-The Indian Express In Jharkhand, a gap between politics of the tribal movement and electoral politics The recent dissolution of the Jharkhand assembly has brought to the fore the political uncertainty that hounds the state, with no leader or party managing to emerge as a viable representative of the people of Jharkhand. How does one interpret this feature, which many argue is unique to Jharkhand? Why is it that Jharkhand, particularly since...

-Economic and Political Weekly State and society both have to transform if we are to reduce violence against women. The past fortnight has seen unprecedented protests in Delhi over the gang rape and brutalisation of a young medical student. It has taken most people by surprise to see the manner in which thousands of people have come out to protest the lack of safety for women in the public spaces of the...

-The Times of India With violence against Indian women on the rise, the debate over feminist politics and its relevance has acquired new importance. Academic Nivedita Menon has researched this in Seeing Like A Feminist. Speaking with Amrita Nandy, Menon discussed the role and energy of feminism today, how rape and dress are analysed by convention versus feminism — and how feminism eventually liberates women, even from being feminists: * You write...

-PTI Calling the prevalence of paid news as "shocking and very disturbing", PCI chairperson Justice Markandey Katju said the information provided by the panel, appointed by him, only shows that self regulation by media was proving to be ineffective. There has been large-scale practice of ‘paid news’ in the Gujarat elections, a fact-finding team of the Press Council of India has claimed. Calling the prevalence of paid news as “shocking and very disturbing”,...

Should they be targeted? Should they go to individuals or households? Are conditionalities necessary? Without a full consideration of these issues, cash transfers will remain an expensive gamble Having worked on cash transfers for over 25 years, and being an economist, I find recent criticisms of the idea shrill and ill-informed. Only a right-wing ideologue would call them a panacea or a cure-all. They would merely be a vast improvement on...