-PTI Criticising the land acquisition bill cleared by the Cabinet, social activist Medha Patkar today said it has left many basic issues of conflict over forcible land acquisition unresolved. "It is also against the Parliamentary Democracy that a unanimous report of the Standing Committee is not given due importance before finalising the draft and approving by the cabinet," she said in a release. "We would also like to point out that whole process...

-The Hindustan Times An international battle for control of the internet thankfully ended inconclusively in Dubai, though no thanks to India. The world conference of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) enjoyed a few weeks of infamy largely because of a determined effort by a group of countries, all of them one-party governments or dictatorships of some sort, to put control of the internet in the hands of a United Nations body....

-Outlook Talking ‘communal’ about FDI trivialises the secular cause If one adds up the number of MPs in the Lok Sabha belonging to political parties that have a stated position against FDI in retail trade, it will certainly be bigger than the number of MPs in favour of FDI. Actually, the figure goes well past the Lok Sabha majority mark of 272. Yet the resolution opposing FDI received only 218 votes...

-The Hindustan Times The recent arrest of two young girls in Maharashtra - Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Srinivasan - for posting and liking a Facebook comment questioning the shutdown in Mumbai for Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's funeral reminded me of an incident that happened a few years after Independence and Partition. It was 1952 and I was playing in a neighbourhood park when some children coerced me into telling them my name....

-The Indian Express After being taken to the streets, rallies and TV studios, FDI in retail is finally being discussed in Parliament. This may be a debate forced upon the government with the threat of persistent parliamentary obstruction, and submitting executive policy to voting in the House may be an extraordinary step that could be routinised at the system’s peril. But it is illuminating, nonetheless, to see the play of perspectives...