-Livemint.com In the debate about Muslims and the uniform civil code, the idea of female choice is not considered, says Aakar Patel The upper-caste Gujarati version of bigamy is called maitri karar, meaning friendship document. Saying that people in Ahmedabad were “opting for it”, a 2013 report in India Today described it thus: “The document is in fact little more than a promise of friendship and companionship between a man and...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Scientists and academics have joined the chorus of protest against what they say is the systematic spread of intolerance and communal hatred in the country. They have expressed their concern in a petition addressed to the President, which they plan to post to his office in a day or two. About 135 scientists from leading academic and research institutions across the country and abroad have signed the...

-Livemint.com/ Bloomberg To join the global middle class, India must do much better Max Roser is at it again. The Oxford professor and master of economic data visualization has a new set of maps and charts showing how global income and inequality have changed during the last couple of centuries. The upshot is that while the world has gotten steadily richer that entire time, something very special and very good has...

-Hindustan Times The Supreme Court has decided to examine Islamic personal law to consider doing away with provisions biased against Muslim women, often victims of polygamy and the triple talaq system, a controversial move that may upset a section of the community that has resisted reform. A bench of justices AR Dave and AK Goel requested Chief Justice of India HL Dattu to constitute an appropriate bench and address the issue to...

-The Hindu Meerut: According to officials in the Lucknow police headquarters, over 100 people have been arrested and 25 cases filed in the last one week. Uttar Pradesh is on the boil again. In just about three weeks, there were as many as a dozen incidents of communal violence. Nine districts of the State, including urban areas like Kanpur, Mianpuri, Kannauj, Pratapgarhm, remained tense because of communal clashes during Durga idol immersion and...