It won’t be tolerated that a person like Kanhaiya Kumar can say anything “just because we have freedom of speech”, Goa Environment and Forest Minister Rajendra Arlekar has said. “Those who think that just because we have freedom of speech and a person like Kanhaiya can say anything… that will not be tolerated,” Arlekar told…
India’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) prides itself as a place where student activism and politics flourish. As a bastion of the nation’s left, it’s known, especially among the intellectual class, as fertile ground for liberal thinking. But for about a month now, student politics on campus — and the state’s reaction — have put…
India is always the land of diversity, cultures and social beliefs. But yet its’ always nature with emotions of love, brotherhood and touch of humanity. But these values are washing away with dust of materialism and political immaturity in present scenario. India is the world’s largest democracy and the Constitution of India grants free speech,…
Rights advocacy group Amnesty International has become the latest to join the bandwagon to criticize the Narendra Modi led BJP government of creating an atmosphere of intolerance by cracking down on dissent through arbitrary arrests, caste-based discrimination, extrajudicial killings and attacks on freedom of expression. The rights body in its annual report for 2015-16 released…
Last month, it was reported that National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) had proposed the setting up of a National Media Analytics Centre(NMAC). This centre’s mandate would be to monitor blogs, media channels, news outlets and social media platforms. Sources were quoted as stating that the centre would rely upon a tracking software built by Ponnurangam…
Known as the pilgrimage of budding politicians, the international university at the heart of capital — Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) — is in news again. This time the students’ wing of ruling BJP government ABVP had staged a protest against the students who had commemorated the judicial hanging of Afzal Guru by screening a movie…
When asked what made him such a prolific painter, even at the age of 91, MF Hussain, known as the Indian Picasso, said it was three things: “not worrying about critics and fundamentalists, working every day, and never wearing shoes”. The great painter went into self-imposed exile after threats from Hindu fundamentalists angry at his…
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…
The Supreme Court of India, in what is sure to go down as an historic decision in Shreya Singhal vs. Union of India Writ Petition (Criminal) No 167 of 2012 (and various connected proceedings) has struck down the notorious Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (the IT Act) as being violative of the…
India is a ‘Developing’ country: one of the reasons is there is no protection for a conscientious citizen especially if he or she has the temerity to report like a journalist on issues that matter to the country. India has a vibrant climate for (news) media industries: newspapers’ circulation is not falling unlike in the…