lalitha, another know Left sympathiser, from Vadakkanchery assembly constituency, but the veteran actress backed off citing health issues in the wake of a vociferous protest. While CPI (M) will support actor-turned politician and Kerala Congress (B) leader K B Ganesh Kumar, who snapped ties with the ruling UDF, in Pathanapuram, Congress has roped in noted character-artist and comedian Jagadish to take on him in the constituency. As BJP has fielded actor Bheeman Reghu against them, Pathanapuram is expected to witness a triangular ‘star war’.

Another star contestant Mukesh, a permanent presence in slap stick films and known for films like ‘Ramjirao Speaking’, will be contesting from Kollam assembly constituency on a CPI (M) ticket. CPI (M) chose Mukesh in the key constituency with the belief that his multi-faceted personality as a writer, TV host and producer besides actor, could easily strike a chord with the people. Film directors A Rajasenan and Ali Akbar would be trying their luck from Aruvikkara and Koduvally assembly constituencies respectively. The names of actor Siddhiq and Ashokan had also been under active consideration of different parties. The list of actors who may plunge into the electoral battle is slowly growing, Sreenivasan, Nedumudi Venu are the likely candidates.

Is Kerala showing new signs this time around? Will the coastal State also turning into Tamil Nadu style of politics where actors, directors and film writers are at the helm of affairs of the State. Keep a close watch over Kerala’s electoral scene over the next fortnight.”

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RebootingIndia.png”” alt=””RebootingIndia”” />Having gained valuable insight in developing the unique identity card for a billion people in five years, Nandan Nilekeni, founding Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) and Viral Shah, worked at the intersection of policy and technology leading to the design of the government’s payments and subsidy platforms using Aadhaar. They have proposed some big ideas that can redesign existing systems and save the government a mind boggling estimated Rs One trillion annually. This is equivalent to one per cent of the country’s GDP which is enough for two Golden Quadrilateral road systems across the country or in sending 200 Mangalyan missions to the Mars annually. It is also sufficient to provide minimal health insurance to every family in the country for three years. It is entirely technology driven.

This might well be one of the solutions that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might want to consider to get his much touted “”sab ke saath, sab ka vikas”” off the ground having remained dormant over the last 24 months since he assumed the high office on the majestic Raisina Hill on May 26, 2014. More and More businesses and industries are being run on software delivered as online services — from movies, to agriculture to national defence. Many of the winners are Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial technological companies that are invading and overturning established industry structures. India now boasts of the world’s third largest internet user base with over 190 million users, many of whom are on smartphones to get online and buy things; as much as 40 per cent of all e-commerce transactions in India are now conducted via mobile phones, bypassing computers altogether.

India is sitting on a demographic dividend and is expected to become the world’s youngest country by 2020, with 64 per cent of its population, roughly 800 million people of working age. “”That is 800 million knocks on the ceiling with a list of demands that include education, emplolyment, good health,better infrastructure, efficient governance and a corruption free society. The economy that is supposed to sustain the weight of these demands has been growing in single digit at around nine per cent a year at the best of times — a flimsy scaffold on which to construct dreams of a better life.

The question is how do we build a foundation strong enough to nurture these dreams and bring them to fruition? As an enabler of peoples’ aspirations, the authors insist this requires a radical rethink of the relationship between the government and its people compared to the one that still seems stuck in a bygone era in its reluctance to embrace technology’s transformative powers. Even for an urban, middle class Indian dealing with the government is cumbersome. Merely starting a new business in India takes weeks; most of this time is spent in completing the required paper work and legal formalities.

