Let down by governments that curb free speech, we have become our own hecklers In free speech jurisprudence, there is a concept called a “heckler’s veto”. It means the ability — but not the right — of a private actor, the heckler, to be loud and obnoxious enough to obscure the free speech of others. By pattern, a heckler is someone who is unable to defend his argument by legitimate use...

-The Economic Times   Vaccines are a true gift of science to humanity. In developing countries, prevention is better than cure. Vaccines have a great track record of safety and efficacy and they are amongst the most cost-effective products, which even the poor have access to due to effective systems of procurement and delivery. India's contribution in the vaccine arena is noteworthy. The primary reason behind the country's vaccine success story is...

Further work likely to be done by an agency to be designated by Centre The curtains will come down on enrolments for Aadhaar, the Central government's ambitious unique identification programme, by February 15 at all 2,245 enrolment centres across Karnataka. A letter sent to Deputy Commissioners, in 23 districts where Aadhaar is being rolled out, by the State department of e-governance, informs them of the decision to stop enrolments, adding that “further...

As many as 68 families who lost relatives in the AMRI Dhakuria fire met at the Nandan complex this morning to raise safety awareness but some were unable to mask the anger at police’s inability to arrest anyone on duty that night. “I still can’t forget how the security personnel kept insisting that the smoke could never enter the ICU, where my father was. He was a cardiac patient and his...

-The Telegraph The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti has rejected an IIT expert’s proposal to use a certain piano key weir technology for the Lower Subansiri power project, basing it rebuttal on its own research on the technology. Nayan Sarma, head of department of water resources in IIT Roorkee, had proposed use of the technology during a meeting with the state government, members of the expert groups and representatives of the civil society...