-TheWire.in Adivasi leaders and activists say that behind the recent communal legislations is the state government’s hidden agenda to transfer community land to corporates and deflect attention from its failure to address crucial developmental issues plaguing the state. New Delhi: The abuse and heckling that Jean Drèze had to face at the hands of BJP leaders on the eve of 70 years of India’s independence is startling, not just because of the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a surprise move unmindful of the huge controversy it had sparked, the Maharashtra government has moved the Supreme Court seeking revival of a provision of law that made it an offence to carry or keep beef at home in the state. More than a year ago, the Bombay high court had doused protests against the beef ban by striking down Section 5D of the Maharashtra...

-The Indian Express Advancing rights of women farmers can revolutionise the rural ecosystem The stereotypical image of an Indian farmer is a mustachioed man, clad in a white dhoti with farming tools in hand. The reality is the Indian agricultural landscape is fast being feminised. Already, women constitute close to 65 per cent of all agricultural workers. An even greater share, 74 per cent of the rural workforce, is female. Despite their...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday outlined a three-tier, graded approach to the question whether privacy is a fundamental right by examining the issue through its intimate, private and public aspects even as it reserved its verdict in the case. Prior to completion of the two-week-long hearing that attracted arguments for and against conferring fundamental right status to privacy but which saw all parties accepting its intrinsic...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court continued to subject the debate on constitutional status for the right to privacy to close scrutiny, saying economic rights of citizens and provision for food and other essential items could never be a ground to undermine basic fundamental rights. This observation came when senior advocate C A Sundaram, appearing for the Maharashtra government, reiterated the Centre's stand that right to privacy would always...