-ThePrint.in In ‘How To Read Amartya Sen’, Lawrence Hamilton writes on the economist’s thrust on free press and public reasoning as the centre of a democracy. Amartya Sen is very clear that one of the central features of democracies which advance public reasoning in the world is support for a free and independent press. Unrestrained and healthy media are, he argues, important for five main reasons, the first four of which are: 1....

-The Indian Express Madan B Lokur writes: It is time for the establishment to realise that the people of this country mean well, and in any democracy, there are bound to be different points of view. A gradual erosion of one of our most precious fundamental rights — the right to freedom of speech and expression — is adversely impacting the liberty of all those who dare to speak up. Our freedom...

-The Hindu The worst blow to the right to information regime has come in the form of a persistent attack on the transparency watchdogs This year marks 15 years of the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) law, which has empowered millions to assert their citizenship and show truth to power. It was a vibrant grassroots movement, led not just by the educated elite but the working poor across the country,...

-ThePrint.in In recent years, sedition and UAPA have been weaponised against critics of the govt. National Crime Records Bureau’s recently-released data confirms this. A journalist from Kerala was accused of sedition and various offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, (UAPA) and arrested on the way to Hathras on October 7. In recent years, sedition and UAPA have been weaponised and used routinely against critics of various ruling governments. Data from...

-NDTV Dr Kafeel Khan was charged under National Security Act for his speech against the CAA at a talk at the Aligarh Muslim University late last year. Lucknow: Kafeel Khan, the Uttar Pradesh doctor jailed under the tough National Security Act (NSA) for a speech against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, must be freed immediately, a court said today, calling his detention illegal. The doctor's speech did not show any effort...