-Express News Service Just over a decade after two dozen Muslims were massacred in Ode during the 2002 riots in Gujarat, a specially appointed court on Monday convicted 23 people from the Patel community while acquitting 23 for want of evidence. One of the accused died during the trial. Of the 23 convicted, 19 have been found guilty of murder and conspiracy and the rest of attempt to murder along with allied...

-The Economic Times   What's common between foggy movements of two army battalions, the government auditor's assessments of large notional losses to the exchequer and a letter from the army chief to the PM on his unit's preparedness for war?  The information in each of these instances in the past six months was marked 'secret' in official files, but screamed its way to the public, forcing the government into damage-control mode.  Information leaks in...

When universities start censoring speech and banning books, and permission is needed to hold conferences, we risk becoming a hollow, illiberal democracy. Do you need the administration's prior permission to hold a meeting, seminar, symposium or conference at a university? Most academics in liberal democracies would either be astounded by the question or feel compelled to answer it with an emphatic, if not vehement, no. The administration, they would argue, should...

-The Wall Street Journal These days, Indian policymakers are debating how to create a vast new food entitlement program. There is talk of poor households struggling to cope with high food prices and malnourishment among their children. What you don’t hear much about, however, is the most tragic and outrageous consequence of India’s failure to feed its people adequately: starvation deaths. India is a nation that prides itself on having been self-sufficient in...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought from the Centre the files on 18 mercy petitions, including that of the Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru who is on death row, pending consideration before the President for periods ranging from one to seven years. A Bench of Justices G. S. Singhvi and S. J. Mukhopadhaya called for the records from Additional Solicitor-General Harin Raval after amicus curiae Ram Jethmalani and senior counsel...