India’s disappointing human development status is well known. It is a virtual tailender among the newly emerging BRICS economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – which are expected to become the engine of global economic growth as the developed countries slow down. What is more serious is India’s status in its region. Not only is it well behind the long-term regional leader in development, Sri Lanka, it...

-IBNS   A group of about 35 women economists from different countries of Europe, UK, US, Australia and India, have written an open letter to Prime Ministers and Presidents of South Asian nations, including India, which are facing acute sanitation crisis. From India, Jayati Ghosh, Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Bina Agarwal, Director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University and Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson Board of Governors, Indian...

-Kashmir Dispatch   High Court Bar Association has said that the revocation of “draconian laws” like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) can minimize the sufferings of the people in Jammu and Kashmir till its resolution was sought out. Addressing a just-concluded 2-day conference on National Consultation on Human Rights, conducted under the auspices of Human Rights Law network at India Islamic Centre at Lodhi Garden New Delhi India, the General Secretary of...

The report of the Gujarat High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team that probed the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, make it clear that the so-called “encounter specialists” of the Gujarat police handled the post-encounter situation very shoddily. Perhaps driven by over-confidence, or may be lack of experience then, the police did not bother much to cover their footprints and the blunders it left behind made it easy for the investigating officers to...

The return of peace and normalcy in Kashmir is a reality. And to ensure a durable and lasting peace, a humane approach to handle the law and order situation may be required. In a vibrant, democratic country, authoritarian ways of suppressing people’s voices prove to be counterproductive. It may be recalled that the law and order situation in Kashmir worsened in the aftermath of unfair and rigged assembly elections of 1987,...