Are quotas the way to redress inequities? A majority of the members of the National Knowledge Commission did not agree, but the UPA government is pressing ahead with its focus on quotas. Two of the NKC's members, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Andre Beteille, have resigned from the commission.

The famed textile industry of Surat is one of the pillars of Gujarat's industrial success story. What is less known about it is the unfortunate reality of rampant child employment and exploitation that prevails there. Shirish Khare reports.

The National Human Rights Commission should investigate Punjab's forced disappearance, says Human Rights Watch

An INASAF investigation finds the state grossly indifferent to the health, medical needs, and humane treatment of its prisoners, some of whom haven't even received trials.

Sexual harassment has to be vigorously tackled where it begins -- at school -- says Kalpana Sharma.

Being concerned does not mean taking the law into your own hands or encouraging vigilantism. Still, there are no pat solutions, says Kalpana Sharma.

For the great majority of us who are far from the Tsunami disaster, the easiest thing to contribute is money. Finding someone who'll take our money is easy. But a recipient's annual report summarising relief transactions is not enough to tell us how our money was used, says Ashwin Mahesh.

A New York judge rules that trying to patent genetic information cannot be permitted - the first serious setback to the genetic technology industry, which will have implications worldwide, writes Sujatha Byravan.

Tara Krishnaswamy takes a brutally honest and incisive look at Indian society to argue why far from being banned, India’s Daughter – the BBC documentary on the infamous 2012 rape and murder in a Delhi bus – should actually be made compulsory viewing for the Indian audience.

Pope Francis’s Encyclical talks about poverty, social inequality, climate change, and other global crises mankind has created and proposes newer ways to resolve them. Ashish Kothari finds the Encyclical lacking in certain aspects but hopes that other religious and political leaders will learn to stand up and speak up like the Pope.

Dasu Krishnamoorty cautions against equating the media with democracy itself.

Significantly, the copy was less sensational than the headlines in almost all the papers, says Ammu Joseph.

Over the past couple of years or so, it appears that Indian television media are recklessly using and exhibiting children in breaking news and other stories, with the willing participation of parents. Does this constitute child abuse? Shoma Chatterji has more.

They protest when the BJP or Shiv Sena bans a book or intimidates an artist, should they not do likewise when the CPI(M) does likewise? The Taslima Nasreen case has tested, and will test, the integrity of the Left intelligentsia even more than Nandigram, says Ramachandra Guha.

The rural Muslim women of Murshidabad district in West Bengal have circumvented religious curbs and successfully used a prevalent religious tradition to eke out a living as well as create social awareness. Ajitha Menon has more.

Eleven years after journalist Rina Mukherjee was fired following her allegations of sexual harassment against a senior, the West Bengal Industrial Tribunal passes an order against The Statesman, offering hope of redress for other victims. Navya P K reports.

Violence during college union elections, the death of a protesting 22-year-old student in police custody and a resultant chain of events have led to earnest debates in West Bengal over whether students should stay away from active politics. Promona Sengupta explores the reality underlying prevailing sentiments.

Moved by a personal tragedy, young Bengali engineer-turned-actor Bobby Chakraborty has launched a singular campaign to educate schoolchildren about the impact of alcohol and other addiction and deter them from the path. Shoma A Chatterji brings us his story.

In West Bengal, girls are being empowered to refuse early marriage thanks to a state government initiative that enables them to stay longer in school. The Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme has been remarkably successful in curbing child marriage and promoting girl child education, says Saadia Azim.

With 60 per cent of India's population directly engaged in agriculture, and another 200 million landless workers indirectly banking on farming, the real stimulus to the economy can come only if the focus shifts to agriculture, says Devinder Sharma.

Aaaah! Rejoice… love is in the air…and it is beating the virus! Let’s unashamedly swoon over the parallel ‘love tracks’ of these two ‘Lockdown relationships’ — one featuring a 51-year-old, world famous, London-based scientist, the...

At a time when the government should be deeply troubled by the coronavirus pandemic and devising long-term health strategies, its inner circles are busy planning the upgrade of Parliament House and the Central Vista. But...

India’s lockdown has been eased by dividing the country into red, orange and green zones, with high, medium and minimal infections so far, and correspondingly tough curbs on economic activity. This can at best be...

The US PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament will use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in spectator badges to ensure fans maintain social distance at the July 16-19 event, Golf Digest reported Saturday.

Virat Kohli is in a good frame of mind which gives him confidence of being able to pick up from where he left as and when cricket resumes in the post-Covid world. "... once I am in a good frame of mind and I am keeping myself positive and happy, whenever I return to the game, I know I will be in a good position to start again from where we left," Kohli said.

The absence of World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen took many by surprise. To clear the air, website promoters chess.com released a statement but ended up hurting none other than Carlsen.

Ferguson, who came into the fight on a 12-win streak, suffered damage as Gaethje chopped at his legs and landed thunderous hooks before referee Herb Dean stepped in to end the fight late in the fifth round.

In the last two months – after coming back from Amman, Jordan (where he secured Olympic quota in the 69kg category) – Vikas has been cooped up at his farmhouse in Bhiwani, Haryana, due to the pandemic-forced nationwide lockdown.

Umar Akmal, who was found guilty of two charges under the PCB Anti-Corruption Code has refused to divulge details of his two meetings with suspected bookies. According to the source, Akmal had a meeting with two unidentified men in Defence Housing Society in Lahore. The PCB source said Akmal also gave conflicting statements before the Disciplinary Panel hearing on April 27.

Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested a former trustee of Lilavati hospital in connection with a foreign exchange violation case.

Jet had last Friday said that the incident happened when their plane was trying to take off from the runway. But the preliminary probe by Saudi authorities has found that the lane was trying to take off from a taxiway parallel to the take off-designated runway at full power.

Biting — yet sensitive. He’s a study in contrasts. Just like his books. Writer Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize in 2008 with his novel “White Tiger”. In the first interview given globally over his new book “Last Man in Tower”, Adiga now tells Srijana Mitra Das about being a small-town boy, falling in love with Mumbai, capturing the people and philosophies rich India overlooks, writing being his fate, generating controversy — and why he might just step away now.

Sahil Tabassum once said to me, ‘I like a book to have a beginning, a middle and an end.’ I thought to myself...mine cannot be that kind of book. The gaps in my life were too many, the threads too few.

Moms are moms for a reason! They have a solution for every problem, especially when it comes to beauty.

In a first, the army's Local Military Authority (LMA) has roped in its quick response team (QRT) to monitor the Covid-19 situation in civil areas of the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB).

5 moms share their exhausting yet thrilling journey

Vande Bharat Mission: Indians in US ready to be rescued

Poonam Malik is a typical 'Haryanvi bahu', head demurely covered with a dupatta, a shy introvert woman, busy with household chores in her joint family of 15. She covers her face with a 'ghunghat' if elders come visiting.

"Cause we are living in a material world and I am a material girl" crooned Madonna in the Eighties. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we all know there is more to a marriage than love. Today's woman has become assertive about more than her rights. She also makes known her likes and dislikes with the result that society labels her as materialistic.

It all started with an honest Facebook post.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide topped four million as some of the hardest-hit countries readied Sunday to lift lockdown restrictions, despite concerns about the second wave of infections. Governments around the world are trying to stop the spread of the disease while scrambling for ways to relieve pressure on their economies with millions unemployed.