RTI Act a weapon for Adivasi women
Speaking at a virtual awareness programme, she noted that women in tribal regions often face challenges due to illiteracy and lack of awareness and access to information. However, by identifying and training active and enthusiastic tribal women, it is possible to cultivate a culture of questioning and creating awareness.
She explained that once equipped with knowledge of the RTI Act, these women could play a key role in solving local issues by helping others access critical information.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
31 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Protection against misuse: on POCSO Act, adolescent sex
The key objective of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 is the protection of children, but over the past few years, courts around the country and rights activists have called for some exemptions. Noticing a trend that adolescents, above 15 years but under 18, in voluntary relationships and having consensual sex were often being persecuted, the courts sought a review. In that backdrop, senior advocate Indira Jaising's written submission to the Supreme Court that consensual sex between teenagers aged 16-18 years must not be criminalised is a welcome move. She was appointed amicus curiae and her submissions are part of a petition filed by advocate Nipun Saxena. Her brief challenged the designation of 18 years as the age of consent. She said the only solution lies in declaring that sex between consenting adolescents between the age of 16, an almost universal age of sexual maturity, and 18, is not a form of 'abuse'. Ms. Jaising called for this exception to be read into the POCSO Act and Section 63 (sexual offences), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). 'Such an exception would preserve the protective intent of the statute while preventing its misuse against adolescent relationships that are not exploitative in nature,' she said. In a 2023 report, the Law Commission had said that it was against changing the age of consent. It advised 'guided judicial discretion' instead, while sentencing in cases that involve children between 16 and 18 years in a voluntary, consensual relationship. Under the POCSO Act and under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the BNS, whoever commits a penetrative sexual assault on a child — who is anyone below 18 years — can face stringent punishment under Section 6 of the POCSO Act, Section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, and provisions of the IPC and BNS. A 16-year-old is considered a 'child' under Section 2(d) of the POCSO Act and hence her consent does not matter. But caveats have to be put in place so that the broad intent of the law is adhered to, as the Madras High Court suggested in 2021, in Vijayalakshmi vs State Rep. The High Court said the age difference in consensual relationships should not be more than five years to ensure that a girl of an impressionable age is not taken advantage of by an older person. Educating adolescents about the law on sexual offences and its consequences is a must too. Criminalising normal adolescent behaviour is not the way to protect against non-consensual, exploitative sexual offences.
Time of India
34 minutes ago
- Time of India
New Income Tax bill gives no new search powers, eases compliance: Baijayant Panda
The new income-tax bill does not grant any new powers to authorities on search and seizure, and significantly reduces ambiguities to make the common taxpayer's life easier, said Baijayant Panda , chairperson of the parliamentary select committee that revised the draft legislation. "We had very extensive interactions with the ministry.... I must say I found them open minded. A vast majority of the suggestions that the committee endorsed, they also agreed with," Panda told ET in an interview. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Healthcare others Technology Cybersecurity Data Science Leadership MBA Product Management Data Science MCA Design Thinking Project Management Public Policy PGDM Degree Digital Marketing Operations Management Finance Artificial Intelligence healthcare Management Others CXO Data Analytics Skills you'll gain: Financial Analysis in Healthcare Financial Management & Investing Strategic Management in Healthcare Process Design & Analysis Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Certificate Program in Healthcare Management Starts on Jun 13, 2024 Get Details The panel submitted a 4,575-page report in Lok Sabha last Monday along with a draft bill with around 285 changes to the bill introduced by the government. It has suggested reinstating a provision on deduction in respect of inter-corporate dividends among substantive changes, while retaining the provisions related to search and seizures, on which the panel received multiple representations. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Treatment That Might Help You Against Knee Pain Knee pain | search ads Find Now Undo "There were multiple representations, all based on misunderstanding and misinformation," Panda said, adding that search and seizure provisions apply only to 0.01% of taxpayers. He said there were court judgements, internal circulars, and these could not be carried out subjectively, whimsically, or to target somebody. "Several criteria must be met for a search and seizure to be authorised and that's already well established in law," he said. Live Events The existing Act, he said, was written in 1961 when there were no computers. "But even then, the principle was clear that on a duly authorised search and seizure, if somebody is non-cooperative, like if they have a safe which they refuse to open, then the authorities are entitled to break a lock and access... The same principle has been extended to digital information," he said. "No new powers have been granted. It is exactly the same thing, just simplified," Panda said. He said the committee's mandate was not to change policy, not to change tax rates, not to change applicability of certain kinds of taxes or income, but to ensure that the underlying tax code is simple. "This is the first big bang major reform," he said. "Our committee had a very, very hard schedule. We were meeting on two full days every week for the last five months. And we had more than 125 hours of witness hearings and large numbers of written submissions from all over the country." Panda said he is hopeful about the bill getting passed in the monsoon session of parliament. On concerns about privacy, he said, "I think some of these concerns have been misrepresented in some sections..." On the philosophy behind substantive changes suggested, he said, the panel's mandate was clear that the bill should be easy to understand and easy to comply with, so that there are lesser disputes. "We must give credit to the ministry for reducing the word count by 50%, but the ultimate objective is not brevity, the ultimate objective is clarity," he said, adding that the panel in a handful of cases actually suggested going back to the original wording. "It's slightly longer, but it is clearer. For example, some of the charitable to us that... there is some ambiguity in the shortened wording, so we preferred to go back," he added. On revisiting certain definitions, he said in some cases, the definitions differed across ministries. "One of the suggestions is that MSME is now a well-understood concept. There is a separate act for it and the same guidelines can be used instead of having different guidelines for what is MSME," he said. Food for thought Panda said the panel received several suggestions on policy changes. "If you go through all the pages, these over 4,000 pages are not all the Act and report. It contains a lot of annexures with a lot of suggestions. They have given me a lot of food for thought. I am sure they have given food for thought to all the members of the committee and also to the government and others."
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
HC notice on woman's plea
Kendrapada: Orissa high court on July 21 issued a notice to Odisha Information Commission, state information commissioner, public information officer of the regulated market committee (RMC), Jajpur, and first appellate authority of RMC on a writ petition filed by Shantilata Sahoo, a resident of Jajpur district, challenging a decision of the information commissioner in an RTI case. The petitioner had moved the state information commissioner seeking details regarding disciplinary action taken against her husband, a former employee of RMC, under the RTI Act. Despite directions from the first appellate authority to provide full information, the RMC allegedly failed to comply. In its May 15 reply, the information commissioner said RMC is not a 'public authority' under the RTI Act, 2005, and hence not obliged to furnish the information sought. Challenging it, the petitioner, represented by advocate Akhand, moved the high court seeking to set aside the information commissioner's decision. In her writ petition, Sahoo argued that RMCs were established by the state govt under the Orissa Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1956, and hence fall within the definition of "public authority" under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. When the matter came up for hearing on July 21, Justice V Narasingh stated, "The counsel of the petitioner submits that without due application of mind, the appeal was dismissed. In such view of the matter, issue notice to all the four opposite parties."
