NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIA in different parts of the country resulting in loss of many lives; rape and death in police and judicial custody; violation of human rights of prisoners in jails; illegal detention and torture; deaths in encounter; deaths due to electrocution; delay in payment of pension to retired employees; lack of educational facilities and basic amenities like drinking water, toilet, safe building and infrastructure in schools; children falling ill after consuming mid-day meals in schools; dubious functioning of IVF clinics; sexual assault, rape and trafficking of children and women; killing of persons on allegations of practicing witchcraft; suicide by farmers; enticing children for begging; stray dog menace; pesticides in vegetables and fruits; botched up cataract surgery; separate anganwadis for children of dalits; poor facilities in Primary Health Centres resulting in death of new born babies; increasing incidents of missing children; and atrocities against vulnerable sections like the Scheduled Castes(SCs), Scheduled Tribes(STs), Minorities, Other Backward Classes(OBCs), children, women, disabled and the elderly. In all these, apart from making some important interventions by way of issuing directives to the concerned State Governments and sending its own teams from the Investigation Division for conducting on the spot inquiries, the Commission also recommended the payment of monetary relief to the victims whose rights were violated or their next-of-kin (NOK) along with furnishing of proof of payments. 1.7 The Commission has always been sensitive to the concerns of vulnerable sections of the society, particularly Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). In its endeavour to implement the recommendations made by Shri K.B. Saxena, IAS (Retd.) in the report submitted by him after carrying out a study about the atrocities against persons belonging to Scheduled Castes, on the request of the Commission, Camp Sittings/Open Hearings of the Commission are being held in different States and Union Territories of the country. During the period under review, the Commission took up 517 cases in its 4 Open Hearings held at Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat- 136 cases (26 -27 April, 2018), Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh - 57 cases (25 May, 2018),Bengaluru, Karnataka-184 cases (2 August, 2018), Kolkata, West Bengal - 140 cases (13 -14 December, 2018). 1.8 This Annual Report for the year 2018-2019 deals with the issues pertaining to civil and political rights including deaths in police/judicial custody, illegal detention, high handedness of police, death in police encounters etc. The Report also focuses on economic and social rights, such as rights relating to health care including mental health care, Right to Food, Right to Education, Rights of vulnerable groups including women, children, disabled and elderly persons, rescue, release and rehabilitation of bonded and child labourers. 1.9 The Commission also explored areas of cooperation and coordination between NHRC and State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs) for protecting and promoting human rights. In addition, the NHRC continued to spread human rights literacy among various sections of society including key stakeholders like the judicial officers,police personnel, government officials, media persons, representatives of non-governmental and civil society organizations, and university and college students through its comprehensive training and internship programmes, publications, seminars, workshops, consultations and other available means. 1.10 These issues have been detailed out in different chapters of the Annual Report for the year 2018-2019. 2 ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19