What is our national aim? To my mind, our national aim must be to make India a highly prosperous country for its citizens, and for that it is necessary to have a high degree of industrialization.  Even setting up and running a single primary school requires a lot of money, e.g. for buying land, erecting the school building and providing for the recurrent expenditure for salaries of teachers, staff, etc. We...

The Manmohan Singh government has decided to create a sub-quota for Muslims within the 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and an announcement is likely before the Uttar Pradesh elections next summer. Sources said inter-ministerial consultations had been completed and the law ministry was finalising the contours of the proposal to be placed before the Union cabinet in the next few weeks. Indications are that a sub-quota of 6...

-The Economic Times   The Supreme Court has asked courts to send accused persons to jail only after conviction. In a landmark judgement on bail, which will have a major impact on the several thousands of undertrials languishing in various jails, the Supreme Court on Monday said denial of bail to an accused for an indefinite period impinged on the Fundamental Right to life and personal liberty.  "The courts owe more than verbal...

Holding that procedural safeguards for protection of personal liberty must be strictly followed, the Supreme Court has quashed the preventive detention of four persons under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act. A Bench of Justices A.K. Ganguly and J.S. Khehar, quoting a catena of decisions, held that in preventive detention cases, representations from the detenus must be disposed of expeditiously and every day's delay must be...

My attention was drawn to “An Open Letter to the Chief Minister of West Bengal” which was signed by thirty members of the civil society of Kolkata and Delhi. What disturbed me was the tone and tenor of the language used in the letter in denouncing Ms Mamata Banerjee’s bold initiative in inviting the Maoists of Junglemahal for a dialogue after “ceasefire”. May I ask with all humility who among the...