THREE years after the virtual abrogation of Article 370 and nullification of the special status on August 5, 2019, the Modi government is continuing its efforts to reorder the electoral system in Jammu & Kashmir to suit its interests by disempowering the Muslim majority population.The chief electoral officer of J&K announced on August 16 that anyone ordinarily resident in J&K can enrol as a voter in the union territory.  He also added that 20 to 25 lakh voters are expected to be added during the special summary revision of the voter list.

SEVEN and a half decades is a sufficiently long time to judge the progress made by an independent nation State in modern times.  While we celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, it should also be an occasion to take stock of where the country stands today and where we are headed.The independence of India in 1947 was the first historic milestone in the decolonisation process ushered in after the Second World War.  The new ruling classes, which took power in the Indian State, had sought to build a modern capitalist system amongst the most poverty-stricken, disease-ridden, illi

TWO judgments delivered by the Supreme Court in the course of a week have brought out starkly the contradictory trends on display in the highest court of the land. In the case of the multiple FIRs against Alt News journalist, Mohammed Zubair, a three-member bench consisting of Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant and Justice A S Bopanna, in their judgment asserted that the power to arrest must be used sparingly subject strictly to the law and guidelines laid down by the top court in the Arnesh Kumar case.  The judgment stated that “Arrest is not meant to be and must not be u

PEOPLE’S power was displayed in a spectacular fashion in Sri Lanka on July 9 when tens of thousands of people stormed the Presidential Palace, the President’s Secretariat and the official residence of the prime minister and took them over, sweeping aside the police and soldiers guarding them.Men and women from all over the country, numbering at least two million, came into Colombo determined to end the authoritarian-corrupt rule of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Rajapaksa clan. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after being spirited away from the Presidential Palace to a military base, announced tha

THE horrendous killing in Udaipur has been universally condemned. While the authorities have acted in rounding up those involved, the culprits must receive severe punishment. The growing incendiary atmosphere of hate and violence in the country is dehumanising our society. This spiral of hate must end. The union government ordering the NIA to take over the case should not lead to keeping the fires of hate and violence burning.Fake/false news aimed at rousing communal passions on social media contributes immensely to the growth of poisonous hate and violence spiral.