-The Indian Express Data on hate crime needs to be collected through recording bias indicators, group identity of victims and the nature of violence. In the midst of a perceptible rise in cases of lynching and mob violence against religious and caste minorities, the Supreme Court has called for firm action to prevent, remedy and punish these horrific acts. On July 17, the Court issued guidelines and also recommended that Parliament enact...

-The Indian Express The police force needs to be freed from the stranglehold of the executive and given functional autonomy to enforce the rule of law. The Supreme Court’s directions can help achieve this transformation. The battle for Police Reforms has been going on for the last 22 years. The Supreme Court took 10 years to give a historic judgment in 2006. Since then it has been a struggle to get the...

-The Hindu Farming must be treated as a market-based enterprise and made viable on its own terms The week-long farmers’ march which reached Mumbai earlier this month, on the anniversary of Gandhi’s Dandi March of 1930, was unprecedented in many ways. It was mostly silent and disciplined, mostly leaderless, non-disruptive and non-violent, and well organised. It received the sympathy of middle class city dwellers, food and water from bystanders, free medical services...

-The Indian Express While stating that percentage of juvenile crime was much less compared to other crimes, the Chief Minister said, “Even a marginal increase is a cause of serious concern. And it is our government’s endeavour to make it negligible.” Mumbai: The state government has initiated steps to curb crimes across Maharashtra committed by juveniles. The government is taking even a marginal increase in juvenile crime as a cause for...

-The Telegraph The Left in Bengal had often criticised him whenever he red-flagged excessive local tyranny, and spoke about the industrial decline in Bengal. The incumbent ruling party may make tall claims about changes in Bengal since the Trinamul government came to power but he has been candid enough to suggest that he hasn't seen much change either in industrial expansion or in investment in infrastructure. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has...