On March 2, the Delhi high court granted bail to Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case registered against him in connection with a function organised to protest against the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Though Kanhaiya is free now, his personal liberty and freedom of thought may be hostage to the vague conditions for bai
I assume that you already have an Aadhaar number. After all, 98 crore Indians have it. Why won’t you? And if you haven’t, it is time. The Aadhaar bill cleared by parliament on March 16 provides for any agency, government or private, to use Aadhaar as proof of identity. Don’t be surprised tomorrow if you book a flight, railway or bus ticket, or buy a SIM card or apply for marri
The recent spate of violence in Haryana was terrifying. The uncontainable rage led to a virtual collapse of law and order in vast swaths of the state. Large-scale violence was witnessed including loss of human lives and that of public and private property. The sudden spread of mob violence marked by loot and arson recalled the memory of what had happened in Delhi in 1984 and in Ahmedabad in 200
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has always been a bastion of the left. Decades ago, people in power saw to it that JNU moved on the left beat. Recently, JNU students (and possibly some unidentified outsiders) chanted few slogans in favor of Afzal Guru who was hanged by the state. A furor ensued. Police arrested Kanhaiya Kumar, head of JNU students’ union and slapped sedition case agains
The recent statement from the liquor baron Vijay Mallya indicating he may not return to India at all has another bad news for banks which are putting efforts to
For over two and half years now, I have tried very hard to convince the Indian government to do something about the widespread prevalence of substandard drugs in the country. A recent report puts the number of substandard drugs as 1 in 7; an audit of the Armed Forces Medical Stores Depot by the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) shows that 1 in 4 locally procured drugs are substandard. Thi
We live in an ultraconnected world today, where a multitude of media – including the internet – and a host of channels crisscross, complement and supplement each other. If one of the streams is cut, the flow of communication seeps through parallel channels and reaches the audience it is intended for. Nevertheless, governments seem to think otherwise. As we have
Here is an anecdote of 2007 vintage. A well researched book on the history of Gujarat’s maritime trade with central Asia was being released. The small audience in the hall was largely made up of academics and some business leaders behind the trust that funded the research. Thus, the chief guest could put pressures of politics aside and speak from heart. “We, BJP and Congress, will k
Dear daughter, You asked me about the JNU episode the other day. For a nine-year-old, you seem quite concerned about the controversy, probably because it involves my alma mater. I thought it would be best to respond in a letter, which you can also read later when it wi
Students, faculty and staff drawn from all classes, castes, regions and religions make JNU a microcosm of the country. The institution reflects a rich diversity of cultures, languages and lifestyles prevailing in the country. JNU is a great leveller: Differences never translate into hierarchies. Students from Africa, Palestine, Middle East and other parts of the world add to the multicult
The arrest of JNU students under section 124A of the Indian penal code (IPC) for protesting against the execution of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru has kicked off a debate over the relevance of the colonial provision in a democracy. While it would not be tough to justify the arrests given the broad ambit of the law introduced by the British to deal with freedom fighters, it may not be eas
On the occasion of Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary, January 23, the Modi government de-classified 100 files relating to the great freedom fighter. Two days later, his grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose joined the BJP at a rally in Howrah, in the presence of party president Amit Shah. Bose then said, “I believe that it is only the BJP that can realise the vision of Netaji, Swami
When I sat down to write about my struggle of getting an admission in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), one thing clearly struck my mind: in this country the rules, regulations and laws are interpreted in such a negligent and covert manner that they could entail many possibilities of manipulation by public servants and administrators. One such manipulation of the law was played on me.
The supreme court is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) questioning the ban on entry of women of the reproductive age in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The PIL was filed in 2006 by Indian Young Lawyers’ Association in the midst of a raging controversy over temple authorities conducting ‘purification’ rituals and attempts being made to prosecute Kannada actress Jaimal
Now go and bury it,” said major general Ian Cardozo, then a major with the 5 Gorkha Rifles, during the 1971 Indo-Pak war that led to liberation of Bangladesh. He had accidently stepped on a mine that had blown one of his legs. Aware that the wound may spread fast and cause more damage he chopped off the mutilated leg using khukri and handed it over to his batman to bury it. He was operate
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where I spent a decade studying and researching history, is in the news all over again. I remember, in those days, a leading English language national daily would advertise itself as being an indispensable part of the breakfast served at JNU every mo
In 1991, the Reserve Bank of India had to open its vaults and allow 67 tonnes of gold to be airlifted out of India, which was pledged with different banks abroad to raise a loan of $600 million. The money was meant to save the country from defaulting on repayment of the IMF loan. Also, at that time, Delhi had foreign currency reserves to cover just three weeks of imports. The gol
Allowing only odd- and even-numbered cars on odd and even days respectively was one of the most disruptive policy interventions by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) . The success or failure of the 15-day pilot is argued with less evidence. The emotional tone is rather high when one talks about reduction of traffic and air pollution due to this formula. Though the pollution level remained constant, it r
In October last year, the Akhilesh Yadav government faced a major embarrassment when the Allahabad high court annulled the appointment of Anil Yadav as chairman of the UP public service commission. It was acting on a PIL that brought to light his criminal antecedents which had been suppressed by police. This, however, failed to stop Akhilesh’s penchant for placing people of his comm
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) finally confirmed on January 25 that 2015 was the warmest year since record-keeping began in the late 19th century. The confirmation came five days after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the UK Met Office released their data declaring that last year smashed a
