Victims have not forgotten the following brutal tragedies in the life of independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have. 1984—Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for ‘Operation Bluestar’. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3000 Sikhs—men and boys—were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and...

Differences between United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) and the government over the coverage of the proposed Food Security Act refuses to die. NAC recently came out with its own draft on the Food Security Bill sticking to its position after the food ministry’s draft diluted the Council’s recommendations on coverage of families in rural areas. The NAC draft has maintained the coverage of 90 per...

Every year, industrial development projects displace about 10 million people globally. In India alone, involuntary resettlement has affected about 50 million people over the last five decades. Three-fourths of them still face an uncertain future. People displaced by such projects are prone to being rendered landless, jobless, homeless and marginalised. Yet, the policies and programmes related to their relocation and rehabilitation are yet to find satisfactory answers to questions like: Is...

-The Times of India   For a government harping on transparency and accountability, a glance through the websites of various departments brings to the fore the pathetic state of the implementation of the RTI Act. Incidentally, it was Rajasthan that laid the foundation for this law. A survey by the Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan, based on the websites of 64 government departments, shows that there are at least 17...

-The Deccan Chronicle   India’s department of information technology that functions under the articulate and vociferous minister Kapil Sibal, has quietly pushed through an Act to censor online content. The recently drafted rules that give private arbiters a right to take down objectionable content, free speech advocates say will seriously hamper virtual communications, debate and discussions. In the past in a country, that is the largest democracy, the lawmakers have suggested bans on books,...