Editorials

The BSP shuts the door on the Congressfor now, but gives itself some wiggle room Even as she shut the door on the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati left a window open. While calling off talks on an alliance with the Congress for the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan …

The magnificent Asiatic lion is under threat. Twenty-three lions have died in as many days in the eastern part of Gujarat’s Gir sanctuary. While mass mortalities in wildlife are always a cause for concern, this case is even more worrisome as the big cat population in Gujarat is the last …

Hard facts militate against the Modi government’s position on Rafale ‘L’affaire Rafale’ has become the Achilles heel of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. The incontrovertible truth is that in August 2007, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government floated a tender for the purchase of 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft …

Dissent is the custodian of difference, giving voice to minorities and people on the margins Dissent today is one of the most critical acts of democracy. There is an element of critical risk, and yet it is presented like a slice of drawing room behaviour. One almost senses that the …

India rejected the United Nations statement that its repatriation of seven Rohingya men violated the UN principle of “refoulement” or “forcibly deporting people to a place they could be persecuted,” saying that the men, who were handed over to Myanmar officials at the border on Thursday, had gone voluntarily. “Upon …

The Swachh Bharat Mission needs a broader vision of what constitutes cleanliness India’s Swachh Bharat Mission is receiving global praise for attempting to close the sanitation gap of nearly 60% of the rural population not having access to a toilet at home in 2014. The NDA government invoked Mahatma Gandhi’s …

Brazil votes this week in an election charged by an anti-establishment campaign The campaign for Sunday’s elections in Brazil is beset by an anti-establishment mood, as in several democracies. Legislators at the state and national levels are being elected, but it is the contest for the President’s post that has …

The government’s revised guidelines for conducting exams for persons with disabilities are unfair and regressive In an 1850 report, Samuel Gridley Howe, popularly considered the ‘father of the American blind’, emphatically wrote: “The blind as a class, are inferior to other persons in mental power and ability.” It is dismaying …

The progression from poor to bourgeois to elite is a welcome evolution in nation-building — the apex court missed it As citizens, we expect two certainties from any verdict on public policy by a constitution bench of the Supreme Court. One, it must hold whether the underlying principle(s) is/are consistent …

We need a clean environment for human empowerment Yesterday, the United Nations honoured me with the Champions of the Earth Award. While I was extremely humbled at receiving this honour, I do feel that this award is not for an individual. Instead, it is recognition of the Indian culture and …