Whether it is paying taxes or negotiating complex labour law requirements “”we haven’t built a truly entrepreneur-friendly environment where anyone with a bright idea and some capital can easily start a business,”” emphasised Nilekeni, a former CEO of Infosys, and Shah, who is the co-inventor of the Julia programming language and co-founder of Fourth Lion Technologies. They believe technology can transform government by: (1) Scale – solutions that handle millions of people and billions of transactions; (2) Speed – solution that can be developed in months and years, not decades; (3) Cost — solutions that decrease process and service costs; (4) Enforceability — solutions that can be monitored in real time; (5) Diversity — solutions that work as platforms to foster innovation; (6) Autonomy — solutions that allow government (central, state, local) and its agencies to function independently; (7) Mobility –solutions that are accessible anywhere in the country; (8) Integration — solutions that incorporate the best components across the public private spectrum; (9) Collaboration — solutions that share information and develop partnerships across government; and (10) Inclusion — solutions that lowers entry barriers and widens access for all.

The profound shift of balance of power between the government and the people is only possible because of technology. “”We need to fix our country’s problems at great speed, at scales with high quality while providing solutions that are easy to access, independent of geography and at low cost. “”Technology the great leveller is our only hope of meeting these goals. Many of the states are well run today and the formation of the NITI Ayog and the GST reform will lead to further fiscal consolidation. States should be free to opt for these common platforms because they see a clear benefit in participation rather than through the carrot of money or the stick of the legislation.

The issue of fund flow can be resolved by cutting down the number of schemes and running them more efficiently; equally important, a great proportion of the central funds should be untied, eliminating restrictions on how the money can be spent and allowing states to use their money more effectively. Increasingly India is getting to the point where money itself is no longer the bottleneck. The finances of many states are quite robust. The Centre-State relationship has evolved to a point where “”we believe the centre must provide value beyond money through world class platform development.

The biggest barrier to ideas Nilekeni and Shah believe is mindsets. In a system that clings tenaciously to hierarchy, it is hard to recognise that a 25-year-old ‘techie’ might have better ideas than the veteran official in his fiftees. That value and knowledge lie not at the top of the silo, but at the boundaries across various disciplines. That problem solving is not about big budgets and a cast of thousands, but small teams with shoestring budgets — teams that include technologists, social activists, people who have built successful businesses, domain experts and bureaucrats.

Nilekeni and Shah have identified a dozen great challenges in their book. The first two — Aadhaar and PaHal — have already been scaled successfully. That leaves ten more grand challenges for which ten new start ups are required in the government, each with a team of ten dedicated multidisciplinarian champions. Such teams operating under the authority of the Prime Minister can drive the sweeping transformation and innovative thinking capable of fulfilling a billion aspirations. “”We are much better off dreaming, taking risks, and trying to realise a billion aspirations; at best we risk falling flat on our faces. Far more egregious, and most dangerous to our country, going about business as ususal, leaving a billion voices unheard and a billion frustrations unresolved,””observed Nilekeni and Shah.

The authors agree that the problems are enormous. And these can only be tackled by fast changing technological tools including cloud computing, big data and analytics to move towards a different kind of aggregation, one that is gaining traction in the private sector.

TR

(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator.)
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Article143.png”” alt=””Article143″” />A day after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took a serious note of the death of children in a rehabilitation home in Jaipur, State Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has said that strict action would be taken against the government officials responsible for deaths of 11 mentally-challenged children during the past fortnight. Expressing disappointment over the deaths, Ms Raje said that even senior officers would not be spared for their lackadaisical attitude in handling this case. As many as 11 children have died in state-run rehabilitation home for mentally challenged children near Jaipur in the past fortnight allegedly because of contaminated water. Four children are still admitted in the hospital.

Chairing a high-level meeting to take stock of the situation at her residence, Ms Raje said the death of children was very serious and shocking incident suggesting unacceptable carelessness of the officers concerned in this case. “”Whoever is responsible for this incident, sitting at whatever high position, will face strict action,”” she said. Others present at the meeting were the State Health Minister Rajendra Rathore, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Shri Arun Chaturvedi and the Chief Secretary.

Ms Raje asked the officers of all departments concerned including Medical and Health, Public Health Engineering, Social Justice and Empowerment, Education and Tribal Area Development to conduct inspections of all hostels, residential schools and children’s homes immediately to ensure facilities like cleanliness, drinking water supply and health services. She said that district collectors and other senior officers should visit such hostels or schools and send reports to the respective department.

