POLITICAL activists, who are part of a peaceful demonstration that the government declares as unlawful, may soon find themselves as part of a massive database that the government wishes to construct. The database, called the ‘National DNA Data Bank’ will contain the DNA profiles for a range of Indian citizens and ostensibly will be used to tackle crime and to trace or identify people for various reasons. You are likely to be part of the database if you are in minor violation of the Motor Vehicle Act.

LADY Justice is depicted as blindfolded, but is she blind and without any bias? Not always. A recent empirical study of convicts on death row confirms the fact that the capital punishment in India is reserved for the poor and the marginalised. While the poor get gallows, the rich mostly escape. According to a study, three-fourths of those given death penalty in the past one-and-a-half decades belonged to the backward classes and religious minorities.

THE mind numbing atrocities perpetrated on dalits in different parts of India have been continuing unabated. The main reason for this is the stranglehold of wealthy `high castes’ of our society in rural and urban areas. The protection they get from the ruling classes and the administration is another important factor. The failure of the redressal mechanism is a very crucial reason in the emboldening of the upper caste mafia.

A COMMEMORATIVE meeting on the seventh death anniversary of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, freedom fighter, CPI(M) former general secretary and a communist leader of international repute, was organised at Bhakna Bhawan, Chandigarh jointly by Daily Desh Sewak, Bhakna Bhawan Trust and Virsa Sambhal Prasar Kendar on August 1.

Adivasis from Every Region of the Country Join HandsTo Protest Modi Govt's Attack on their RightsFOR the first time since the Modi government was elected to power in May 2014, adivasis from across the country assembled at Mavlankar Hall, New Delhi, in the Adivasi Adhikar Sangharsh Sammelan on August 5.The convention organised jointly by the  Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch, Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Mahasabha, Bharat Jan Andolan and Campaign for Survival and Dignity was attended by representatives from more than eighteen states.More than a thousand people gat