Former law minister and anti-Emergency crusader Shanti Bhushan on Tuesday pleaded with a Supreme Court's five-judge constitution bench not to go ahead with the framing of reporting guidelines and said fetters on press freedom would impede democracy.  Bhushan cited the infamous ADM Jabalpur case judgement rendered by a constitution bench of the Supreme Court, which had by 4:1 majority upheld suspension of right to life during the Emergency, and said it...

When universities start censoring speech and banning books, and permission is needed to hold conferences, we risk becoming a hollow, illiberal democracy. Do you need the administration's prior permission to hold a meeting, seminar, symposium or conference at a university? Most academics in liberal democracies would either be astounded by the question or feel compelled to answer it with an emphatic, if not vehement, no. The administration, they would argue, should...

The agitation against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant can be seen as a case of activism gone berserk. The high-octane drama against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu has wound down. The seven-month-long agitation led by the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) at Idinthakarai village in Tirunelveli district, demanding the closure of the ready-to-be commissioned project, ended on March 27 when S.P. Udayakumar, PMANE convener, called off...

Call it a conspiracy theory, but if the Centre is to be believed, there could be a link between the hike in foreign funding for NGOs and protests against the Kudankulam plant. Sources said foreign contribution to 12 NGOs in two districts — Tirunelveli, where the plant is based, and neighbouring Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu — has increased sharply over the last four years, ever since agitations against the plant started....

Do dollars dictate dissent? Are agendas altered as advised? Government statements related to these questions - specifically, the foreign funding of non-government organisations (NGOs) involved in the protests against nuclear power at Kudankulam - generated much discussion.  The uproar is over, and Kudankulam will soon be operational. However, many wider issues remain, and these merit consideration. Among these, two significant ones are the role of NGOs - or, more specifically, civil...