violence against women - emerging laws
Indian legal system thus seems to have lagged behind in responding to VAW: even the recognition of the forms of VAW has been slow and meandering, leave alone passing of the laws.

Freedom from Gendered Fear
By Ruchira Goswami
Our aim should be to empower women and men so that they are able to fathom the true meanings of all forms of assaults, from touching to penetration. The need is to trace and react to each one of these violations. Civil liberty organizations, women's groups and the civil society at large will have to get going.

Fine-tuning of Vishaka
By Shruti Pandey
This report was prepared by the Tribal Research and Training Institute of Pune on the malnutrition related deaths of tribal children in Nandurbar District, Maharashtra.

War over Water
by Vinod Raina
The hornet's nest stirred by the Vishaka case has remained alive and kicking, much to the chagrin of some of the employers. The systematic preparation with which the women's organizations have come back to the Supreme Court in Medha Kotwal's petition, clearly promises a much bolstered law on sexual harassment at work place in the country.

To Bill Or Not To Bill
By Renuka Mukadam
The National Commission for Women (NCW), came up with a draft bill on Sexual Harassment, in 2001. Following strong criticism and recommendations from various groups, the NCW made a revised draft in 2003, called the Sexual Harassment of Women at their Work Place (Prevention) Bill, 2003. However, this draft too continues to have a lot of loopholes.

A Practical Guide
By Neeta Raymond
Sexual Harassment at work is an extension of violence in everyday life and is discriminatory, exploitative, thriving in atmosphere of threat, terror and reprisal. A guide to combat harassment at the workplace.

Punjab: Killing Her Softly
By MS Sharma
The adverse sex ratio in the State of Punjab is not a new phenomenon.The only difference which has surfaced now is that after the eighties it is due to foeticide whereas in the past infanticide was the main contributing factor.

Gender Cleansing
By Kalpana Kannabiran
Any enactment of national legislation on female feticide must take cognizance of its occurrence in radically new terms in order to effectively combat it, but more importantly to put an end to impunity, which is the hallmark of this practice today.

Kerala Trafficking Cases
By Sandhya Raju
In the recent past, three trafficking racket cases have rocked the ostensibly progressive state of Kerala. All these three cases reveal the insensitivity of the state machinery as well as the vulnerability of young gullible women, who were lured by promise of money, job, matrimony etc.

Domestic Violence Bill Fails To Deliver
By Shalini Singh
A critique of the Bill on domestic violence drafted by the Ministry of Human Resource in December 2001

The Girl Child's Tragedy
By Vaishali Sood
Present day India is witnessing an emergence of this evil practice with large scale child marriages being performed on auspicious occasions in many states of India. The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 is being totally violated.

Trafficking of Women: Confused Responses
By Roshni Basu
Any analysis that merely, or even largely focuses on trafficking as a law and order problem fails to draw adequate attention to the conditions of the trafficked persons.

Retirement Age of Air Hostesses
An extract from the judgement of the Supreme Court of India in the case Air India Cabin Crew v Yeshawinee Mechant and others.

Hired For Their Looks Alone
Extracts from the Common Written Submissions on behalf of the respondents no. 9 (in the Supreme Court of India civil appeal no 4570 of 2002.

Sterilisation - Punishing Women
By Vaishali Sood
The implementation of the guidelines on Standards of Female Sterilisation, prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare remain a dead letter. Sterilisations have been conducted on women much below the prescribed age limit of 22 years and authorities have concealed the real ages.

Campaign to End VAW
By Amnesty International
A summary outlining Amnesty International's plan for a global campaign on ending violence against women to be launched on 8 March, 2004.

New Zealand's Controversial Bill
The prostitution reform bill decriminalizes prostitution and provides specific protections.

Other issues:

Judiciary and polity

National Judicial Commission: Sinister Attack
By Ravi Kiran Jain
The great paradox behind the move to constitute the NJC is that the executive, whose image is more sullied for being in deep mire of "corruption", will play a vital role in the choice of Supreme Court and High Court Judges and in curbing "corruption" in the higher judiciary! The Bill has, by amending Articles 124 and 127, done away with the initiation, consultation and recommendation of the Chief Justices of High Courts.

Government's NJC Bill
Text of the amendment towards the formation of a National Judicial Commission, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 9 May, 2003

Saffronising the Judiciary
By Justice (Retd) H Suresh

The present bill does not say a word about transparency. It does not even provide for any independent selection process. It is being constituted for improper motives.

National Judicial Commission Bill
Prepared by the Committee on Judicial Accountability comprising prominent lawyers and Constitutional experts, this Bill is distinct from the official government Bill

Communalism

A Scream for Justice
By Mihir Desai
more sullied fInspite of being one of the few cases where the police has named the accused, the judgement in the Best Bakery case has led to further alienation and loss of faith in the judicial system.

Best Bakery Judgement

Toward A Uniform Civil Code

Adivasis

Tale of Terror and Loot
By Dharamveer and Pankaj
A fact-finding mission lays bare the exploitation of adivasis in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh where adivasis have been targetted by police and the administration

Common property resources

A Ruinous Mirage
By Prashant Bhushan
The proposal to interlink rivers is impractical, expensive and downright foolish

Sexual Harrasment of Women at their Workplace (Prevention) Bill,2003

The Protection From Domesic Voilence Bill

DV Bill - Recomendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resouce Development

The Pre - Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act, 2002