-The Hindu The outcome of the Press Council of India's decision to challenge the Allahabad High Court gag order on reporting the movement of troops will be an acid test of how far the judiciary can go in curbing media freedoms. The court's order — which directed senior officials in the Home and I&B departments of the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that no news on the subject...

Overlooked and ignored, the problem of untouchability continues to be practised and perpetrated in the country. It is a lifetime of misery and humiliation, unimaginable for the relatively privileged but a daily reality for over one-fifth of the country’s 120 crore-plus population, as revealed succinctly in 22 short and easy to view videos under the Article 17 Campaign launched on April 14, 2012 by India Unheard, which claims to be...

The Manipur government has taken a serious view of the recruitment of child soldiers by some underground organisations. Talking to Naharolgi Thoudang , a vernacular newspaper, G. Gaikhangam, Home Minister, said that since mature and educated persons would not like to join insurgent outfits, the frustrated groups were targeting children. He had directed Director-General of Police Ratnakar Bralal to keep all police stations in the State on alert. He said it was...

-IANS Chhattisgarh police were on Sunday yet to find a clue about Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon, a day after he was abducted from a forested area at gun-point by Maoists while he was interacting with tribal farmers about their problems. Police officials posted in Sukma district searched certain parts of the forest area adjoining Andhra Pradesh in the early hours of Sunday to rescue the abducted 32-year-old collector. "But he...

How an image-fixated chief minister has bent the state’s media to his will If you haven’t heard of an income tax raid on the residential premises of Nitish Kumar’s close aide and treasurer of the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Vinay Kumar Sinha, you are not alone. Thanks to the local media, it took a while even in Patna—where the house is located—for people to get to know. This, incidentally, is the...