-The Financial Express A group of well-known scholars has called on the government not to tamper with the contents of academic syllabi on “executive discretion” as was being done in the matter relating to a review of political cartoons in textbooks. A statement by Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Zoya Hasan, Ram Rahman, Jayati Ghosh and Mushirul Hasan, among others, said they were concerned about HRD Minister Kapil Sibal’s statement that an ‘offensive’...

Eminent persons express concern at Kapil Sibal stand Eminent persons, including Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik and Zoya Hasan, have expressed serious concern at the announcement by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal that cartoons in textbooks considered ‘offensive' by MPs would be removed. They said the matter shouldn't be considered as one of mere executive discretion. In a signed statement on behalf of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SHMT), they warned...

SANGLI/ SATARA: Open trailers packed with families and cattle have become a common sight along Maharashtra's highways - a telling sign of the distress the drought in 15 districts of the state has brought with it. Truckloads of villagers are migrating from the hinterland to cities like Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur in desperate search for livelihood. While many officials deny the drought-driven migration, the absence of male heads in rural homes...

Jatav residents of Ramgarh in U.P. resist attempts by members of a powerful community to grab their land by violent means. IN what could be considered one of the worst incidents of vendetta against Dalits in the National Capital Region (NCR), members of the Dalit Jatav community were beaten up brutally by some members of the dominant Gujjar community iN Ramgarh village in the Greater Noida area of Uttar Pradesh...

Religious and social groups have trampled on the freedom of expression of artists and scholars to serve their own agendas. “FOR all the big talk about India's great tradition of cultural and religious tolerance, many forces in the social life of our country and a number of established organisations, including the so-called non-political ones, have time and again resorted to blatant suppression of freedom of expression, pointing forcefully to the...