News Round-Up

Fast Track Courts for Tribal Land Rights

Jairam Ramesh, the  Minister of Rural Development has called for setting up of Fast Track Courts for speedy settlement of the land rights of tribals. Addressing the Conference of State Revenue Ministers on Modernisation of Land Revenue Records, he also called for the use of para-legals to assist in resolution of these cases, as done in Andhra Pradesh.  

India - The Worst Performer on Child Nutrition

India ranks last in a Save the Children study titled, The Nutrition Barometer: Gauging National Responses to Undernutrition, on state response to malnutrition among children. According to this report in Deccan Herald The study looked at a basket of parameters including national governments' political, legal and financial promises. The entire report is available here.

Gender Discrimination and Poverty in Bangladesh

Many scholars and activists have argued for long that respect for civil-political rights, most notably the principle of non-discrimination, have a vital role in the battle against poverty. Aryeh Neier, the former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in this critique of socio-economic rights argues that it is important to recognise how important civil-political rights are in dealing with economic and social inequities.

Such critics would be enthused by the findings of recent study published by the Human Rights Watch which argues that discriminatory personal laws, including unequal rights over marital property, in Bangladesh act as a key instrument of impoverishment among Bangladeshi women. This press release issued by the Human Rights Watch summarises the main findings of the report. The full report, in English and Bengali, can be downloaded from this page.