International Human Rights Movements and Protection of Women's Rights

This thesis is an attempt to explore the problems faced by Indian Women and to examine the ways in which the human rights of women could be better protected in the light of international movements with special reference to national legislation and judicial decisions.The evolution of human rights from early period to Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 is traced in the first chapter. The second chapter deals with the evolution of human rights in India. The evolution of fundamental rights and directive principles and the role played by the Indian Judiciary in enforcing the human rights enumerated in various international instruments dealing with human rights are also dealt with in this chapter. The rights guaranteed to women under the various international documents have been dealt with in the third chapter.It is noticed that the international documents have had their impact in India leading to creation of machinery for protection of human rights. Organised violations of women's rights such as prostitution, devadasi system, domestic violence, sexual harassment at workplaces, the evil of dowry, female infanticide etc. have been analysed in the light of existing laws and decisional jurisprudence in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter analyses the decisions and consensus that emerged from the world conferences on women and their impact on the Indian Society and Judiciary. The constitutional provisions and legislative provisions protecting the rights of women have been critically examined in the sixth chapter. Chapter seven deals with various mechanisms evolved to protect the human rights of women. The eighth chapter contains conclusions and suggestions.

Performance of hybrid rebars as longitudinal reinforcement in normal strength concrete

A/though steel is most commonly used as a reinforcing material in concrete due to its competitive cost and favorable mechanical properties, the problem of corrosion of steel rebars leads to a reduction in life span of the structure and adds to maintenance costs. Many techniques have been developed in recent past to reduce corrosion (galvanizing, epoxy coating, etc.) but none of the solutions seem to be viable as an adequate solution to the corrosion problem. Apart from the use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) rebars, hybrid rebars consisting of both FRP and steel are also being tried to overcome the problem of steel corrosion. This paper evaluates the performance of hybrid rebars as longitudinal reinforcement in normal strength concrete beams. Hybrid rebars used in this study essentially consist of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) strands of 2 mm diameter wound helically on a mild steel core of 6 mm diameter. GFRP stirrups have been used as shear reinforcement. An attempt has been made to evaluate the flexural and shear performance of beams having hybrid rebars in normal strength concrete with and without polypropylene fibers added to the concrete matrix