-The Hindu The public now sees the Internet not just in market terms, but as a social phenomenon that requires public interest regulation. In its aggressive campaign for Free Basics, couched in simplistic developmental language, Facebook underestimated the political sophistication of the Indian public. It must be regretting it now. The social networking service’s reportedly Rs. 100-crore campaign, through double full-page newspaper advertisements, billboards and television, appears simply to have congealed public...

-The Hindu The manner in which crucial laws are being amended will end up eroding rights that have deep consequences on the lives of our children and us as citizens of a thriving democracy. All because the state hasn’t been able to deliver what it was mandated to do. The last few months have seen an alarming trend of crucial laws being amended, or sought to be amended, in a manner that...

-The Indian Express The residents of Nimkheda, a small settlement of 1,674 people in Haryana’s Mewat district, are visibly unsettled and worried Nimkheda (Mewat, Haryana): Dressed in a white salwar-kameez, her dupatta wrapped as a headscarf, an upset Ashubi Khan (55) thumped her right palm with her fist as she spoke in Mewati. “My illiteracy is not my fault, but a reflection of the state’s failure to fulfil its responsibilities. Did our...

-The Indian Express Haryana law on educational qualification for panchayat polls is discriminatory. SC must rethink decision to uphold it The Supreme Court has ruled that the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, which mandates minimum educational qualification for candidates — Class 10 for general candidates, Class 8 for women, Class 5 for Dalits — contesting panchayat polls is constitutionally valid. The apex court must revisit its decision. The Haryana law...

-The Indian Express Vidarbha’s farmers have escaped the worst of drought this year and hope to gain from high arhar prices. Wardha (Maharashtra): About 95 km from Nagpur and to the left of National Highway-7 leading to Hyderabad is a 14-acre farm that is now the cynosure of many eyes. This field, at Daroda village in Hinganghat tehsil of Wardha district, radiates only green with no traces of white or brown dots —...