-The Indian Express It is not just 21 cartoons that have been deemed “inappropriate” for NCERT textbooks. The Thorat Committee has frowned on much more, disapproving of “ too many cartoons of Mrs Indira Gandhi” in the Class XII textbooks, and objecting to some Amul advertisements. Set up in May following MPs’ objections to political cartoons in textbooks, the six-member committee headed by ICSSR chairman S K Thorat vetted six textbooks that...
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Delete cartoons against politicians, bureaucracy, says textbook panel
-The Hindu The six-member panel constituted to review the cartoons used in social sciences textbooks of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has ordered the deletion of several cartoons and words that it says are either “ambiguous”, negative or show politicians and bureaucrats in an ‘incorrect way. Among the material that gets the chop: an R.K. Laxman cartoon from the 1950s showing Nehru telling France and Portugal (represented as monkeys,...
More »A more caring touch-Harsh Mander
-The Hindustan Times There is a widespread perception of policy paralysis in the corridors of power. The two remaining years of the UPA's term is still not too short to reverse the current drift, but time is rapidly running out. The damaged economy needs urgent fixing as does restoring the credibility of an executive racked by scandals and the absence of a sense of direction. The people of the country long...
More »TISS report points to anti-Muslim bias of police-Meena Menon
-The Hindu “Most of prisoners in Maharashtra jails victims of prejudice” A report on Muslim prisoners in Maharashtra jails by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) establishes that most of them do not have connections with criminal gangs, and points to an acute bias of the police for arresting them in some cases only because they belong to a particular community. A Study of the Socio Economic Profile and Rehabilitation Needs of...
More »Lessons on how not to pitch a quota-K Vivek Reddy
-The Hindu Reservation on the basis of religion has always raised serious constitutional concerns and a recent ruling of the Andhra Pradesh High Court (which the Supreme Court refused to stay) declaring the sub-quota for Minorities unconstitutional only illustrates this constitutional tension. This is not the first time that the Andhra Pradesh High Court has declared reservation for religious Minorities constitutionally invalid. In 2005, a five-judge-bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court...
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