Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the government may also specify other conven-
tions to be included within the ambit of this term. Furthermore, this amendment
provided that the NHRC can inquire into complaints of violation of human rights
or negligence in the prevention of such violation by a public servant also ‘on a
direction or order of any court’.
To implement the newly inserted FR right to primary education under Article
21 A of the Constitution, the parliament enacted the Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education Act 2009 , which came into force on 1 April 2010.^89 Section 3
provides: ‘Every child of the age of six to fourteen years shall have a right to free and
compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary
education.’ Section 10 obligates every parent or guardian to admit his or her child
to elementary education in the neighbourhood school. Schools are also prohibited
from collecting any capitation fee and subjecting the child or his or her parents or
guardian to any screening procedure.
90
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) is another
landmark law that the government enacted in the last decade. The NREGA sought
to enhance the livelihood security of people in rural areas of the country by
providing ‘at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every
financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled
manual work’.
91
It also makes provision for a daily unemployment allowance if
the government fails to provide employment to an adult who is willing to work.
92
This law adopts a decentralised model of providing employment and encourages
government bodies to devise development schemes or projects that can generate
employment.
The Supreme Court inVishakav.State of Rajasthanhad recognised sexual
harassment of women in the workplace as a violation of FRs under Article 14 (the
right to equality), Article 19 ( 1 )(g) (the right to carry on any profession, trade or
business) and Article 21 (the right to life and liberty) of the Constitution.^93 The
court relied on international conventions ratified by India to lay down detailed
guidelines to prevent sexual harassment.^94 Although this judgment enhanced
awareness of the problem of sexual harassment, it might not have gone far in
preventing and redressing sexual harassment. More than a decade after theVishaka
(^89) The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of this law, under which the state
could require unaided private schools to reserve 25 per cent of seats for disadvantaged
sections of society, inSociety for Un-aided Private Schools of Rajasthanv.Union of India,
Writ Petition No 95 of 2010 ( 12 April 2012 ).
(^90) Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 , Section 13.
(^91) National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (Act No 42 of 2005 ), Long Title.
(^92) Ibid., Section 7.
(^93) AIR 1997 SC 3011. See alsoApparel Export Promotion Councilv.ChopraAIR 1999 SC 625.
(^94) AIR 1997 SC 3011 , para. 7.