Here is a fundamental question to friends and supporters of Salman Rushdie: Is the right to speech and expression absolute, without any restrictions, in any democratic society? The right to freedom of expression is recognised as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 goes on to say that the exercise of this right carries “special duties and responsibilities” and may “therefore be...

After the introduction of Right To Education (RTE) Act, the student-teacher ratio has disturbed the equilibrium in municipal corporation-run schools in Ahmedabad leading to a shortage of nearly 500 teachers. Nearly 100 teachers are required in Urdu medium schools because many from Urdu schools, despite existing shortage, have been moved to Gujarati medium schools. The situation is precarious particularly in Urdu and other language mediums because of the special nature of language...

Muslims, SCs, STs reflect better social indices, closer to national averages Early in the morning, Mohammad Nadeem, a 25-year-old ‘pakka adati’, big wholesaler, at one of Muzaffarnagar’s fruit and vegetable mandis, briskly sets about selling carrots and oranges. As he expertly sifts through sacks of fresh produce, it’s difficult to picture him hawking peanuts by the roadside. But for five years in this bustling western Uttar Pradesh mandi, Nadeem’s store...

US-based companies Google Inc., Facebook Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others were issued summons by a Delhi court on Friday in connection with criminal charges for “objectionable” material hosted online.   Simultaneously, the Union government sanctioned the prosecution of the companies on its behalf.   Metropolitan magistrate Sudesh Kumar directed representatives of the global companies to be present in his court on 13 March. The summons will be served at their registered...

-Sify News   A single bamboo stick holds the thatched roof together, the discoloured floor serves as both bench and chair, the kids sit in neat rows and a man sits on a printed mattress. It is from humble rooms like this that a quiet education revolution is unravelling in this eastern Uttar Pradesh district that was associated in public memory not long ago for alleged involvement of some of its youth...