South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s four-day state visit to India early last month came at a time when Mr. Moon’s administration is seeking to upgrade India-South Korea relations. It was evident when Mr. Moon launched a foreign initiative called New Southern Policy last year that he had decided to step …
Read More »Monthly Archives: August 2018
Towards war’s end
Talks between representatives of Syria’s Kurdish rebels and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus bring a ray of hope to hundreds of thousands living in the country’s north and east. After the talks last week, leaders of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, …
Read More »The public-private gap in health care
The recent controversy about transparency in the working of the cadaver transplant programme in Tamil Nadu has provided an opportunity to revisit the vexed question of medical rationing in India. It is a hard reality that not all medical interventions are available to every citizen who may need it. The …
Read More »Election sees rise of anti-blasphemy party
A relatively new anti-blasphemy party, whose leader has reportedly vowed to nuke the Netherlands should he ever come to power, did surprisingly well in Pakistan’s elections. Islamist fundamentalist parties fielded more than 1,500 candidates in Pakistan’s provincial and national elections that were won by Imran Khan. The performance of Tehreek-e-Labaik …
Read More »A fundamental error
August 24 will mark the first anniversary of the unanimous affirmation of the right to privacy by a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court. The court imposed upon the government a clear obligation to make a law safeguarding a person’s informational privacy, commonly referred to as data protection. The right …
Read More »Muslim woman who moved SC against Nikah Halala claims death threats
A Muslim woman from Uttar Pradesh’s Sikandrabad, who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking abolition of ‘nikah halala’ practice earlier this month, on Tuesday alleged that she has received death threats from her husband. The woman, Farzana, had claimed in her petition that she had been illegally …
Read More »Set procedure to vet NRC claims, says SC
When asked ‘what ahead’, Mr. Hajela said time has been given till August 7 for people to ascertain their names in the NRC. From August 8, those excluded can approach the Local Registrar or the NRC Sewa Kendras to find out the reasons for their non-inclusion. Their claims and objections …
Read More »STA-1 status from U.S. welcome, says India
India has welcomed the decision of the U.S. government to grant it the status of a trading partner equivalent to its closest allies in the NATO. This decision is likely to boost India’s defence trade with the U.S. The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, said it proved India’s …
Read More »Rajiv Sadbhavana Award for Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has been chosen for this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award for promoting communal harmony and peace. The award carries a citation and a cash award of Rs. 10 lakh. Sadbhavana Award has been given to Gopalkrishna Gandhi for his outstanding contribution towards the promotion …
Read More »SC questions rationale of genital mutilation practice
The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that it cannot direct doctors to perform genital mutilation of minor girls of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community and questioned the “scientific justification”, if any, behind the procedure. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, which was hearing a PIL plea …
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