In any democracy, the right to individual privacy is absolute. If what one citizen does in one’s personal life is splashed in a public arena, newspapers and TV channels for instance, the results are not only disagreeable, but also distasteful. Modern life, however, is much more complicated than life in ancient Athens. Very often, the mighty and the powerful abuse this right to hide facts that have a grave public bearing....

The much-awaited Bill on sexual harassment at workplaces gets the Cabinet nod for presentation in Parliament. ON November 4, the Union Cabinet gave the go-ahead for the enactment of a law on protection of women from sexual harassment at the workplace. Titled Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, the draft law is basically a new avatar of the ones prepared in 2004. This development has been...

The Radia tapes reveal the networks and routers, the source codes and malware that bind the corporate and political establishments in India. As squeamish schoolchildren know only too well, dissection is a messy business. Some instinctively turn away, others become nauseous or scared. Not everyone can stomach first hand the inner workings of an organic system. Ten days ago, a scalpel — in the form of a set of 104 intercepted...

For a government that has been busy granting the people of India rights to employment, education and food, the United Progress Alliance has been lackadaisical in protecting the citizens’ right to privacy. Industrialist Ratan Tata was, therefore, right to seek the protection of the Supreme Court in the matter relating to leaked tapes of telephone tapping undertaken by the Union government’s tax authorities. After finishing its internal investigations, the government...

In a move that could further delay South Korean steel giant Posco’s plan to build a $12-billion steel plant near Paradip in Orissa, the expert appraisal committee of Coastal Regulation Zone on Tuesday decided to defer its decision on giving approval to the project. The panel has cited absence of sufficient details on the likely environment impact of its captive port at Jatadhari, near Paradip, said people involved in the matter....