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Bill to combat human trafficking cleared by Cabinet
The Cabinet has cleared the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018. While the latest version of the Bill is not available to the public, the previous drafts available reveal that the intended law will continue to use criminal law as the primary tool for a change, a method oft criticized by experts […]
Niti Aayog report reveals country-wide decline in sex ratio
The Niti Aayog has released a report titled ‘Healthy States, Progressive India,’ which among other things, raises the issue of a country-wide decline in the sex ratio at birth in India. The report notes that the decline is the sharpest in states of Gujarat and Haryana, while a few states of Bihar, Punjab, and Uttar […]
Advisory group approves HPV vaccine
The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization NTAGI has granted approval for the introduction of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the Universal Immunisation Programme. The campaign for providing HPV vaccines had suffered a setback in 2012 following controversy around its side-effects in 2012 and a strategic legal intervention before the Supreme Court seeking revocation […]
India opposes move to link gender with trade
India, an influential member of the World Trade Organisation, was amongst the minority that chose not to endorse a declaration seeking women’s economic empowerment in trade, despite nearly three-fourths of the members backing the same. India stated that while it supports gender equality, it could not submit that gender is a trade-related issue. Further, Indian […]
Government’s Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 meets with widespread protests
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 has been reintroduced in the Lok Sabha by the government without the changes that had been demanded by the trans community, resulting in widespread protests. The bill, a watered down version of a private member bill that was cleared by the Rajya Sabha in 2014, is said […]
Madhya Pradesh enacts law to prescribe death penalty for rape of girls aged 12 years and below
The Madhya Pradesh legislature has passed an amendment to the Indian Penal Code to prescribe death sentence as the highest punishment for rape of girls aged 12 and below; becoming the first state where those convicted of such rapes will face the death penalty. The bill also seeks to increase the punishment for offenders convicted […]
Bill to criminalise instant triple talaq passed by Lok Sabha
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, has been passed by the Lok Sabha. The primary objective of the bill is to criminalise the pronouncement of triple talaq, by prescribing a punishment of up to three years of imprisonment for the same. The bill also provides for custody and maintenance rights of […]
ILO defends modern-slavery figures sought to be discredited by India
The International Labour Organisation has defended its statistics on modern slavery in the Asia-Pacific, after reports that the Intelligence Bureau had advised the Prime Minister’s office to discredit them, for fear that they may affect India’s exports. The ILO’s report on global estimates of modern slavery states that the Asia-Pacific region has the highest share […]
Himachal Pradesh and Odisha join Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand and Meghalaya in the implementing the Anand Marriage Act
The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Committee has announced that Odisha and Himachal Pradesh have become the latest states to implement the Anand Marriage Act, joining Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand and Meghalaya. The Anand Marriage Act was enacted in 1909 by the British Imperial Legislative Council to legally recognise the marriage ceremony Anand Karaj, practiced among Sikhs. The […]
Bombay High Court directs a 3-member Committee to be set-up to assess the modified Manodhairya scheme
Bombay High Court directed a 3-member Committee to be set up to look into the changes made to the Manodhairya scheme by Maharashtra government in August this year. The said scheme provides compensation for victims of sexual assault and acid attack. Under the changes made to the scheme, the amount of compensation to the victims […]