Even as the Supreme Court begins hearings in front of a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on “marriage equality”, and the Bar Council of India (BCI) requesting the Apex Court to  leave the issue  for “legislative consideration” i.e., to Parliament, as the hearing would be treated as being against the culture and social religious ethos, a civil society report has insisted that “queer and transgender persons ought to be given the right to have a chosen family not defined by marriage, birth or adoption alone.” Based on a closed door testimony of 31 persons – 23 of them Hindus – the  report , "Apnon ka Bahut Lagta Hai (Our Own Hurt Us the Most)”, published by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties PUCL and the National Network of LBI (Lesbian, Bisexual, Intersex) Women and Transpersons, explores the lives of queer and trans persons amidst continued invocation of ‘sanskar’ (morality) by the state in defence of heterosexual mar...

  In a surprise revelation, India’s top Right to Information (RTI) body, Central Information Commission (CIC), has stated it does not have data on the number of RTI applications and first appeals filed in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in the past four years. The revelation comes following Irfan Banka, founder, J&K RTI Foundation, an advocacy group, sought details through an RTI plea.

  Amidst raging controversy over the top children's product Bournvita's allegedly misleading information on claims of "improved brain activity, improved muscles, improved immune system and improved bone health", a spokesperson of the Cadbury's one of the most well-known brands has said, over the last seven decades it "has earned the trust of consumers in India." Insisting that by being a scientifically formulated product that "adheres to the highest quality standards and complies with all the laws of the land", Bournvita, "concerned by a recent unscientific video on social media that went abnormally viral", the spokesperson said, the video distorts facts and makes "false and negative inferences" about its "safety and efficacy". Stating that the video (now withdrawn) presenter's comments "are not based on science and were designed to drive anxiety and fear among our loyal consumers by misrepresenting the fa...

  Despite the Odisha government's efforts to create clean and hygienic villages, a recent survey conducted by the Atmashakti Trust, along with its allies Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha, has revealed significant deficiencies in basic infrastructure, including damaged tube wells, lack of soak pits, absence of drainage facilities, inadequate cement concrete (CC) roads, and poor toilet facilities.

Despite the Odisha government claimed efforts to transform the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) through anganwadis, their non-availability in tribal-dominated districts, lack of adequate infrastructure, and lack of its implementation pose a significant challenge to achieving holistic development among children, pregnant and lactating women in rural Odisha.

Launching the “The Status of Policing in India Report 2023” ( SPIR 2023 ), whose theme is surveillance and privacy, Justice (Retd) J Chelameswar, a former Supreme Court Judge, said in his keynote address that only a robust privacy law can determine if the data of private citizens is being collected for the public good.