Do dollars dictate dissent? Are agendas altered as advised? Government statements related to these questions - specifically, the foreign funding of non-government organisations (NGOs) involved in the protests against nuclear power at Kudankulam - generated much discussion.  The uproar is over, and Kudankulam will soon be operational. However, many wider issues remain, and these merit consideration. Among these, two significant ones are the role of NGOs - or, more specifically, civil...

A Union Home Ministry's proposal for amendments to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is pending with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), P. Chidambaram said on Saturday, a day after the United Nations Special Rapporteur asked India to repeal the law, arguing that it had no place in a democracy. Answering questions at his monthly press conference, he said his Ministry had sought three amendments. “These pertain to three sections…” He...

Idinthakarai: The agitation against the Koodankulam nuclear plant has lost its intensity and sense of direction following the withdrawal of an indefinite fast, a move forced on the protesters after the Tamil Nadu government withdrew its tacit support to them.   The indefinite fast at Idinthakarai had seen mass participation but on Monday, when a relay hunger strike begins, it will involve only a few dozen people. The protesters are as frustrated...

-The Hindu ‘In a democracy, such bias towards select papers is shocking' In a strongly-worded letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Congress on Sunday demanded the immediate withdrawal of the circular restricting the purchase of newspapers by State libraries and those it aids and sponsors to ones specified by it. “Undemocratic” Protesting the move, which he described as “most partial and undemocratic,” West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharya said...

Twenty-two organisations, led by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, have decided to launch a protest here alleging that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has backtracked from her pre-poll promise to release all political prisoners.   “The APDR, along with 21 organisations, has decided to start a movement for the release of political prisoners. A rally from College Square to Metro Channel will be held in the third week of April and...