What can India and the world expect if Narendra Modi, the self-styled “Hindu nationalist” who is front-runner in the elections, ends up winning a plurality of seats when results are declared on May 16? The conventional answer is that this depends less on the man and what he represents, than on the scale of his victory. If he … Continue reading If Narendra Modi wins – Siddharth Vardarajan
Anticipating stronger resistance from left-wing rebels after the formation of a separate state, the elite anti-naxal force Greyhounds, had developed “alternative permanent operational bases” outside Telangana, a senior security official told The Hindu . The operational difficulties faced by the forces to carry out encounters inside Maoist areas led to the development of such bases, he said. They would help States such as Chhattisgarh, Odisha … Continue reading Anticipating Telangana, Greyhounds formed alternative bases – Suvojit Bagchi
Does the presence of disability mean the absence of rights? Divya Sreedharan reports on how hysterectomies are often forced on disabled women. Farheena was just 10 and a half when she attained puberty. Doctors asked her mother Farida Rizwan to do a hysterectomy on Farheena. To stop her periods. Because Farheena is a special needs child — she has cerebral palsy. “I was told the … Continue reading The silenced wombs
Much like the space it aims to protect, India’s cyber security policy, launched this week, is characterised by a striking duality of purpose. On the one hand, it seeks to guard, and thus strengthen, the country’s strategic assets and online intelligence infrastructure. On the other, it hopes to secure the transactions of citizens, companies and public services on the web. The latter, more enabling goal … Continue reading Protect, don’t snoop
“ Tribal schoolteacher Soni Sori and her relative, journalist Lingaram Kodopi, have been denied bail by Chhattisgarh High Court in the Essar Steel case on Monday. Rejecting the bail petition, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra of Chhattisgarh High Court said that “on basis of the seriousness of the evidence,” the bail petition had been rejected. Activists, associated with campaigns to free Ms. Sori, were perhaps expecting … Continue reading Soni Sori, Lingaram Kodopi denied bail by Chhattisgarh High Court – Suvojit Bagchi
The idea of retribution currently holds our nation in thrall, but there are also other, gentler voices that speak of mercy and justice, not for revenge but for deterrence, and of the possibility of reformation. This is a season for public rage, India’s winter of vengeance. Two men were hanged in quick succession for grave acts of terror. Others — forest brigands, assassins, and serial … Continue reading Love in Times of Slaughter – HARSH MANDER
Riots under BJP rule are the culmination of the Sangh Parivar’s ideological impulse to keep communal tensions alive while for Congress they are tactical instruments Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh’s decision to accord a prominent role to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is presumably based on the belief that the diverse Indian electorate would forgive him for the communal mayhem of 2002, as … Continue reading Why memories of Gujarat 2002 stay? – Ajaz Ashraf
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