-The Hindu With every passing controversy, we’re learning to redefine our rights, says Baradwaj Rangan This is the story of two YouTube videos. The first one came up bare hours before I sat down to write this, and it featured an actor, a producer, a director announcing to a media gathering that he was now homeless in every sense. His new production, the one that had sucked up his life’s savings, still...

-Outlook The sorts of corruption that matter are a purview of privileged     “An intellectual man can be a good man but he may easily be a rogue. Similarly an intellectual class may be a band of high-souled persons, ready to help, ready to emancipate erring humanity, or it may easily be a gang of crooks or a body of advocates of narrow clique from which it draws its support.”     —B.R....

-The Telegraph Jaipur, Jan. 27: An FIR against social scientist Ashis Nandy for alleged defamatory remarks on Dalits and tribals has brought to the fore a growing trend of “thought terrorism” that treats nuanced opinion as heresy liable to be crushed with a heavy hand. The remarks by Nandy, a widely respected sociologist known for his nuanced positions and reluctance to play to the gallery just to be part of “acceptable voices”,...

-The Hindu The government must allow the online filing of first information reports in rape cases as that alone will ensure mandatory and automatic registration of complaints On January 18, 2013, Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar announced that Zero First Information Reports (FIRs) may be registered on the basis of a woman’s statement at any police station irrespective of jurisdiction. This means women can file an FIR at any police station and...

-Outlook Thiruvananthapuram: Two Malayalam films that focus on the atrocities on women have been exempted from entertainment tax by the Kerala Government as part of the campaign to create public awareness about crimes against women and children. The recently released Lisammayute Veedu, directed by Babu Janardhanan, and Ente by Rajesh Touch River, are the films that received the tax waiver, according to Local Administration Minister D M K Muneer. Lisamma tells the story...