Centre appoints Rakesh Asthana and 6 other as NHRC special monitor

Subject: Polity

Section: National body

Context: Center appoints Rakesh Asthana and 6 other as NHRC special monitor

More about the news:

The Centre has appointed seven special monitors, including former Delhi police commissioner Rakesh Asthana, for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The order, effective until September 22, 2025, designates Asthana to oversee thematic areas such as terrorism, counter-insurgency, communal riots, and Left-wing extremism.
Other appointees will focus on areas like cybercrime, artificial intelligence, environment, climate change, human rights, elementary education, literacy, water sanitation, public health, healthcare, mental health, HIV/AIDS, spurious drugs, diagnostics, labs, livelihood, skilling, and employment.
Asthana, a retired IPS officer with diverse experience, previously served in the CBI and faced controversy during a feud with the agency’s then director Alok Verma.

Some facts about NHRC:

The National Human Rights Commission is a statutory body established under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
The Commission is the watchdog of human rights in the country
The Commission is a multi-member body consisting of a chairperson and five members.
The chairperson should be a retired chief justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court.
Members should be a serving or retired judge of the Supreme Court, a serving or retired chief justice of a high court and three persons (out of which at least one should be a woman) having knowledge or practical experience with respect to human rights.
The chairperson and members are appointed by the President on the recommendations of a six-member committee consisting of –
- Prime Minister as its head
- Speaker of the Lok Sabha
- Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
- Leaders of the Opposition in both the Houses of Parliament
- Central Home Minister
The chairperson and members are appointed for the term of 3 years or till the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier.
The chairperson and members are eligible for reappointment.
The Commission also has five Specialized Divisions i.e. Law Division, Investigation Division, Policy Research & Programmes Division, Training Division and Administration Division.