Why has there been such a silence from dalit leaders over the Bathani Tola judgment acquitting all those accused of killing 21 dalits? At the same time, what explains their loud protests over the Ambedkar cartoons in the textbooks? Has the elevation of Ambedkar as an icon relegated the dalit leadership to a politics of empty symbolism? Is the issue of a lack of accountability in the judicial system towards...

In a Bangladeshi folk story, a disabled grandfather is carried by his son in a basket, to be abandoned in the forest. On seeing this, the grandson calls out, 'Father, please be sure to bring back the basket. I will need it when you grow old'. Three thousand ageing men and women gathered in Delhi in the blazing midsummer heat to demand a universal pension for all aged people, not...

Cabinet clears change in divorce law: Women to get part of husband’s property In a move that could be a setback to land acquisition for commercial use, a parliamentary committee unanimously recommended that the government should not acquire land for industrial, commercial or for-profit enterprises or private companies. Instead, the panel, which has proposed legislation favouring landowners, recommends that private companies and public-private partnerships would have to buy land in the open...

-The Hindu Costing Rs.37, 000 with DRDA grant of Rs.9, 000 The first ‘zero waste toilet system' (ZWTS) in the country was inaugurated at Evoor village near Musiri on Thursday by Collector Jayashree Muralidharan. This is an integrated urine diversion biogas linked flush toilet system and has five modules-a flush out toilet, a bathroom, a urine diversion bowl, a cultivated wetland for treating bathroom water, and a biogas plant. The Collector said that the...

The proposed criminalisation of consensual sex between youngsters in the 16-18 age group is seen as regressive and in denial of social realities. THE minimum age for consensual sex has been raised from 16 to 18 in the amended Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011, recently approved by the Union Cabinet. If approved by Parliament, this will make sexual activity with a person below 18 a criminal offence,...