A universal pension scheme for social protection must be part of a broader strategy of economic expansion different from the present neoliberal order. INDIA must be one of the worst countries in the world in terms of not providing even minimal social security for most of its people. This is not just a major failure of the development project in the country – it is also a significant cause of...
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Incandescent rage over a 63-year-old cartoon exposes the fragility of our 60-year-old Parliament-Kuldeep Kumar
The controversy over a cartoon in an NCERT textbook sends a chill down the spine as it shows the extent to which the culture of intolerance has eaten into the vitals of our democratic polity. The cartoon in question shows B R Ambedkar sitting on a snail (Constitution) and flogging it while Jawaharlal Nehru too is brandishing a whip standing behind Ambedkar. It is clear that he is also aiming his...
More »No shelter, Myanmar refugees asked to move out yet again-Shaswati Das
Twenty-seven-year-old Amina (name changed) is in the eighth month of her pregnancy. But this immigrant from the Rohingya community from Myanmar is more worried about getting a shelter over her head than the bundle of joy she would be holding in her arms very soon. She is among the 2,500-odd Rohingya refugees who were camping at Vasant Vihar before they moved to Sultan Garhi on May 8. They not only lack...
More »Fetters on the media? -V Venkatesan
The proposal made by a Supreme Court Bench to have guidelines for legal reporting is seen as a serious threat to the freedom of the media. Paradoxes are not new to India. But the current challenges to the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media are sure to confound a future historian looking for explanations. The country is fortunate to have the best of historical circumstances that are conducive...
More »Zero tolerance
-The Indian Express Where are the tall leaders who could put an end to this experiment in censorship? The UPA government may have only been true to character when it keeled over at the first hint of political uproar against cartoons in NCERT textbooks. Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal hurried to withdraw the book with the newly controversial Ambedkar cartoon, without a minimal attempt at debate, and Pranab Mukherjee said that books...
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