The CM directed preparation of protocols for diagnosis and control of water-borne and other infectious diseases during summers. She said that a state-level control room should be established to implement and monitor this protocol. Officers from all concerned government departments would constitute A special cell would also be set up, which function 24-hours a day. This cell would also monitor bleaching, cleaning and sampling of drinking water across the State.

The Chief Minister further directed installation of CCTV cameras at children’s homes for mentally-challenged, other children homes, hostels and residential schools run by different government departments or non-government agencies. This would ensure regular and effective monitoring of these institutes, she added.”

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Article147.png”” alt=””Article147.png”” />The Indian Health Insurance sector focused mainly on traditional in–patient indemnity cover, is now increasingly realizing the need to innovate and introduce products to cater to the needs of the consumers. A report by FICCI says that three factors have increased the industry’s appetite for experimental and product innovation — While the industry has grown at a CAGR of ~20% since 2001, health insurance is less than 10% of total healthcare spend, change in pattern of healthcare spend – from infectious and contagious diseases to chronic disease with a consequent need for outpatient insurance and recognition of the need for pilot and innovative products in the work done by the expert committee on reviewing the health insurance regulations, in April 2015, and proposing of a regulatory framework.

There are 2.6 cr disabled in India, as per the census of 2011 – approximately 2.3% of the population. Of this, the main categories of disability are “in movement” (20%), “in hearing” (19%) and “in seeing” (19%). Together these constitute more than 50% of the disabled population. Similarly, India has the third largest HIV positive population in the world. Global prevalence is estimated at 32 million and India has 2.1 million HIV positive. India faces a rising burden of infertility – an estimated 27 million couples are infertile.

In the past, there have been limited health insurance covers available for conditions such as HIV, Infertility and Persons with Disabilities. While the health insurance industry has not shied away from these segments, product innovation has been limited. Traditionally, these conditions have been either excluded or have been underwritten on a case-to-case basis. FICCI Health Insurance Committee, created a Task Force to study and analyze the current landscape and situation of insurance products availability for persons with disability, HIV positive and infertility, and come out with its recommendations to find solutions for the insurability of these conditions.

The FICCI report examines the insurability of these three segments – People with Disabilities (PwD’s), HIV positive and infertility. It analyzes the demand side, current insurance industry underwriting practices, and existing product coverages. It recommends product structures suing a range of possible options – including public-private partnership, discounted access structures, and peak risk covers. It advocates a sustainable model, where the insurance industry, pharmaceutical companies as well as health care industry should work together on a break-even model to get the right combination of insurance and health care to PwDs.

The report also suggests creation of an industry level not for profit scheme, partly funded by the Central Government which would run for first two years on Government funding, this period is long enough to collect statistics for pricing the scheme. For the initial period, scheme design and pricing would be modelled similar to one of the existing schemes (Niramaya or Swavlamban).

Alternately, existing models such as Swavlamban should be broad-based and scaled up, for which a mass awareness campaign should be run, which will create the demand pull in order for PwD’s come forward to enroll, a bit like aadhar campaigns.”

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Article146.png”” alt=””Article146.png”” />The four-year-old Italian marines case has often threatened to derail India’s relations with Italy as emotions have run high on both sides. In the latest development in the case, a UN Arbitral Tribunal has asked India and Italy to approach the Supreme Court of India for relaxation of the bail condition of Sergeant Girone, who was granted bail by the Apex Court and has been living in Italian Embassy in New Delhi. While Italy took it to be a ruling paving the way for the release of the marine, Indian government sources here said on Monday that Italy was misrepresenting the order which only stipulated that bail condition of the marine, living in Italian Embassy here on bail, to be set by the Supreme Court of India. Sources said the Tribunal order neither releases nor frees any marine but it only recommends further relaxation of bail conditions of one Italian Marine — Salvatore Girone — to be considered and decided upon by the Indian Supreme Court. Sergeant Girone is on bail on orders of the Supreme Court.

