The Supreme Court has said no person can be convicted merely because he was associated with a subversive organisation, unless he has shared its unlawful purpose or participated in its unlawful activities, in a judgment that could affect the fate of Binayak Sen and Maoist ideologues convicted by lower courts. Apart from being held guilty of sedition, Sen, a doctor, has been convicted for his links with Maoists. The judgment may...

‘For the Indian media, the key question is one of covering mass deprivation' Time to rediscover concept of freedom of press in Marxist terms: Sashi Kumar N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, has called for “bold and radical” ways to check the ethical failings of the media. Inaugurating a seminar ‘Whither Media,' organised as part of the three-day Third International Congress on Kerala Studies, which concluded here on Monday, Mr. Ram said that...

India's income tax department has ruled that illegal commissions were paid to an Italian businessman accused over an arms scandal which ended Rajiv Gandhi's term as prime minister 20 years ago. It found over $9m was paid as commissions to Ottavio Quattrocchi and an Indian arms dealer, Win Chadha. In 2009, India dropped a graft case against Mr Quattrocchi and withdrew his name from the Interpol "wanted list". The main opposition BJP has...

A powerful central CPM leader has said “it is superstitious to completely oppose” genetically modified seeds, a shift that goes against the Left Front stand in Bengal that has a high stake in the debate. “It is superstitious to completely oppose these kinds of seeds. Such seeds could be used after thoroughly ensuring through tests that they would not harm human beings, animals and plants,” S. Ramachandran Pillai, CPM politburo member,...

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has courted another controversy by remarking on child labour. "We can't ask them to stop work because that will affect their families' source of income." The West Bengal Chief Minister is courting controversy with a statement saying it is not practical to ask children to stop working - this four years after child labour was officially banned across India. The best that can be done he...