27 March 2002
The Washington Post
By Rama Lakshmi
NEW DELHI, March 26 – The Indian Parliament passed a tough and controversial anti-terrorism bill today in a rare joint session of the body’s two houses, turning aside protests by opposition members that the bill undermines civil rights and could be used to target the country’s 140 million Muslims.

The law, championed in the raucous session by the Hindu nationalist government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, gives the police broad powers to detain and try terror suspects, intercept their telephone and Internet communications and clamp down on their funding. Authorities have been exercising such powers by decree since October and now will get them permanently.

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India Passes Tough Anti-Terror Law Measure Gives Police Broad Powers; Critics Fear Its Use Against Muslim MinorityRead More »

3-9 November 2001
Economic and Political Weekly; Vol. XXXVI No. 44
by A. G. Noorani
Has the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) made a significant impact on the state of human rights in India? Is it at all relevant to the Kashmiri who has to bear the brunt of systematic custodial deaths, encounters, disappearances and other forms of brutal repression. The South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre has published a much-needed audit of the NHRC’s work.

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Audit of Human RightsRead More »

26 October 2001
Times News Network THE TIMES OF INDIA
By Akshaya Mukul
New Delhi: After eight years of operation the inherent weaknesses of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and its originating legislation are becoming increasingly evident, says the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) and its report “Judgement Reserved: The Case of the NHRC”, Finalized last

Month and submitted to the commission, the report is highly critical of the home ministry for “displaying intransigence…with regard to recommendations submitted by the NHRC.”

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Home Ministry hampering NHRC work, says ReportRead More »

1 September 2001
The Washington Post
DURBAN, South Africa, Aug. 31 — Representatives of 166 nations gathered here today to launch an ambitious UN conference on combating racism and discrimination. But divisions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict threatened to undermine the meeting, and conference organizers pleaded with participants not to let that happen.

Welcoming the delegates, South African President Thabo Mbeki spoke confidently of their common resolve to “ensure that every human being leads a life of dignity,” and that no one should be “despised” or impoverished, denied statehood or turned into a “permanent refugee,” simply “because they are not white.”

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U.N. Conference On Racism Opens; Despite Leaders’ Calls For Unity, Mideast Divisions DominateRead More »

30 August 2001
Le Monde
Françoise Chipaux
LE MONDE | 30.08.01 | 12h50
NEW DELHI de notre correspondante en Asie du Sud “Basé à Delhi, un Dhiman brahmane cherche alliance pour son fils”; “Cherche un Gautam kshatriya au teint clair”; “Union avec un élégant garçon jat”… Toutes les castes, y compris les “intouchables”, qu’on appelle en Inde dalit (défavorisé) et qui sont classés comme “castes répertoriées” (scheduled castes), ont leur colonne dans les annonces matrimoniales du dimanche. La caste reste en Inde l’appartenance première et l’abolition de l’intouchabilité, en 1950, par la première Constitution de l’Inde indépendante, n’a pas changé grand-chose dans les faits.

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En Inde, les “intouchables” ont survécu à un dispositif légal quasi completRead More »

29 August 2001
http://www.npr.org
In India’s crowded cities, where you can’t help but rub up against strangers, it’s possible to be an “untouchable,” and yet go largely unnoticed — and unhated. It’s a different story in the villages, however. There, where the majority of the population still lives, India’s ancient caste system still holds sway. Many villages are strictly segregated by caste, and the untouchables — or Dalits — are often forbidden to drink from upper-caste wells or to worship at their temples.

Gandhi called them the Harijan — or God’s children. More than 50 years ago, India outlawed discriminating against them. Nearly 20 percent of the seats of India’s parliament are reserved for them. Government jobs and places in India’s schools are also reserved for them. Despite all this, discrimination still persists.

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An Untouchable Subject? Indian Government Wants Caste System off U.N. AgendaRead More »