-The Hindu   Where prison facilities are not equipped to deal with the specific needs of persons with disabilities, arrest and detention in custody should be a measure of last resort We have a slew of cases around prisoners' rights that emphasise their right to dignity and their right against cruel and degrading punishment, which have been understood to violate the right to life, guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. In...

-The Indian Express   The Gujarat model, if there is one, is not shining. Surjit Bhalla, in recent articles (‘Gujarat's inclusive growth', IE, April 12, ‘Gujarat's other calling card', IE, April 19 and ‘Just name-calling', IE, April 26), has been making a case for Narendra Modi's prime ministerial candidacy by praising the Gujarat development model. It is surprising because, just a year ago, he critiqued Gujarat's growth model for being "neither equitable nor...

-The Indian Express   India's rentier capitalism is an inset in the big picture drawn by Thomas Piketty   French economist Thomas Piketty has written a scholarly tome with the humdrum title, Capital in the 21st Century. The book has become an overnight sensation because Piketty documents an inherent tendency for ever-increasing inEquality of income and wealth in capitalist economic systems. It is not an accident, he says, that many will be left behind...

-The Times of India   Is wealth trickling up instead of down? Yes, says rockstar economist Thomas Piketty whose new book proposing a wealth tax on the super rich has sparked off a firestorm. Excerpts from an exclusive interview... His book Capital in the Twenty-First Century has put the spotlight on Thomas Piketty, transforming the Paris School of Economics professor to global superstar. In these troubled times, he highlights a troubling issue:...

-The Hindu   The Supreme Court's judgment upholding the validity of Article 21A and the Right to Education Act has gutted the operative provisions of the law While free and compulsory education for all children below the age of 14 has been a constitutional imperative for the government for the last 64 years, it is a matter of fact (and shame) that successive governments have not achieved this yet. The most concerted effort...