-The Hindu Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday stressed the need for making the controversial Armed Forces (Special Power) Act (AFSPA) a more “humanitarian” law, but asserted that the Union government could not move forward as there was “no consensus” between the Army and the government on the issue. “The Army has taken a strong stand against any dilution of the AFSPA… We can’t move forward because there is no consensus. “The...
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Cell tower radiation: SC to hear plea against HC order banning towers from public-use buildings- Kalyan Parbat & Gulveen Aulakh
-The Economic Times Beginning today, the country's highest court will hear petitions filed by telecom-industry lobbies challenging a recent Rajasthan High Court order that directed telecom companies to remove cellphone towers from schools, hospitals, jails and heritage buildings in the state amid claims that tower radiation was harmful. Officials of two leading industry associations, representing mobile operators and telecom tower companies, feel the Supreme Court's verdict in the case could set...
More »Pillorying of Ashis Nandy: His critics need hearing aids -Shiv Visvanathan
-First Post The Jaipur literary festival is almost notorious for creating storms in a teacup. To its credit though, if offers a different flavor of literary tea every year. Last year, it was a variant of the Rushdie phenomenon, where a group of aspiring litterateurs read out passages from the Satanic Verses and then succumbed to political correctness. This year, the controversy came in a session chaired by Urvashi Butalia, publisher Zubaan, where...
More »Confused over Aadhaar, Cabinet sets up GoM
-The Economic Times Confusion over whether the unique identity number is a number, a card or both, and concerns over the UID and the National Population Register duplicating data prompted the Cabinet to refer UPA-2 's ambitious project to a group of ministers. The discussion on Thursday revealed that the Cabinet was not immune to contradictory and blurred perceptions about Aadhaar, as UID is known, with some ministers saying they had received...
More »The great number fetish-Sankaran Krishna
-The Hindu One of the most prominent features of India’s middle-class-driven public culture has been an obsession about our GDP growth rate, and a facile equation of that number with a sense of national achievement or impending arrival into affluence. In media headlines, political speeches, and everyday conversations, the GDP growth rate number — whether it is five per cent or eight per cent or whatever — has become a staple...
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