-Newsclick.in It is the existence of these Articles that supported the integration of Kashmir into India, unlike the RSS and BJP’s campaign against these Articles. With Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement of a new Presidential Order which finishes off Article 370 of the Constitution and the bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, there is widespread confusion as to what exactly has happened. Due to a sustained campaign by the...

-The Hindu Cutting down the Forests Right Act will only weaken the conservation regime and affect the rights of forest dwellers I have had the good fortune to work in, visit and learn about protected areas and wildlife habitats across India since 1980. Beginning in the late 1980s, I have written and spoken about the ecology and conservation of Indian wildlife to numerous and varied audiences. One question that is invariably asked...

-Hindustan Times Still, doubts about EVMs have been planted, despite the fact that none of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines showed a mismatch with the EVM count. Two months after the declaration of Lok Sabha election results, conspiracy theories about possible tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are still doing the rounds. That important opposition leaders have demanded a return to paper ballots and even openly supported EVM-rigging...

-The Times of India blog Last week, NDA government succeeded in getting contentious amendments to RTI Act passed by Parliament. Social activist Aruna Roy, who was at the forefront of the movement to persuade Parliament to enact the original law, speaks to Anindo Dey about the development: * The government said the RTI Act amendments set right the anomaly of the Information Commissions, which are statutory bodies, being treated on a par...

-The Hindu Re-verification would have caused a lot of misery, says AAMSU GUWAHATI: Various organisations in Assam welcomed the Supreme Court’s order extending the deadline for publishing the final NRC to August 31 and turning down the request of the Centre and Assam government to conduct 20% sample re-verification of listed names in the districts bordering Bangladesh and 10% in the other districts on Tuesday. In a joint statement, the Assam State Jamiat...