A government report lends credence to the notion of “two Indias”, or the distinction between “India” and “Bharat” – a theme often debated in recent years. At a time when urban India is growing and policy makers have expressed clear preference for the trend, this report, by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), brings India’s deep urban-rural divide into focus, showing disparities in scale and levels of expenditure and consumption and, equally...

Terming a new law that raises the age of consent for sex from 16 to 18 years "undemocratic" and "regressive", a trial court feared it would act as a "tool for the police to harass minors". The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act ( PCSOA), passed by Parliament in the recently concluded session, criminalizes all sex by teenagers. "Such a move would open the floodgates for prosecution of boys for offences...

School texts that teach young minds that politics is a contentious and critical but reasonable activity, that it is not merely a set of demands and commands, and that politicians have to be responsive and accountable are naturally disliked by the political class. This is the tone of all the Political Science textbooks of Standards IX-XI brought out after 2006. The nurturing of a culture of critical public opinion seems...

Why has there been such a silence from dalit leaders over the Bathani Tola judgment acquitting all those accused of killing 21 dalits? At the same time, what explains their loud protests over the Ambedkar cartoons in the textbooks? Has the elevation of Ambedkar as an icon relegated the dalit leadership to a politics of empty symbolism? Is the issue of a lack of accountability in the judicial system towards...

-The Economic Times Petrol car owners in Delhi will get some relief from the recent steep rise in petrol price after the state government decided not to levy value added tax on the price hike announced by the oil marketing companies on last Wednesday. Tobacco products will get costlier, court fee will increase and circle rates for property are expected to rise resulting in steeper stamp duty on property transactions. Public transport...