There was a time when the word “troll” referred to an unpleasant mythological character – today, trolls are just as unpleasant, but hardly the stuff of folklore. At a time when Twitter wars and unpleasant internet campaigns have become common place on the one hand, and socially aware youth are pressing for free speech and…
After challenging the validity of the criminal defamation law, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has now challenged before the Supreme Court various provisions of the Indian Penal Code dealing with offences of ‘hate speech’, saying they were violative of the fundamental right to freedom of speech. According to the law, hate speech is any speech, gesture…
In Plato’s Republic, the Greek philosopher writes of the Ring of Gyges, a magical ring that renders the wearer invisible and thus allows him to perform any action without being discovered. In such a situation, asks Plato, why would the wearer still act morally? Conclusion: morality is only a social construct that evaporates once there…
D’Ocracy D.E.M., beloved husband of T.Ruth, loving father of L.I.Bertie, brother of Faith, Hope, Justice, expired on June 26”, read an obituary in The Times of India’s Bombay edition. It was late (very late) June, 1975. A few nights before, late on 25 June, a few minutes before midnight, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed imposed a…
Greenpeace India will meet representatives of different political parties and raise the issue of fundamental rights, after the government suspended its FCRA registration and blocked its domestic and international bank accounts. Greenpeace India campaigner Priya Pillaisaid the organisation will speak to all the political parties to stand up and protect the fundamental rights. Pillai was recently…
The de-recognition of a student body, ‘Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle,’ at IIT-Madras by its management has turned into a big inter-party conflict going beyond the campus. Its echo is heard on the streets of the capital and in other metropolitan cities. Fortunately, Parliament is not in session as it would provide yet another chance to the…
The de-recognition of a student body, ‘Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle,’ at IIT-Madras by its management has turned into a big inter-party conflict going beyond the campus. Its echo is heard on the streets of the capital and in other metropolitan cities. Fortunately, Parliament is not in session as it would provide yet another chance to the…
In 1993, the Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen wrote the novel “Lajja” (Shame), which offended many Muslims on the Indian subcontinent. The author had to go into hiding in India because of death threats by Bangladeshi Islamist groups. Bangladesh’s Islamists, however, were not as powerful in the early 1990s as they are today. Since the start…
From July, mobile phone users will be able to retain their numbers when they relocate to any part of the country, even if they change operators. Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday announced that full Mobile Number Portability (MNP) will become operational from July. Talking to reporters during a press…
Lawyers practising at the Madras high court’s Madurai bench staged a protest here on Tuesday demanding an immediate revocation of the derecognition of a student group at IIT Madras. As many as 60 lawyers gathered in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the court premises and raised slogans against the IIT-M management condemning the…