The Arbitral Tribunal’s order recognises that “Girone is under India’s authority alone” and that the “Supreme Court of India exercises jurisdiction” over him. The order asks India and Italy to approach the Supreme Court of India for relaxation of the bail conditions of Sergeant Girone. The Tribunal has suggested that these may include the conditions and guarantees binding upon Italy to “ensure that Sergeant Girone reports to an authority in Italy designated by the Supreme Court of India in intervals to be determined by the Supreme Court of India; Sergeant Girone shall be required by Italy to surrender his passport and shall be prohibited from leaving Italy unless the Supreme Court of India grants him leave to travel; Italy shall on its own motion, apprise the Supreme Court of India of the situation of Sergeant Girone every three months.”

The Tribunal noted that Italy itself has accepted that if Girone is allowed by the Indian Supreme Court to return to Italy, “he will remain under the jurisdiction of the Courts of India”…“without prejudice to the authority of India’s courts”. The order also says that “India must be assured, unequivocally and with legally binding effect, that Sergeant Girone will return to India in case the Arbitral Tribunal finds that India has jurisdiction over him in respect of the Enrica Lexie incident”. Italy has already given multiple undertakings to this effect. The Tribunal affirmed that “these undertakings constitute an obligation binding upon Italy under international law”. The Tribunal also “confirms that Italy is under an obligation to return Sergeant Girone to India if the Arbitral Tribunal finds that India has jurisdiction over him in respect of the Enrica Lexie incident”.

Sources pointed out that the Tribunal is adjudicating only on the limited question of whether India or Italy has the jurisdiction to try the two Marines for the killing of two innocent Indian fishermen. Only after the Tribunal decides which country has jurisdiction, will the criminal trial commence. Pending this final decision of the Tribunal, both Italian Marines are currently on bail on orders of the Supreme Court of India and will continue to remain under its jurisdiction till the verdict of the Arbitral Tribunal. In 2012, India arrested two Italian marines after a pair of Kerala fishermen were shot dead. Italy has maintained that the marines, who were escorting an oil tanker, mistook the Kerala fishermen for pirates.

One of the marines Massimiliano Latorre was allowed to return to Italy with health problems, the other Sergeant Girone was asked to remain in India. Sources said that if bail conditions were to be relaxed, Indian government would insist it to be conditional upon Italy pledging to return Girone to India if needed for the trial. The Italian marines case hit headlines and soured India-Italy relations but the two countries agreed last year to take the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and abide by its decision. The Supreme Court has extended the home leave till September of the other marine Massimiliano Latorre. He was allowed to return to Italy in travel back to Italy in 2014 for medical treatment.

Even at home the main opposition party Congress has charged the BJP-led NDA government with striking a deal with the Italian government to allow the Italian marines go home in exchange for information on AgustaWestland bribery allegations. The marines case has also made Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi being regularly criticised by opposition leaders for failing to get both men home and resolve the case. While Italy claims that the oil tanker, the MV Enrica Lexie, was in international waters at the time of the incident, India has maintained that the firing by the two marines was a plain case of murder at sea in which one fisherman was shot in the head and the other in the stomach.”

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Article145.png”” alt=””Article145.png”” />As the World celebrates World Press Day on May three, it becomes imperative to examine the status of the media in this country considering that India ranks as low as 133 among 180 countries according to the 2016 ‘World Press Freedom Index‘ released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) with Finland retaining its top spot for the sixth consecutive year, followed by the Netherlands and Norway. Considering the plethora of media in this country – print and electronic – and of course now the social media, yet the debate rages whether there is indeed true freedom of the press. Even though the Constitution provides the right to freedom, given in Articles 19, 20, 21 and 22, with the view of guaranteeing individual rights that were considered vital by the framers of the constitution, yet, the question is often frequently asked – does the media really enjoy the freedom that is portrayed.

