Why does the five-man bench get to decide which of the three issues in the triple talaq case is more important than the others? When the history of Indian women is written, 2017 will go down as the year when the Plight of the Muslim Woman was uncovered. So grave is this plight that politicians have sworn one law for all citizens. So pitiable her condition that Supreme Court judges have sacrificed their vacation to come to judgment. Inside the court, men argue to follow practices that go back 1,400 years. The courts cannot interfere. Others say, they must, especially…

Why does the five-man bench get to decide which of the three issues in the triple talaq case is more important than the others? Muslim women hold placards against ‘triple talaq’ in New Delhi(PTI) When the history of Indian women is written, 2017 will go down as the year when the Plight of the Muslim Woman was uncovered. So grave is this plight that politicians have sworn one law for all citizens. So pitiable her condition that Supreme Court judges have sacrificed their vacation to come to judgment. Inside the court, men argue to follow practices that go back 1,400…

Speaking up has consequences and, so, in the din of divisive discourse that makes way for majoritarian force, the solitary voice is now hard to hear. I don’t know if you ever read Roger Rosenblatt’s essay in Time magazine in the early eighties: the air-crash over Washington, the rescue helicopter picking up survivors and, in the freezing water, the man who each time offers the lifeline to someone else, you go first. By the time it’s his turn, he’s gone under. That era is over. We now live in an age of spectacle, of Twitter stars and troll slayers. Where…

Speaking up has consequences and, so, in the din of divisive discourse that makes way for majoritarian force, the solitary voice is now hard to hear. A note rests at a makeshift memorial for the two men who were killed May 26 on a commuter train while trying to stop another man from harassing two young women who appeared to be Muslim, in Portland, Oregon.(REUTERS) I don’t know if you ever read Roger Rosenblatt’s essay in Time magazine in the early eighties: the air-crash over Washington, the rescue helicopter picking up survivors and, in the freezing water, the man who…

The meek acquiescence by citizens to the growing intrusion of state and other actors is alarming. Members of Gau Raksha Dal holding a Protest in 2016. Does the sudden increase in vigilante groups signal an erosion of civil liberties and democratic values?(Bharat Bhushan/HT Photo) Don’t eat beef. Don’t transport cows. Don’t buy cows. Don’t drink alcohol if in Gujarat and Bihar or within 500 metres of state and national highways. Don’t play cricket with Pakistan and don’t hire Pakistani actors in films. Stand to attention during the playing of the national anthem before watching culturally appropriate movies. Scenes that show…

The meek acquiescence by citizens to the growing intrusion of state and other actors is alarming. Don’t eat beef. Don’t transport cows. Don’t buy cows. Don’t drink alcohol if in Gujarat and Bihar or within 500 metres of state and national highways. Don’t play cricket with Pakistan and don’t hire Pakistani actors in films. Stand to attention during the playing of the national anthem before watching culturally appropriate movies. Scenes that show that Hanuman Chalisa doesn’t scare away ghosts will be excised. Tasteless remarks about Hindu Gods and sages will lead to arrest warrants. Do yoga. Dress decently. Do not…

We do the army no favours by placing it on a pedestal from where it cannot be asked legitimate questions. We do it no favours when we seek to draw it into an emotional public debate. Military action cannot be based on populist sentiment; wars are not fought and won in TV studios. A solution, when found, will not happen by placing hot emotion over cool strategy. A soon-to-be-launched news channel has declared public enemy #1. Not poverty, disease or illiteracy, it’s Pakistan. The channel isn’t on air, but if you watched the news on other channels this past week,…

We do the army no favours by placing it on a pedestal from where it cannot be asked legitimate questions. We do it no favours when we seek to draw it into an emotional public debate. Military action cannot be based on populist sentiment; wars are not fought and won in TV studios. A solution, when found, will not happen by placing hot emotion over cool strategy. People shout slogans and burn an effigy in Chandigarh during a protest against the killing of two Indian soldiers in Kashmir.(REUTERS) A soon-to-be-launched news channel has declared public enemy #1. Not poverty, disease…

Nothing exemplifies the moral slide from Dadri to Alwar as much as the indifference on display Anguri Begum, mother of Pehlu Khan sitting on dharna at Jatnar Mantar in New Delhi.(Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO) A family counts itself blessed that the 85-year-old mother is blind and is ,therefore, spared from having to watch the video of her son being told to escape – then chased and lynched. We shrug at a bride’s disappointment at a curtailed wedding feast because her family is too scared to serve buffalo biryani (legal but risky), opting for chicken korma (expensive but safe). You can understand…

Nothing exemplifies the moral slide from Dadri to Alwar as much as the indifference on display. A family counts itself blessed that the 85-year-old mother is blind and is ,therefore, spared from having to watch the video of her son being told to escape – then chased and lynched. We shrug at a bride’s disappointment at a curtailed wedding feast because her family is too scared to serve buffalo biryani (legal but risky), opting for chicken korma (expensive but safe). You can understand the caution. The bride’s hometown, Dadri is a landmark in India’s recent lynching history. Young Hindu men…

Doctors can be super-heroes in white coats. Last year they wrote about their working conditions — long shifts, short sleep, bad food – to the state Human Rights Commission. Shifts in a stressful job can stretch to 48 straight hours. But when you’re short of five lakh doctors in the country, what choice do you have? Here’s what they don’t teach you in medical school: Self-defence. Perhaps they should. After all patients, or more accurately their relatives, are known to beat up doctors who bear bad news. Think I’m exaggerating? Watch the YouTube video of the assault that landed Dr…

Doctors can be super-heroes in white coats. Last year they wrote about their working conditions — long shifts, short sleep, bad food – to the state Human Rights Commission. Shifts in a stressful job can stretch to 48 straight hours. But when you’re short of five lakh doctors in the country, what choice do you have? Resident doctors at KEM hospital protest at KEM hospital, Mumbai, March 23, 2017(Bhushan Koyande/HT) Here’s what they don’t teach you in medical school: Self-defence. Perhaps they should. After all patients, or more accurately their relatives, are known to beat up doctors who bear bad…