-The Indian Express Hurt over Ambedkar cartoon is understandable. But Babasaheb wouldn’t approve of the response Parliament was disrupted by the newly-noticed presence of an old Shankar cartoon in an NCERT political science textbook, that purportedly insulted B.R. Ambedkar. Ram Vilas Paswan demanded that those who permitted the cartoon’s publication be hauled up under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, Mayawati threatened to stall Parliament until action was taken. HRD minister Kapil Sibal...

A “derogatory” cartoon on B.R. Ambedkar in a Class XI textbook today created a furore in both Houses of Parliament and forced an apology out of minister Kapil Sibal outside the House. The ruckus, however, aborted an expected Opposition attack on home minister P. Chidambaram over his alleged role in helping his son gain from an Aircel-Maxis deal. Fittingly enough, the issue that spared Chidambaram for the day was raised by the...

-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...

Alarmed by its proactive role, the three ‘pillars’ of our democracy set out to weaken the fourth estate Fundamentalisms do not necessarily announce their arrival by banging a hammer on our heads. Freedoms are often lost in little steps. The process creeps in quietly but insidiously. The path is often complex and defies a simple narrative. But here’s a straightforward fact: a concerted attempt is being made to censor, control...

RTE marks a welcome return to common schooling; the objections lack substance. It's the strangest of debates. Private schools are up in arms against the Supreme Court order upholding the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009. What are their objections? First, non-minority private unaided schools feel they have got a raw deal. They will have to provide free education to 25 per cent of their students, admitted from economically...