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‘Leprosy is still a stigma in India’

June 26, 2014
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Grassroots - Law
|
By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Gandhiji giving massage,to a leper patient, the Sanskrit scholar Parchure Shastri, at Sevagram Ashram in 1940. Source: Wikimedia Commons

How can access to education and good healthcare change somebody's life is evident from Suresh Dhongde's success. At one point of time he was staring at possibility of a life wasted. Today, the 35-year-old is a proud recipient of the national award for being a role model in overcoming leprosy. Not only is he helping other leprosy-affected people join mainstream, but also trying to break well-entrenched stereotypes related to the disease. He is fighting against several laws and rules which discriminate against leprosy patients.

 

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'Anuradha's case has fueled public interest in patients' rights'

January 23, 2014
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Law
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Anuradha Saha

Dr Kunal Saha's wife Anuradha died due to medical negligence in 1998. He pursued the case for 15 years through various consumer courts, MCI, high court until Supreme Court passed a historic order three months back. It not only awarded the highest compensation so far in a medical negligence case but also questioned the treatment of doctors, a first in Indian legal history. Here Dr Saha talks about the shortcomings in present Indian law and his plans to help other victims of medical negligence.

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'Most cases of humiliation go unreported'

March 12, 2012
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Law
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By: 
Dhairya Maheshwari

Late Javed Abidi, a vocal disabled rights' activist, who was at the forefront of disability revolution in India, talked to GOI Monitor in 2012 about the present state of affairs and lacunae in laws 

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'Tawaifs were highly educated women erased from social scene by new morality'

October 30, 2015
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Grassroots
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Rasoolan Bai was a courtesan famous for her thumri.

Courtesans contributed to music and literary scene of an era when most women were in purdah. 'The Other Song' is a film that examines how we stigmatised these performers resulting in annihilation of their profession which could not meet the new moral standards of independent India.  Their whole existence was termed immoral both by the British colonialists and also ironically by the nationalists who themselves were English educated and probably inspired by Colonial ideas.We talk to the film maker Saba Dewan on what she went through while projecting such a difficult subject on screen 

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'We have got hope installed'

March 12, 2012
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Grassroots
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk

For a city full of shopping malls, big glass offices and stylish cars, Bengaluru easily represents India's best place for the upwardly mobile. No wonder the divide between haves and have nots also plays out more intensely here with the additional emphasis on

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A Generation in Peril. How Climate Crisis is Impacting Childhood

January 11, 2021
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Environment - Governance - Grassroots
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By: 
Satyaki Baidya

The impact of climate crisis on people across the world is highly disproportionate but no other group is as vulnerable as children in low income families of developing countries. Children are not emotionally and physically capable of understanding the dangers during extreme weather events and are dependent on adults for their survival. They are more susceptible to water and vector borne diseases, malnutrition and they are forced into labour due to economic challenges induced by climate crisis. 

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A Rosetta Stone to environmental law

October 28, 2016
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Environment - Law
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Diversion of forest land is one of the biggest concerns for villagers dependent on forests.

This document is a valuable resource that comprises important legal changes and events of last three years with reference to previous laws. Written by well known practitioner Kanchi Kohli, the e-book lists down steps that can be taken to secure people’s rights over land, forests, water and biodiversity. And all this is explained through instances where common men and women explore the nitty gritties of environmental laws. So, we have Sarita tai worried about construction of railway line through a forest and Kavita who is intrigued by a company official asking for her village land to do compensatory afforestation for a distant project 

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A decade on, India’s first solar park has many promises left to fulfil

March 19, 2022
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Environment - Grassroots
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By: 
Ravleen Kaur

10 years after the project came up, the villagers of Charanka, the project site, are still waiting for clean drinking water, free electricity, and irrigation. Against the promise of 1,000 permanent jobs, only 60 people in the village have been employed as security guards, grass cutters and for washing panels, with no scope for jobs for women, making families who did not have land or sons the worst victims of the solar park.

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A school that doesn't teach

November 21, 2013
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Grassroots
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By: 
India Water Portal
There's no imparting of education. Girls learn what they practice. Source: Surendra Bansal

Constant giggles, playful pulling of plaits and teasing is common in girls' schools. Though the Baba Aya Singh Riarki College in Gurdaspur is different in many ways, it is filled with similar scenes. This school is an exceptional experiment in education for rural girls of Gurdaspur and Amritsar. It dates back to 1934 when a social worker called Baba Aya Singh established a small ‘putri pathshala’ (girls’ school). He also set up the SKD High School in 1939. Since then it has pioneered women education and empowerment in the state.

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Afforestation, invasive species make Gaddi pastoralists more vulnerable

September 30, 2021
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Grassroots
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk

Beginning in the 1990s, the forest department shifted away from commercial production toward a greater emphasis on joint-forest management, which resulted in a shift toward an array of broad-leaved (but still not palatable) species being planted, especially in lower altitudes. However, Gaddis were largely left out of many joint forest management schemes mainly because of their migratory practice and were consulted in a “token fashion” for compensatory afforestation for hydroelectric projects in high altitudes. 

