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,...

-The Economic Times The prospect of political cartoons going out of textbooks is a dangerous one. Lessons will become drab again. Worried scholars say the move could signal a devastating reversal in what was nothing short of a revolution in textbook-writing in India. Besides, an HRD ministry panel had vetted and cleared the text books, they say. A beleaguered NCERT, which designed and published the books, has set up a committee to...

Justice Markandey Katju's prescription for a regulated media regime is a misplaced step that can actually de-democratise the fourth estate. IT is open season on the political class and the news media. But then, again, it's more like a chase of one's own tail. A self-righteous, delusional, Anna-Baba NGO-ised fringe sets out to stigmatise politics and Members of Parliament; the news media salivate at the prospect and rush to provide...

-The Economist UNDER a thatched roof, lit by a full, yellow moon, Shiv Kumari explains how she and her five children survive. She is a widow, 30 years old, living in a home made of packed mud. She works the nearby fields, draws a small pension, some food rations and gets a few days of paid labour each month from a rural make-work scheme. Semra village, made up of 70 households, most...

Aamir Khan's 'truths' on sex-selective abortion showcased mothers who fought the practice but he missed the point that reproductive decisions are rarely made by women In a media-saturated age, stars must use their celebrity status to draw attention to things that get ignored. Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate — a 360° swing away from the muscle flexing normally associated with Bollywood men — has sealed his image as a socially conscious star....