-ThePrint.in Despite being ruled by BJP for the longest time, Hindi belt states lag far behind Jammu & Kashmir on education and various other indicators. There is no doubt that the Narendra Modi government’s decision to remove special rights for Jammu and Kashmir’s administration and to convert the state into two Union Territories is ideological and political. The removal of Articles 370 and 35A has been a lynchpin of the BJP’s political...

-The Indian Express Bill to promote altruistic surrogacy gives short shrift to women’s agency. The Lok Sabha passed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019 on Tuesday. The Billl aims to regulate the practice of surrogacy in India and allow only “ethical altruistic surrogacy”. The Bill was first introduced in the lower house in November 2016, then referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. It was introduced and passed...

-TheWire.in Basheer was the founder and managing trustee of Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access or IDIA, a body which aims at bringing legal awareness to the underprivileged. Legal scholar, intellectual property rights activist and public interest litigator Shamnad Basheer passed away on Thursday, in an accident at Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka, reports say. He was 43. Basheer was the founder and managing trustee of Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access or IDIA, a body which...

-The Telegraph Dreze showed how Jammu and Kashmir outscored Gujarat on the basis of a raft of Development indices New Delhi: Economist Jean Dreze held up a placard at a protest rally here on Wednesday, displaying stats to contest home minister Amit Shah’s claim that Jammu and Kashmir was less developed than the rest of India. Dreze showed how Jammu and Kashmir outscored Gujarat on the basis of a raft of Development indices. “I...

-The Hindu Where does Jammu and Kashmir stand in comparison to other States in key indicators of growth and Development Union Home Minister Amit Shah has linked poor healthcare, poverty, lack of doctors and slow economic growth in Jammu and Kashmir to amendment to Article 370. However, a look at how the State, now bifurcated into Union Territories, compares with other States in key indicators suggests that these concerns are exaggerated. Life expectancy Jammu...