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Amit Jethwa case: A ray of hope for slain RTI activists

July 7, 2019
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Law
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Amit Jethwa was shot dead for opposing illegal mining  Source: Jignesh Jethva/Wikicommons

Conviction of former BJP MP Dinu Solanki and six others in murder of Right To Information (RTI) activist Amit Jethwa is a victory of Indian justice system. The country has seen 83 murders and 165 assaults on RTI activists since the Act came into force in 2005, says the mapping exercise being done by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). In this scenario, the conviction in Amit Jethwa case holds out hope for many families of activists killed over seeking information

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Amit Jetwa case: Can we expect a fair probe?

October 12, 2012
|
Law
|
By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Amit Jethwa was shot dead for opposing illegal mining  Source: Jignesh Jethva/Wikicommons

Khamba is a small village on the edge of Amreli district in the south east region of Gujarat. Proximity to the coastline and world famous Gir forest in neighbouring Junagarh district underscores the need for environment protection of the region

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Barter by the beel

March 29, 2014
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Grassroots
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By: 
Usha Dewani
Eatables laid out for exchange at Jon beel mela

This was my first time here. I had heard of this festival, perhaps the only existing one in India, where barter takes place at such a scale. Jon Beel mela in Jon Beel, Jagiroad Assam- a historic festival where people from the hills and plains come together for a unique exchange of goods and agricultural produce near a moon-shaped wetland. A place of extremes, of new and old, rustic and modern. The annual three-day festival has been celebrated since the 15th century at the end of Magh Bihu.First held under the aegis of the King of the erstwhile Gova kingdom, 

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Camel milk inspires hope for herders

November 7, 2020
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Grassroots
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By: 
Manu Moudgil
Fresh camel milk in Kutch region of Gujarat. Photo from Sahjeevan.

India’s camel population has declined by 37 percent over the last seven years because it’s no longer needed for transport or farming. Camel milk, found to be a healthier option for people with diabetes and those with food allergies, can be the source of sustenance for camel rearers. Several small dairies and Amul are selling camel milk and its products to city clientele, but low awareness, lack of bulk milk coolers and shrinking pastures for grazing are the limitations that need to be addressed for this dairy segment to flourish

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Covid 19: Pastoralism under shadows of fear

September 23, 2020
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Grassroots
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Herders faced hardships during lockdown. Pic: Anu Verma and Biren Nayak

Nomadic herders, whose livelihood depends on livestock, travel in search of pasture land. There are communities whose journeys start every year and pass through traditional routes through different regions. They stop at fixed places where people accept them and allow their herds to camp on their farms in exchange of manure. The lockdown disturbed everything. They had to divert routes and spend more time and energy working out where they could move

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Covid-19: Sex workers battle stigma, hunger

August 16, 2020
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Grassroots
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By: 
Soujanya Rangawar
Kareena Kapoor played a sex worker in movie Chameli.

Sexual interactions run contrary to physical distancing norms required to avoid contracting coronavirus thus unconditionally stalling source of livelihood of sex workers. In India, sex work is criminalised and stigmatised putting these workers in the most vulnerable category, thus left behind in response to the pandemic by the government. They lack documents and bank accounts to avail of social welfare schemes and are also denied medical facilities

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Dalits embracing Buddhism need to go beyond politics 

July 16, 2017
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Grassroots
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By: 
Manu Moudgil
A Buddhist shrine with Ambedkar's portrait. Source: Akuppa John Wigwam/Flickr

The Dalits in modern India use initiation into Buddhism as a symbolic protest. Recently, around 180 families immersed the idols of Hindu deities and took to Buddhism after a violent clash with members of upper caste in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Last year, over 300 Dalits took deeksha in Gujarat after seven Dalits were flogged for skinning a dead cow. But does this action achieves its goal of social equality?

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Data protection bill: Ruse of security

July 10, 2020
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Law
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By: 
Anushka Sharma
Security agencies can easily spy on personal online information. Source: GOI Monitor

Indian government promised that it will come up with a robust data protection regime but the draft personal data protection bill tabled in Lok Sabha in December 2019 did not instill confidence. Experts pointed out that the bill grants exemptions to the government to collect personal data on grounds of prevention and detection of crimes, without any judicial oversight. The bill also proposes a government-controlled Data Protection Authority which was expected to be an independent regulator

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Deceived: The water carriers of Kangra

December 24, 2014
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Environment - Grassroots
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By: 
Manu Moudgil
The distance between community and its resource leads to disaster in the long run.

Man has always been on quest of building new things. Even when there were no big machines and qualified engineers, the world had expert builders who shaped the earth into various forms to meet needs of the society. Kuhls of Himachal Pradesh are one such example of engineering brilliance. Kuhl is name given to a channel which carries glacial melt through gravity from nearby streams to the fields thus making irrigation possible even on steep hills. Kangra valley has the most extensive network of kuhls dating as far back as 17th century.

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Down on her knees

June 25, 2013
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Law
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk

June 16 was 'Father's Day' and lovely quotes on fatherhood spilled over from mainstream media to facebook and twitter. June 16 was also the 'International Domestic Workers' Day' and it seems nobody really noticed. A few women workers with placards marched on the streets of Chennai seeking fixed minimum wages but then again nobody was really interested. As long as houses were cleaned, dishes done and kids put to bed there was not much trouble in the world. No matter how essential the services of domestic workers are, the reality is as harsh as the respect given to their profession.

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