Rising Distress Suicides: Inconvenient Truths, Lies and Silence of Convenience

THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with Narendra Modi leading from the front had in 2014 launched a big campaign about the agrarian crisis that was prevalent under the then Congress-led UPA-II government. The attractive promises made by Narendra Modi and his pack had in no small measure enticed the rural voters comprising the peasantry, agricultural labourers, tenants and the poor to vote for the BJP in the 2014 elections; and why not?

Contextualisation of the Symbol of the Hijab

THE images of women in Iran burning their hijabs has prompted the social media trolls of the BJP in India to taunt women activists who have opposed the Karnataka government’s ban on wearing the hijab to educational institutions. One of them said “show these (the photographs) to shameless Indian women who want to cover girls in hijab”. As usual the trolls have got it wrong. In Iran the custodial death of Mahsa Amini, the 22 year old Kurdish woman in Teheran has led to a series of protests in Teheran and elsewhere.

Prime Minister and a Statue

AS a child, I remember hearing a story about a naughty bird, an ugly, naughty bird that wanted to produce beautiful chicks.

The Case on Ethical Code for Marketing Medicines

A TWO-JUDGE bench of the Supreme Court, on August 18 afternoon, issued an order on the legal code for the marketing of medicines.The Federation of Medical and sales Representatives’ Associations of India (FMRAI), had filed a petition in the court urging the government to enforce a legal code for marketing of medicines.The Indian media, however, has distorted facts and misreported the issue by selectively highlighting the issue of perks given to doctors to improve the sales of one product, Dolo-650, an antipyretic drug.Dolo-650, produced and marketed by Micro Labs, contains 650 mg of parace

BJP’s Freebie Campaign: Yet another Assault on the States’ Rights

THE freebie debate has raised a hornet’s nest regarding its definition, implications for the poor, impact on fiscal consolidation, propriety of judicial system usurping the domain of the legislature and political process and so on. But a dimension that has not received adequate attention has been the consequences for the federal structure.The states are alleged to be steeped in “revadi culture” and distributing too many freebies risking their financial stability.

Why Lok Ayukta Amendment?

THE Kerala Assembly has passed the Lok Ayukta Amendment Bill after detailed discussions. The assembly came to the general point of view that the bill has constitutional and legal validity. This bill has been formulated as per the provisions of the Central Lokpal Act and the State Lok Ayukta Model Bill by upholding the provisions of the constitution. As per the Lok Ayukta Act, this system will be responsible for investigations and inspections.

‘Operation Lotus’: Anatomy of a Sinister Destruction of Democracy

WHO used this code-name is not important. But, this has been widely used by the media as a euphemism for the expansion of the BJP. As is now the practice, the obnoxious manner in which this expansion was being planned has been sanitized by the media. This was only to be expected with the transformation of the regime with Narendra Modi’s assumption of power. The contours of the forging of the corporate-communal nexus started unfolding in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Two unusual developments emerged in the public domain. First, the RSS which had despite its forays

If Only We Had Wings…

R KELLY, the now disgraced pop star, had famously sung, ‘I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky…spread my wings and fly away…’ That song, with the beautiful video of Michael Jordan dunking the ball in the basket was really fascinating. That was then, it was only a fascination. A fantasy. But these are the days when fantasies turn into realities and myths. From there, it is not a long flight to become part of our history syllabus. Let us see how it is done.A textbook for Class VIII students in Karnataka teaches us that one can easily fly.

Is this the End of Justice?

THE Amrit Mahotsav celebrations of 75 years of Indian independence were indelibly marred by the shocking remission granted on that day by the government of Gujarat to 11 persons who had been convicted of multiple rape and murder committed by them during the horrific carnage of Muslims that took place in the state in 2002. When news of this remission became public, Bilkis Bano, the only survivor of the crimes, could only say ‘Is this the end of Justice’?MEMORIES HAUNT ONCE AGAINI was part of a CPI(M)-AIDWA delegation along with Brinda Karat, Kiran Moghe, Mariam Dhawale, Sub

75 Years since Independence: Where India Stands in Road Accidents?

THE government celebrated ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to mark 75 years of India’s Independence in a big way. Like many other burning issues of the people, the major issue of road accidents/fatalities and the miseries of the victims and their families was also ignored or sidelined. The government has recently released the statistics and an analysis report on road accidents.India stands number one in the world in road accidents and related deaths. As many as 1,31,714 persons were killed and 3,48,279 injured due to road accidents in 2020.

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