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By Avinash Pandey A newspaper carrying a story titled, “Why many women in Maharashtra’s Beed district have no wombs” should have shocked India despite the current electoral frenzy the country is undergoing due to parliamentary elections. The story had all the elements to stir the conscience of even the countries not famous for any democratic […]

By Dr. Divya Padmanabhan March 21 marks the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination worldwide. The day was first observed in 1966, and continues to be observed annually since then. The theme for this year is ‘Mitigating and countering rising nationalist populism and extreme supremacist ideologies’. While many countries are fighting […]

By Avinash Pandey Contrary to the claims of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India seems to have been losing jobs at a staggering rate, with unemployment rates reaching a decade-long high. From 2.6% between 1977-78 and 2011-12, it has now jumped to 7.23% in February 2019. Unemployment rates are worst for youth, touching almost 20 percent […]

By Avinash Pandey In functioning democracies based on rule of law, International Women’s Day would be a solemn occasion to mark victories for valiant struggles for the rights of women, to commemorate them, to celebrate them and to reaffirm our faith in continuing the struggle, until ‘women own half the earth and half the sky’. […]

Saya sebagai Pemerhati Ham Papua, sangat perihatin dengan situasi pelanggaran Ham di papua di akhir-akhir ini, masyarakat sipil orang asli Papua dan Non Papua hidup dengan penuh rasa takut dan trauma di tanah ini, pembunuhan terjadi di mana-mana terhadap masyarakat sipil. Tindakan (Organisasi Papua Merdeka) OPM juga sangat meresahkan bagi warga pendatang yang ada di […]

By Yusron Zainuri, a survival of Tanjung Priok 1984 massacre Peristiwa berdarah Tanjung priok 84 merupakan Tragedi kemanusiaan yg pernah ada. Hari ini 34 tahun yang lalu, gejolak politik melalui pemaksaan” sikap politik” penguasa pada saat itu telah menimbulkan reaksi masyarakat dari kampus hingga kekampung dari kaum intlektual hingga rakyat biasa. Kondisi ini tentunya sangat […]

By Chris Biantoro1 Sejak Suharto lengser pada tahun 1998, dan reformasi telah berjalan selama lebih dari 18 tahun, Papua belum menikmati arti perubahan yang sesungguhnya, sebagaimana dinikmati oleh wilayah lain di Indonesia. Inisiatif untuk menyelesaikan kasus-kasus pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia (HAM) di provinsi Papua dan Papua barat, sebenarnya telah beberapa kali muncul, misalkan yang diinisiasi […]

Growth has remained the buzzword in Indian polity for decades now. It started after the unprecedented economic crisis that the country faced in early 1990s and never really went away after that. It, rather, almost consumed the other big word- development, which now returns to election rallies and then disappears again until the next elections. […]

By Basil Fernando, Avinash Pandey The world has seen a lot of debate over falsehood being spread in the name of facts recently. This, though, is not a chance encounter. There is a very definite method in this madness. Lowering the quality of the conversation has always been a very well working mean of creating […]

Despite all the tall claims of development by authorities in India, the data from Government bodies shows that there are little, if any, improvements in tackling alarmingly high levels of malnutrition. Add to this the worrisome fact of a sharp increase in the indebtedness of households and the situation becomes even bleaker. The data from […]

By Leonard Pinto In 1960s, a handful of academics in theology departments in some North American universities made a case for a ‘theology without God’, based on the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). The self-contradictory concept drew attention of Americans that Time magazine addressed the issue with a unique cover page, Is God Dead? in […]

by Basil Fernando One of the things that the Sri Lankan State as well as the Civil Society itself has given up on- is the control of crime. Crime has spread into everything and continues to spread further and further. However, we see that the more crime spreads, the less amenable it is for us […]

Sachin Kumar Jain Today’s society does not need isolated sympathy. It needs empathy; to feel the other by planting ourselves in their circumstances. To see what their eyes are seeing, hear what their ears are listening to, feel their fears and joys, successes and failures. Empathy is not a miracle, but a way to feel […]

By Urmila Pullat On Mar 20, 2018, in Dr. Subhash Kashinath Mahajan vs. The State of Maharashtra And Anr., the Supreme Court of India held that there is no absolute bar on granting anticipatory bail for complaints under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter the SC/ST Act). Further, […]

The Republic of Indonesia, an independent state since 17 August 1945, is a State based on the rule of law. Its constitution emphasizes (UUD 1945), in particular article 1 paragraph 3: “The State of Indonesia shall be a state based on the rule of law.” A state based on the rule of law means that the law […]

By Avinash Pandey In other times Jyoti could have gotten at least a little outrage for her, often all poor and the marginalized get in the country after such tragedies inflicted upon them. Alas, the country is busy over outraging the USD 1.7 billion fraud, and counting, that the Punjab National Bank has complained Nirav […]

A reflection on the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sri Lanka at the 37th Session of the Human Rights Council, 26 February–23 March 2018 by Basil Fernando The idea of good governance in Sri Lanka seems to be – to make lot of good promises and thereafter to ignore […]

By Javeria Younus Gender inequality is structural and deeply entrenched in the patriarchal mind-set. According to research conducted by various NGOs throughout the world, a whopping 90% working woman face sexual harassment of various forms. In most of the harassment incidents, the oppressor takes advantage of women’s helplessness, vulnerability and the fact that they don’t […]

An interview with Dr. Sunil Coorey on delays in the administration of justice The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Legal Affairs (anti-corruption) and Media made its recommendations pertaining to the expeditious and efficient administration of criminal justice on 20 September 2017. The Committee recommended an increase in the number of High Court Judges, State Counsels and […]

By Nagananda Kodituwakku and Basil Fernando It was heartening to hear from the incumbent Chief Justice, Priyasath Dep, that Sri Lanka’s judiciary is free from any interference. This statement comes as a relief, given that we can recall a long period of the most despicable forms of the interference with the judiciary in Sri Lanka […]