Opinion

The army is an organisation that is build primarily for defense against external aggression. Hence it is an instrument that is used entirely for a different set of activities. For the army to be involved in internal disturbances requires a great degree of doctrinal, tactical, operational and strategic changes. The Indian army has been swift in evolving and equipping itself ...

On Monday, November 5, Irom Sharmila completed 12 years of her hunger fast that she went on in protest against the draconian law known as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Her demand is simple — repeal AFSPA, a law that provides impunity to armed forces from all human rights violations. Sharmila went on a hunger fast in the ...

[Following is a statement by the Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association (JTSA), dated 23rd October 2012.] Fasih Mehmood’s Deportation: Déjà vu, once more In September, we brought out a report, Framed, Damned, Acquitted documenting 16 cases where trials of terror accused had resulted in acquittals for not only lack of evidence but obviously concocted evidence. Each of these cases was accompanied ...

Measuring human life in monetary terms is highly disrespectful. Human life, according to me, should never be matched with sums of money. But in order to compensate for loss of human life, countries all over the world have to assign a monetary value to human life. However, unfortunately, not all human life is assessed to have the same value. Some ...

So the Khap says, “Boys and girls should be married by the time they turn sixteen years old, so that they do not stray … this will decrease the incidents of rape.” Now, if you were having a tough time understanding how getting people married will decrease incidents of rape, here is the underlying message of the Khap. What the ...

[Following is a statement from All India Students’ Association (AISA)] An Appeal to Save Jamia From: The Bulldozer Of Massive Fee Hike, Administrative Bullying Of Students and Denial of Students Union! Friends, Imagine a place where public places are under the constant surveillance of CCTV cameras; where private security ‘bulls’ patrol the grounds, to prevent public gatherings, pasting of posters, ...

According to an article titled “PTMs in DU: Hello, Military Camp!” dated Oct. 2 in Delhi University’s student newspaper, DU Beat, the DU administration has proposed to form a  “Parents Coordination Committee” to allegedly act as “mediators” between teachers and their college-going children. Again, according to DU Beat, this implies that if the committee is formed, Parent Teachers Meetings (PTM) will ...

The challenge that India faces from Pakistan is real and existential in nature. The history of Indo-Pak relationship has always been that of war, deception and hatred. The discourse on this particular paradigm has always been of great relevance to the strategic and securities studies community in India. The course of events in both geopolitical and geo-economic front calls for ...

Conflict is brutality. It disjoints the happy-living from people and pushes them into a life which has nothing to offer them except the memories, bursting at its seams with trauma, trepidation and loss. It mars all hopes of living. It mashes down the dearest dreams to ashes. Conflict is death. Death of existence; death of conscience; and death of life. ...

Reservation, or affirmative action, is a topic which invariably generates controversy, whether one supports it or opposes it. I would like to give my opinion on this issue by posing a question: Have we failed the Constitution, or has the Constitution failed us? For me it is clearly the former. The intent of the constitution makers behind the policy of ...