-The Times of India The Supreme Court decided on Monday to examine the constitutional validity of the provision giving the definition of juvenile in the Juvenile Justice Act which treats a person as a minor till he attains the age of 18 years. The apex court has issued notice to the Centre on a PIL seeking lowering of age of juvenile to 16 years from the present 18 years. The issue assumes significance...

-Outlook Caste has nothing to do with graft. Even so, Nandy must be heard. Forging a link, however tenuous, between caste and corruption is akin to saying  that the average Indian male  has sex on his mind, caste and communalism in his heart and indigestion in his tummy. That was an irreverent response to the sweeping statement made by the “ageing enfant terrible” of Indian sociology, Ashis Nandy, during a discussion...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: While the country celebrates the seventh anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Bengal continues to be one of the poor performers. The Paschimbanga Khet Majdoor Union alleges that a group of vested interests, "comprising landed farmers, industrialists and a section of the intelligentsia" were working in tandem to subvert the positives of NREGA in the state. The union, which has criticized both the...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Friday disapproved of social scientist Ashish Nandy's controversial remarks on corruption among backward sections at the Jaipur Literature Festival but gave him protection from arrest following a spate of FIRs in several states. Though the court entertained Nandy's petition and issued notices to the Union home ministry and states where police have registered FIRs — Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — it...

-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Friday protected sociologist Ashis Nandy from arrest over his allegedly casteist remark, but also censured him for irresponsibly expressing “ideas” that could hurt people. A bench led by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir stayed Nandy’s arrest in all criminal proceedings arising out of the statement he made at the Jaipur Literature Festival on January 26. The court, however, described the remarks as “unacceptable”, and told the...