A part of the answer to the difficulties lies in making it possible for independent newspapers and especially periodicals to operate without too much handicap. But, even then, such newspapers may not be as successful as the large ones operated as capitalist undertakings. Their workers, including journalists, may have to work at a sacrifice. But unless there are elements in the country which are ready to work with self sacrifice and zeal for causes in which they believe, new and unorthodox ideas cannot develop and new political groups cannot emerge. Though the country’s media remained most free in South Asia in 2014, press freedom in the country was threatened by several factors, including a series of legal actions against journalists and editorial interference by media owners as also continued violence against journalists, attempts at surveillance, and blocking of news channels, among other forms of censorship, were also issues of concern.

The most serious inadequacy relating to the Indian Press is to be found in newspapers published in Indian languages. Most of them are poorer in quality as compared to newspapers in English. This is so even in respect of Indian language papers belonging to same groups. This obviously happens because the managements of such groups continue to think that the prestige of the group depends more on the English language newspapers than on the Indian language ones. However, the demand for Indian language newspapers is already expanding faster and this trend will be further accelerated in future. As the number of legislators who understand English declines, it is essential in public interest and for the proper functioning of democracy that the quality of the more important Indian language newspapers improves rapidly.

Though the constitution of India does not specifically mention the freedom of press but it is implied from the Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Thus the press is subject to the restrictions that are provided under the Article 19(2) of the Constitution. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution ensures to all its citizens the liberty of expression. Freedom of the press has been included as part of freedom of speech and expression under the Article 19 which says: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Another important point pertaining to the freedom of the press is brought out in the observation by the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Assn. for Democratic Reforms when it says “One sided information, disinformation, misinformation and non-information, all equally create an uninformed citizenry which makes democracy a farce. Freedom of speech and expression includes right to impart and receive information which includes freedom to hold opinions”.”

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Article150.png”” alt=””Article150.png”” />The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports about yet another ‘Nirbhaya’ like rape and murder of a Dalit law student, whose body was found by her mother on Friday in Ernakulam, Kerala. The “”Nirbhaya”” rape and murder case in Delhi in December 2012 had evoked nation-wide protests and outrage and led to amendment of the criminal law. The Commission, on the basis of the media reports, has observed that the crime is so spine-chilling and gruesome that words fall short and expressing anguish and shock appear meaningless and mere ritualistic. It is a matter of utmost concern that women’s security is facing grave threat in spite of several measures taken in the recent times including amendment in the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act.

The Commission has issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police, Kerala Government as well as Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam Rural at Aluva. They have been asked to submit a detailed report on the incident and action taken in the matter within two weeks. According to reports, the 29 year old woman was raped and murdered inside her home, near an isolated stretch, at Vattolippidi Canal Bund near Perumbavoor in District Ernakulam, Kerala. Her body bore at least 30 injuries, including some on her private parts. Reportedly, the assault on her stomach was such that some parts of the small intestine had spilled out, the NHRC noted.”

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Article149.png”” alt=””Article149.png”” />Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi drawing his attention towards the suffering of about 16 crore children across the country, resulting in an increased number of children being subjected to child labour, child trafficking, child marriages, devdasis and school dropouts due to the severe drought in several parts of our country. “”It is also estimated, that there will be an increased risk of lakhs of children becoming victims of these circumstances in the coming months, if the situation is not addressed on priority basis,”” Mr Satyarthi has said in his letter.

Additionally, it is has been estimated that this drought has seen an increase in children dropping out of school by approximately 22 percent and child trafficking by approximately 24 percent. He has asked the Prime Minister to declare drought as a national emergency immediately as well as get an assessment done of the condition of children in the drought-hit areas to ensure that no children are pushed into trafficking, labour, or even drop out of the schools. Mr Satyarthi has also suggested that unspent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, especially from the public sector undertaking, should be diverted for child-centric drought relief measures.”