Social Activist Kailash Satyarthi to get 2009 Defender of Democracy Award in U.S

October 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) organized a day-long workshop on Human Rights Defender to mark its foundation day in the national capital on Monday. Addressing the inaugural session as the Chief Guest, former Chief Justice of India and former Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Dr.

October 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Spiritual leader and 'Art of Living' founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been conferred with the 'Culture in Balance' Award for 2009 by the World Culture Forum in Germany for promoting culture. "Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was conferred with the award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to all facets of culture, and for his commitment to global cultural balance," according to a statement by the Art of Living foundation here Sunday.

August 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Social activist Deep Joshi, who was named for the coveted Ramon Magsaysay Award for his work for the development of rural communities, has expressed his delight on winning the award. Joshi, who has management and engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was cited for decades of development work in rural India, and founding a non-profit organization, "Pradan" that recruits university graduates and grooms them to do grassroots projects in poor communities.

June 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday urged the Central Government to take up with their Nepalese and Chinese counterparts the rescue of the stranded pilgrims to Kailash Mansarover. According to reports, hundreds of pilgrims, who are on their way to Kailash Mansarover, have been stranded in Nepal following a road blockade near the Tibetan border.

May 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - An NGO here will head a child rights legal aid cell and work closely with various government departments to uphold the rights of children and punish violators of these rights. The All India Legal Aid Cell will be run by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the Delhi Legal Services Authority.

May 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A survey conducted by child rights organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan Wednesday said around 80 percent candidates contesting elections this Lok Sabha polls do not have child welfare or Right to Education on their priority list. Bachpan Bachao Andolan carried out the survey after scanning the campaign speeches of 476 candidates.

April 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Hundreds of parents whose children have been missing for years held a protest against the apathy of politicians here Friday to highlight the issue ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Under the aegis of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, the parents gathered at the Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital, chanting slogans and carrying placards that read 'Give us justice and you get our vote', 'Vote for people who save children' and 'Get back the missing children'.

April 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - As many as 960 people were selected after a computerised draw here Tuesday to undertake the pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in China later this year in 16 batches of 60 pilgrims each. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon conducted the draw for the pilgrimage, applications for which were invited through advertisements in the media.

February 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Renowned author and activist Arundhati Roy Friday called for a fight for 'a democracy where killings are not celebrated or awarded'. 'Not only Muslims but tribals and anyone who raises his/her voice against the powerful is killed.

February 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Alifiya Khan, 24, has won the third Anupama Jayaraman Memorial journalism award for exposing loopholes in the country's healthcare system with a series of investigative articles. The award consists of a citation and a cash award of Rs.15,000.

February 17th, 2009 MUMBAI - Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan have been bestowed with first FICCI-IIFA's 'Most Powerful Entertainers of the Decade' awards here. The two were among the 10 stars who have been felicitated with the 'Most Powerful Entertainers of the decade' award at the ongoing annual FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry)-Frames exposition on media and entertainment industry.

February 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Next time you go shopping and are looking up fancy bags and shoes, remember these may be products of labour of hapless children - like the 35 rescued Tuesday from the capital's leather factories. Aged between seven to fourteen, these children were trafficked from their homes mostly in the Saharsa and Darbhanga districts of Bihar.

February 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - RTI activists have demanded that jottings on official files, or 'file notings' as they are called, should be revealed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. Subhash Chandra Agrawal, an RTI activist, says the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the government's nodal department dealing with issues relating to the RTI Act, has said that 'file notings' are not information under the act although the Central Information Commission (CIC) maintains otherwise.

January 29th, 2009 MUMBAI - Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor will be honoured by the Rotary Club for being the youngest achiever of the film industry. She will be given the Vocational Excellence Award by Bansi Dhurandhar Feb 1 here at the Grand Hyatt, Santacruz.

January 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Delhi Police Monday rescued four girls from Sikkim, aged around 12, in two raids in south Delhi's East of Kailash locality and arrested a woman and the owner of a placement agency. The police received information Sunday that three minor girls kidnapped from Sikkim have been kept in Garhi area in East of Kailash.