-The Indian Express Aadhaar legislation points to the need for a comprehensive privacy law. Most of the debate on the Aadhaar bill has centred on the right to privacy. All five amendments suggested by the Rajya Sabha, subsequently rejected by the Lok Sabha, had an element of this right within them. But the core deficiency rested not in the lack of protections in the Aadhaar bill but in the absence of a...

-The Hindu The Aadhaar Bill has been passed with no public consultation about the privacy safeguards necessary for such a database and no provision for public or independent oversight. The rights to liberty and freedom of expression cannot survive if the right to privacy is compromised. The Central government has forced the Aadhaar Bill through Parliament in a week. Aadhaar has had an invasive and controversial presence well before the government’s attempt...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Vice-President Hamid Ansari today cited "erroneous" media reports to warn that such coverage could erode the media's credibility and impair civil liberties but did not refer to the JNU controversy by name. Ansari, who is also the Rajya Sabha Chair, was addressing a seminar on the "Role of Editors in Today's Media", organised by Rajya Sabha TV. He conceded the importance of speedy coverage in an age of 24x7...

-The Hindu The steps taken towards social democracy are being reversed. What we have now are social insurance policies from above. This subverts the entire project of giving voice to the voiceless. India has paid a heavy price for failing to institutionalise social democracy It is generally agreed that theories of social democracy, in comparison to theories of formal political democracy, take cognisance of background inequalities that hamper the realisation of basic...

-The Hindu The Lawyers Collective has issued a clarification on March 10 on issues relating to allegations of violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. Lawyers Collective (LC) has accused the government of making a “deliberate and sustained effort to target and vilify” the 35-year-old public trust and its chief functionaries, including former Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising, by accusing them of violations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) (FCRA) Act, 2010. In a...