-The Hindustan Times A cartoon on BR Ambedkar in a government schoolbook rocked Parliament on Friday, forcing HRD minister Kapil Sibal to apologise to the nation and order the removal of the “objectionable” caricature. The row over the cartoon — more than 60 years old — sidetracked the ongoing controversy over  the Aircel-Maxis deal, which the BJP and other Opposition parties have been using to target home minister P Chidambaram. Instead, members cutting across...

-The Hindustan Times In April, after yet another story of maid abuse came out in the open, a news magazine ran a cover story titled, ‘The new slaves’. While many would cringe at the thought of equating domestic workers with slaves, unfortunately that is exactly how many families treat their domestic help, taking advantage of a crowded labour market, lack of a credible support system for the help, weak implementation of...

-The Indian Express After retrospective taxes, here comes the retroactive cartoon The no-no cartoon was published in Shankar’s Weekly on August 28, 1949 and reproduced in many Shankar collections, including one with a Nehru quote as title that will make his party men squirm today — “Don’t spare me Shankar”. The Congress government has pulled out the cartoon and the textbook that carried it. The cartoon features Nehru himself, standing behind a...

-PTI A group of persons on Saturday ransacked the office of Prof. Suhas Palshikar, who resigned as National Council Of educational Research And Training (NCERT) adviser in the wake of the row over cartoon of B.R. Ambedkar in school text books. Police said the persons involved in the incident had been invited by Prof. Palshikar for discussion in his office after they raised objections on the cartoon. They later damaged furniture in his...

MPs join hands to attack ‘derogatory’ cartoon on Ambedkar Two eminent scholars have resigned their positions as advisers to the National Council of educational Research and Training (NCERT) after a furore in Parliament led Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal to withdraw a book on the Constitution because it contained a cartoon some legislators said was offensive. Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar, both eminent political scientists, resigned hours after the cartoon provoked...