November-December
2006
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Vidarbha 2006
The conservative political parties will be compelled to compromise with the Maoists even at the risk of displeasing their US and Indian mentors. Or else, the tide will rise once again and completely wipe away the royal family and all the turncoats who are foolhardy enough to betray the April revolution
Seeds of Disaster
Suffering under crushing debt, farmers, including the huge majority of small farmers, are killing themselves in India. After 15 years of liberalisation, why are the burden-bearers of the Indian economy being driven to kidney sales, mass tragedy and death? Why are they victims of insensitive financial policies and ineffective rural governance? An in-depth look into the botched-up credit-debt system and agrarian crisis by Manmeet Bindra
Right to Information
Effectively unconstitutional when it comes to accountability of public servants, the proposed amendments in the Right to Information Act will take the life out of it
Judicial Activism
Courting Controversy
Is the increasing activism of the Indian judiciary endangering the vital democratic principle of separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary? Shruti Rajagopalan explores this contentious question, particularly in the context of environmental policies being influenced by the Supreme Court of India
Environment,Terribly Misjudged
In the 1990s, a sensitive judiciary examined environmental issues with serious concern, but if recent judgments are any indication, the courts seem to be heavily tilting in favour of ‘development’, forgetting its dangerous ecological cost.
Bibhu Prasad Tripathi examines some significant judgments of recent times
Night Editor’s
Word of Caution
Contemporary Indian media is uncritical and prejudiced and cares two hoots for professional standards of yesteryears. A cursory look at the coverage of a few sensitive issues of recent times, including those of Afzal Guru and the Mumbai blasts, reveals that the media wilfully discards journalistic ethics, often providing succour to Rightwing forces, writes Jawed Naqvi
In Defence of Afzal
The record of the trial court shows that Afzal Guru did not receive a fair trial. His case needs no embellishment, no falsehoods. The president should proceed on the basis of the evidence on record, argues Colin Gonsalves
The justice of
injustice
Afzal Guru’s hanging will reinforce the perception of two sets of legal norms prevalent in a society polarising fast on communal lines, says Ram Puniyani
This ban
means little
With 60 percent of all children estimated to be ‘absolutely poor’, and half of them below five and malnourished, India has the highest number of child labourers in the world. With such alarming statistics, Parul Sharma wonders, is the recent ban an eyewash?
Manual Scavenging
Nation’s Shame
Despite laws abolishing the inhuman practice of manual scavenging, over a million dalits in ‘superpower India’ are caught in a vortex of severe social and economic exploitation. Cleaning and carrying headloads of human excreta, these ‘night soil’ workers are condemned to live a daily life of filth and indignity, even while the Indian State behaves with stunning insensitivity, writes Sunil Kuksal
How many days must
a woman fast before
she’s free...
Six years of satyagraha. Sharmila continues her fast, in custody, confined to a room in AIIMS, writing poetry, reading books, doing yoga. The struggle against AFSPA continues. In Manipur and in Delhi. Harsh Dobhal follows Irom Sharmila’s resistance in Delhi as she prepares for another round of battle
Will AFSPA go the POTA way?
The Jeevan Reddy Committee seems least concerned about evolving a democratic mechanism to end the injustices stalking the northeast. It has instead recommended transfer of the most draconian provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, says KG Kannabiran
The Evil
is intact
The power to open fire and arrest a person on mere suspicion that he/she is likely to commit an offence is the extraordinary power that has led to extensive human rights violations in the northeast. The Jeevan Reddy Report leaves these powers intact on the premise that national security is of paramount importance and all else must be subject to it writes K Balagopal
This is FAKE...
The repeal of afspa
Suggesting amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Jeevan Reddy Committee Report, while reviewing AFSPA, is effectively suggesting the expansion of army rule to the whole country, writes Colin Gonsalves
The Mask
The battle against AFSPA is one for democracy. It must not be allowed to become a pretext for further shrinking of our democratic spaces. And this is precisely what the Jeevan Reddy Committee is trying to do, argues Manisha Sethi
How beautiful was my valley:
first person testimonies of
alienation and despair
It was once conferred the beautiful title of “the jewel of India” by the Jawaharlal Nehru. It is like a precious gift of god, a valley surrounded by nine hills.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
The Act, at last, provides much-needed succour to the victims of domestic violence,
reports Sandhya Sivakami
Amending Criminal Procedure Act
A closer look at the CrPC reveals many loopholes. Cosmetic changes to important aspects of law, Vijay Hiremath points out, end up doing more harm than any good
Reform the Police
If the police force is made entirely free from political control, the situation may worsen since they will not be answerable to anybody
Out here, the line is blue
The second UN security council resolution on Lebanon is clearer than the one adopted in 1978 that established the UNIFIL. But will it translate into effective peace in an intensely volatile region, especially in the backdrop of Hezbollah’s rise as a strong military force, asks Ray Murphy
The next
hate lab
Even as State patronage fuels overt and covert violence against minorities in Orissa, the Hindutva poison is fast spreading across the interiors. Tanweer Fazal reviews a report on this hate campaign
It’s criminal to sell a book on Bhagat Singh
Daanish Books publisher Sunita Kumari was harassed and interrogated by the police in Maharashtra. What’s uncanny is that none of the books have been banned.
Suresh Nautiyal reports on this brazen assault on freedom of expression
Acid Attack
A judgment on the attack on Haseena in Bangalore exposes entrenched male perversity, says Sheela
Count the Zero
Global warming. Climate change. The four seasons of predictable, relentless, human-induced heat. Nuclear explosions. Axis of Evil. Weapons of Mutual Destruction. And war. Occupation. Bombings. Gunpowder. Cluster bombs. Missile attacks. Civil war. The heat of war. The dogs of war.
This is also the season of hangings. The music of hang him, hang him, like the high-pitched, hyperbole of patriotic, catharsis. Almost spiritual. The hangings of the ‘M’s: Afzal, Saddam.
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