‘Emotions’ and politics It is time that politicians stop playing with the emotions of people for their own gains. The “emotion card” is now being used as a “masterstroke” to divert attention from the real issues facing the common man, which include poverty, unemployment, inflation, income inequality and corruption. Raising irrelevant issues before an election … Read more
The passage of the Indian Ports Bill, 2025 in the Rajya Sabha, on August 18, marks a pivotal moment in India’s maritime legislative history. Intended to repeal and replace the Act of 1908, it comes alongside the newly enacted Coastal Shipping Act, 2025, the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2025, and the Merchant Shipping … Read more
The decision by the Congress-led Telangana government to seek a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into alleged irregularities related to the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project has triggered a feud in the family of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) patriarch K. Chandrashekar Rao. Mr. Rao, the first Chief Minister of Telangana, who served two terms, is … Read more
Constitutional democracies are sustained not only by written laws but also by what the South African professor of law, Etienne Mureinik, first described as a “culture of justification”. That is, the idea that every exercise of public power must be explained and defended. As Mureinik put it, “The leadership given by government rests on the … Read more
File picture of M.S. Dhoni setting the field during an ODI against Australia | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak The selection of Shubman Gill for the Asia Cup might be debatable. Not because he is not good enough, but because the Test series against the West Indies commences three days after the final there. He will … Read more
In March 2024, the Indian government issued revised guidelines under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016. These guidelines provide a framework for assessing the extent of disability of people with two copies of the sickle cell gene, or with both sickle cell and beta thalassaemia, or Hb D. Sickle cell disease (SCD) … Read more
The Gauri Lankesh murder trial began only in March 2022 — nearly five years after she was shot dead in front of her house — and has moved at a glacial pace. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Two years ago, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said at an event commemorating journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder … Read more
More than the outcomes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to visit China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit was a clear message from the government on a shift in its foreign policy outlook. It has been seven years since Mr. Modi had travelled to China, and his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was … Read more
The intellectual property (IP) world — the complex labyrinth of laws, lobbyists, court rulings, corporate interests, and legal treatises that protects creativity — can be bewildering at times. This is the world where Disney lobbied Congress to extend the copyright term, helping keep Mickey Mouse out of the public domain as the U.S. copyright term … Read more
Better ties with China The fact that India and China have expressed their commitment to a fair resolution of the border issue augurs well for bilateral relations between the two neighbours (Front page, September 1). One only hopes that this commitment would lead to a faster de-escalation and withdrawal of troops along the Line of … Read more