With beleaguered former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf arrested over the slaying of Jamhoori Watan party chief Akbar Bugti in 2006, Balochistan is again in the limelight.
Chiranjib Haldar writes.
Will conjugal rights for prisoners open a Pandora's box or preserve family ties? Kusum writes.
Few stories in Mumbai have a neat and easy closure. Among them, the horrific riots and communal viciousness in the weeks that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid must rank high. Smruti Koppikar writes.
Political movements and the functioning of electoral democracy over the past 65 years have led to considerable social change in Karnataka. When faced with the ballot box, Karnataka prizes performance over identity, writes
CP Bhambhri.
Dealing with sexual assault needs an innovative approach as rape differs from other crimes in its method and perpetration. KK Paul writes.
For the past few days, many in Mantralaya’s corridors are talking in hushed tones about a letter reportedly sent by a senior bureaucrat to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and two other ministers. Shailesh Gaikwad writes.
The home department of the Government of Maharashtra has done it again. Year after year, the political executive wants to nibble at the command and control structure of the director general of police first by taking over the transfer of officers and now arrogating the powers to promote the subordinate ranks, thereby rendering the office of the DGP irrelevant. K Subramanyam writes.
The internet, much like the world around us, is impossible to escape.
Demolition of illegal properties where the poor live is common. Demolition of properties where the rich might live happens occasionally. But demolition of properties where the rich and middle classes live and have been living for 25 years is very, very rare. Ayaz Memon writes.
Shamshad Begum's voice is a significant part of the history of Indian cinema, not only for its inherent artistry, but also for reasons of its marginalisation from popular taste. Sanjay Srivastava writes.
Everyday the headlines scream at us, with alarming frequency, of yet another rape. The only way to protect our children is by giving them enough safe room to remain carefree.
Sagari Chhabra writes.
When a person commits a crime, society - in other words, people - tend to ascribe labels to the offender. The criminal gets described variously as abnormal (which has a medical connotation), evil (which has a moral connotation), or owing to their belonging to a social category (racial or ethnic prejudice) or acting due to poverty (a class dimension). Vijay Raghavan writes.
The tragic end of Sarabjit Singh in Lahore jail unplugged long-frozen memories of my journalistic encounters with the surreal and secretive world of cross-border spies. All former Indian spies share the same chilling tale of being left out in the cold. Ramesh Vinayak writes.
The death of an 86-year old woman living in a trust-run housing colony in Colaba recently made news in the Parsi newspapers - not because she was a notable member of the community, but because after she died a lonely death in a hospital, the trust that manages the housing colony refused to accept claims that she had living heirs. Manoj R Nair writes.
How can someone who had once created artworks for Jabakusum hair oil and Chelsa cigarette advertisements become India’s foremost filmmaker? By observing Jean Renoir it would seem, Ranjan Das Gupta writes.