Dadri lynching has raised troubling questions on India’s ‘secularity’
The hate-lynching of a Muslim man in a Uttar Pradesh village by his unrepentant neighbours for allegedly eating beef raises once again troubling questions.
The lesson from Sanjiv Bhatt’s dismissal: there’s nobody to protect whistle-blowing civil servants
In yet another display of vendetta against prominent critics of the prime minister, Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was served with orders of dismissal from service on August 13, 2015. This is the highest administrative punishment that an officer can face, provided in the rule book for only the most serious transgressions.
Modi’s social security schemes are an eyewash – the poor will be the last to benefit from them
Stung by charges that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi works only to advance the interests of big business, it responded with the launch of three major social security schemes for the millions who are excluded from social protection as sterling evidence of its pro-poor credentials.
One year on, Modi has battered many constitutional principles – but the biggest victim is fraternity
The centrality of fraternity in nurturing and sustaining democracy is one of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s many profound insights. The word used in the Constitution in Hindi is bandhuta, which vividly evokes ideas of comradeship and mutual belonging.
Why the children of the poor must not be allowed to work in family enterprises
The shocking decision of the Union Cabinet to legalise child work after school hours in family enterprises must compel us to turn an unflinching spotlight on one of our gravest, and collectively forgotten, cruelties: the theft of the childhood…
India’s Poverty is Social Violence
There are many exiles faced by India’s poor. They are exiled from the consciences of the people of privilege and wealth. They are exiled from our cinema, television and newspapers.
Underage children as domestic workers: Middle-class India’s greatest shame?
In her extraordinary novel The Help, Katherine Stockett writes about the lives of black women domestic workers in a small town in Mississippi in 1962. At the time in which the novel is set, the civil rights movement was yet to alter the unequal social relations between races in this small, conservative settlement.
By dismissing activists as anti-national, India is advancing interests of Big Business
The Indian political establishment is openly antagonistic towards international engagement with domestic human rights and justice battles. While foreign capital is welcome, foreign support for justice issues in India is often viewed from a hyper-nationalistic len
Harsh Mander on His Stance on the Riots of 2002 And the Hostility That Followed
In 2002, Harsh Mander, a former officer with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) who had served as a district collector in six tribal districts across the country, visited Gujarat in the aftermath of the Godhra riots.
Honest bureaucrats are seen as cranks reining in India’s great surge forward
The mystery surrounding the death of DK Ravi, the Karnataka cadre IAS officer who was found hanging in his home on March 16, underlines the perils to life and reputation faced by those whom fight corruption while pursuing their duties with conscience and integrity.