-PTI The guild noted that the court, instead of protecting media freedom, has issued an order that has effectively curbed it. New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India today condemned a Patna high court order restraining the media from reporting on the probe into the Muzaffarpur shelter abuse case and appealed to its and Supreme Court’s chief justices to review the decision. In a statement, the media body said such restrictions on reporting...

-Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Indian authorities to ban a group of pro-government Hindu nationalists who have launched an online campaign against “biased” journalists. RSF also urges the authorities to guarantee the physical and professional survival of journalists threatened by these militants. This online militia unveiled its existence on Twitter last week, calling itself “India Against Biased Media” and using the hashtag #IABM to recruit volunteers. Its...

-The Hindu Punjab needs a sober, well-thought-out strategy to deal with drug abuse During the campaign for the Punjab Assembly elections last year, Amarinder Singh, then the Congress’s chief ministerial candidate, had pledged to eradicate the State’s drug problem within four weeks of coming to power. Given the complexity of the issue, hardly anyone took his pledge seriously but it did convey his concern. After coming to power, Capt. Singh took little...

-The Hindu The judiciary doesn’t seem to fully appreciate the economic consequences of its judgments The number of legal disputes involving property, contract, labour, tax and corporate laws is bound to increase with an expanding economy. How they are adjudicated by courts not only has direct consequences for the disputants, but also shapes the behaviour of individuals and entities involved in production, commerce and banking. Judicial findings also influence decision-making of government...

-The Hindu They matter because they sustain social practices without which human life is neither worthwhile nor indeed possible There is much talk these days about the decline in our institutions. Aren’t they failing to perform, being systematically undermined, even destroyed? On the one hand, people are heard lamenting that our courts are compromised, that our Parliament is dysfunctional, or that our higher education is in a mess. On the other hand,...