Visitors: 437 Who are Dalits? The Outcaste (Avarnas) within the varnashram 3000 years social oppression, political exploitation, economically deprived & culturally dominated. Menial job , service provider, facilitator, etc. Untouchables, asparshiya, depressed classes, harijans, etc. Officially known as Scheduled Castes (GoI Act, 1935) Another understanding on Dalits brings all the deprived groups SC, ST, OBC […]
Visitors: 301 The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International welcomes the release of the independent journalist and librarian Iván Hernández Carrillo on 19 February 2011, after almost eight years in prison. Hernández, like Héctor Fernando Maseda Gutiérrez who was freed on 12 February, has been allowed to remain in Cuba under a special […]
Visitors: 304 The international Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) are having an experts’ workshop in Colombo Sri Lanka on the 24th and 25th February to discuss pressing food security and water issues in the face of climate change. The workshop will bring together participants from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, […]
Visitors: 216 India-Pakistan relationship, already strained, due to the decades-long short-sighted governmental policies and their one-upmanship strategies, has been in a downward spiral, since the November 2008 Mumbai carnage. Instead of statesmanship, the same old defensive stance, worn-out rhetoric and mud-slinging have continued. Under these circumstances, it is highly unlikely that the situation will improve […]
Visitors: 271 The 19 February 2011 sees the second-month anniversary of the mass arrests which followed demonstrations against the results of the flawed presidential election of 19 December 2010. The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International calls again for the release from detention of the journalists Dimitri Bondarenko, Aleksandr Fiaduta and Pavel Severinets, […]
Visitors: 377 India is a common-law country, judgments by the Supreme Court of India and the various state-level high courts also form part of the law. Certain landmark decisions of the higher judiciary have had a strong impact on the state of environmental law in the country. In addition a new National Environment Policy was […]
Visitors: 287 The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International condemns the five- year sentence handed down on 14 February 2011 to blogger, poet and high school student Tal Al-Mallouhi on the charge of “divulging information to a foreign state”. No evidence has been provided for the charge against her, and PEN International believes that […]
Visitors: 423 The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International is pleased to note that the writer and journalist Héctor Fernando Maseda Gutiérrez was freed on 12 February 2011, after almost eight years in prison. Unlike the 18 others freed last year, who were all exiled to Spain as a precondition of their release, […]
Visitors: 348 The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International is seriously concerned about the continuous detention of journalist ‘Ali al-‘Abdullah, whose two-and-a-half year sentence for his dissident writings and peaceful opposition activities expired in June 2010. Abdullah now faces new charges of ‘disseminating false information’ for an article he wrote in prison. He appeared […]
Visitors: 326 The extension of the Internet into virtually every branch of social and economic activity has led to growing public policy interest and sometimes concern as to how the Internet is managed and whether there is adequate accountability-not least in terms of respect of applicable laws. This development contrasts with the technological and academic […]
Visitors: 226 When Mahatma Gandhi was requested to provide a message for a conference on human rights, Gandhiji said that the message should first be taken for human duties before taking for human rights. Obviously, rights and duties have to go together. Certainly, one cannot lay claims for right, if he would not match it […]
Visitors: 216 by Goldy M George Conflict in Interest: Planning, Commissioning and Development In the early 1950s India embarked on a program of planned industrial development. Borrowing planning concepts from the Soviet Union, the government tried to stimulate development through massive investment in the public sector, imposing a system of tight controls on foreign ownership […]
Visitors: 263 Maria Amelie, Russian-born writer and asylum seeker, was arrested and faces deportation from Norway after drawing attention to her situation in her book, Illegally Norwegian. The Norwegian PEN Centre has taken up her case and has issued the following Action Alert. Oslo, 13. January 2011 Writer detained, faces deportation On the evening of […]
Visitors: 292 Pinar Selek, writer, sociologist and founder of the Amargi Women’s Solidarity Cooperative, will be tried in Istanbul on 9 February 2011, on charges of which she has already been acquitted twice. If she is found guilty, she faces 36 years in prison. The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International is seriously […]
Visitors: 288 Recent events following the flawed presidential elections in Belarus have seen the continued detention, maltreatment and impending prosecution of a number of writers and journalists, including members of the Belarus PEN Centre. In response to this situation, the President of PEN International, John Ralston Saul, PEN’s International Secretary, Hori Takeaki, and the Chair […]
Visitors: 348 Shri K.G. Kannabiran, former President PUCL, eminent lawyer, writer and the most active civil liberties activist, passed away on December 30, 2010. One of the pillars of the civil liberties movement in the subcontinent has left us in the twilight of 2010. An irreparable loss that the civil liberties movement in the subcontinent […]
Visitors: 192 The undersigned from different oragniasatiosn and individuals made a protest before the only official unit for Chattsigarh state; that was a tourist information center and having an information officer for the same on 31st December 2010. We assembled in front of their office (AE-324, Salt Lake City, Sector- 1, Kolkata- 700064) and made […]
Visitors: 222 The undersigned from different oragniasatiosn and individuals made a protest before the only official unit for Chattsigarh state; that was a tourist information center and having an information officer for the same on 31st December 2010. We assembled in front of their office (AE-324, Salt Lake City, Sector- 1, Kolkata- 700064) and made […]
Visitors: 194 1 January 2011 People’s Union for Civil Liberties, strongly condemns Gujarat Government’s campaign of calumny against and attempt to frame under false charges human rights defender Teesta Setlavad, of Citizens of Justice and Peace, lawyer M.M. Tirmizi, victims survivors of Lunwada massacre and media person Rahul Singh for exposing Gujarat Police’s callousness and […]
Visitors: 191 1 January 2011 People’s Union for Civil Liberties, strongly condemns Gujarat Government’s campaign of calumny against and attempt to frame under false charges human rights defender Teesta Setlavad, of Citizens of Justice and Peace, lawyer M.M. Tirmizi, victims survivors of Lunwada massacre and media person Rahul Singh for exposing Gujarat Police’s callousness and […]
Visitors: 266 31 January, 2011-In the wake of the welcome and peaceful move towards democracy in Tunisia, PEN International notes with great concern the violent response to antigovernment protests elsewhere in the region, notably Egypt, but also in Yemen. “PEN International warmly welcomes the democratic developments in Tunisia,” said John Ralston Saul, President of PEN […]
Visitors: 283 We have been listening and reading about Dr Sen’s court decision since the day it has been pronounced. But since the original decision is in Hindi and is 92 pages long, hence many would be possibly have got the opportunity to read and understand it. I hope, u appreciate the fact that the […]
Visitors: 256 Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) strongly condemn the judicial verdict of rigorous life imprisonment against Dr. Binayak Sen. By this act Indian state and its machineries again prove their scant respect for humanitarian laws and its international obligations for the same. Binayak’s conviction challenged the judiciary and its related components, such as, investigation, […]
Visitors: 219 Within a few years of the independence of Bangladesh, the dreams and aspirations of the leaders of the freedom movement were shattered with murder of the founder of the nascent nation. Autocratic military rule replaced democracy, and religious, cultural and political intolerance began to flourish. Recently, however, some bold changes have been initiated […]
Visitors: 325 The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International (WiPC) protests the continuing detention of Jean-Claude Kavumbagu, editor of the online press agency Net Press, who was arrested on 17 July 2010. He is charged with treason on the basis of an article in which he suggested that the Burundian security forces would not […]