-The Times of India KOLKATA: Days ahead of the Bengal Leads Summit much-touted investment summit by the Mamata Banerjee government in Haldia, former chief minister BuddhadebBhattacharjee on Sunday alleged that the state government's faulty policy on land acquisition and SEZ will drive away even the existing industries in Bengal. Bhattacharjee argued what good is a policy if it isn't enabling new industries in the state. "Infosys wants an SEZ status. Wipro wants...

-The Indian Express Increasing frequency and intensity of protests reflect a deeper crisis in Indian democracy: the failure of civil society In the last five years, citizens have poured out in large numbers at Jantar Mantar and India Gate (and in many other parts of the country) to ask the state to hear their demands. In 2006, marches and sit-ins forced the state to re-examine the Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo cases....

-Open democracy Were Ram Singh and his cohort simply claiming a notion of masculinity promoted every day by their role models in politics, business and the media? Ruchira Gupta writes of the steady creeping of a rape culture into the fabric of India, and what needs to be done to counter the idea that women are commodities Let us talk about Ram Singh, the chief rapist accused in the case of Damini,...

-The Hindustan Times Some weeks ago, much before the gruesome gang rape and murder in the capital ruptured the country's conscience and forced our people out of their stupor to rise in widespread angry protests, The Guardian had posed the following question: "Of all the G-20 nations, India has been labeled as the worst place to be a woman. But how is this possible in a country that prides itself as being...

-The Indian Express We must ask hard questions of these mobilisations, before we declare them a new politics It is certainly not an easy task to enter into an argument with Yogendra Yadav. His plea to understand the “new politics” of urban protests (‘This new politics’, IE, January 2) makes persuasive reading but begs for a critical review of some issues. His point about the need to avoid two extreme approaches to...