SUPREME Court Collegium – a body constituted by the judges for the judges and of the judges, is once again in news for all the wrong reasons. On January 10, 2019, Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde, N V Ramana and Arun Mishra decided to…
Read more
IT was amusing to see a Minister of Uttar Pradesh Government claim that the law and order situation in the State had improved after the Adityanath government took over. The statement, coming a couple of days after the brutal killing of a policeman in Gazipur by an unruly mob, is bizarre and shameful, especially considering that…
Read more
THE BJP, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, boast of executing a masterstroke by announcing 10 per cent extra reservation for economically weaker sections without tinkering with the quotas of the SCs, STs and OBCs. Though Modi and the BJP leaders feel the party has managed to win the confidence of upper caste people, the fact…
Read more
Which of the saffron brotherhood’s legacies can be the most damaging for the country – the anti-Muslim sentiments which it routinely fosters or its weird “pseudo-science”? A measure of its animus towards the Muslims was evident in the glorification of a convicted killer, Shambhulal Regar, in a tableau brought out by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad…
Read more
MODI vs Who? This is the question often hurled at me by my friends who would, without an iota of doubt, qualify to be labeled as “bhakts” — as commonly understood in contemporary political parlance. As I am in the hopeless minority that’s still steadfastly secular, I often wonder as to why they continue to bear…
Read more
RECENTLY, Dr Shashi Tharoor — a senior Congress leader and the Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram — introduced a private member’s Bill No. 255/2018 titled ‘The Women’s Sexual, Reproductive and Menstrual Rights Bill, 2018’ in the Lok Sabha to amend certain legal provisions with the object to “emphasise on the agency of a woman in…
Read more
A few days ago, the newly formed Congress government in Rajasthan headed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, repealed a rule by the previous the BJP government, that prevented people without a secondary education from contesting Panchayat and other elections. A move that should have drawn universal applause, except from the usual suspects in the Sangh…
Read more
THE YEAR 2018 will go down in history as one of the most controversial and path-breaking years for the Indian Judiciary, especially that of the Supreme Court of India. While the year witnessed the landmark judgments in the form of decriminalisation of adult homosexual relations, and adultery, as well as the reiteration of the right to…
Read more
It has been 13 years since Sohrabuddin Anwarhussain Sheikh died. He was killed in an “encounter” with the Gujarat police, which is widely believed to be a case of “fake encounter”. He died on November 26, 2005 and since then his brother Rubabuddin has fought for justice. Rubabuddin filed a writ petition in the Supreme…
Read more
In an unusual gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to personally announce an increase in honorarium for scheme workers like anganwadi workers and accredited social health activists (ASHAs) on September 21, 2018. He even called it a “landmark increase in remuneration”. However, the increase turned out to be quite paltry in absolute terms. Anganwadi workers…
Read more
