An Expert Group in the Planning Commission calls for a more development-led approach to people's resistance, and a renewed commitment by the State to the democratic system. K S Subramanian says a lot of people should read the report.

There has been a massive erosion in public confidence in our criminal justice system. There have been numerous commissions set up to suggest improvements, but nothing much has come of these, writes C V Madhukar.

The defence services are convinced that the sixth Central Pay Commission has further downgraded the status of Indian soldiers. Maj Gen S G Vombatkere (retd) cautions that testing the patience of the Indian soldier cannot be in the best interests of the nation.

When the good is almost always defined in terms of one community's ascendance over another, it is not the evil in us that makes us violent. How can we reduce this, ponders Rajesh Kasturirangan.

A future government that is without the check of a strong opposition could strike out on a course that is markedly divergent from India's past record of abstinence from geo-political conflicts, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

Plenty of criticism has been levelled at excess use of force and abuse of human rights by the Army in Manipur. And yet, with much infighting and corruption, insurgents themselves have lost the moral high ground, writes Surekha Sule.

Arguing against the nuclear enclave and its retainers is a kind of national service, and we must press on, no matter how futile it may appear at times, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

For over two months, young Manipuris have boycotted schools and colleges in the state. Two killings in broad daylight in Imphal, including one allegedly custodial, have resulted in the deadlock. Thingnam Anjulika Samom has more.

The pervasive tendency to speculate and insinuate involvement of individuals and selective groups in instances of terror, without authentication or references to source of information, is not only an unfair attack on those implicated but against the very essence of journalism. Ammu Joseph elaborates.

As the spectre of communal violence raises its ugly head yet again in the build-up towards elections, India Together talks to Ramachandra Guha to explore the threats to the secular imagination in India and the hopes for religious pluralism in the democracy.

As the world mourns the loss of one of history's most remarkable leaders, Devaki Jain reminisces the occasions when she met Nelson Mandela and dwells on the qualities that set him apart.

The calling off of talks between India and Pakistan is being attributed to the latter’s interactions with separatists, with an extended reference to incursions along the LoC. Firdaus Ahmed digs beyond the obvious to highlight the more likely cause behind the move.

The International Day of Peace, celebrated on September 21 every year, has little meaning for people living in conflict areas. Like the Manipuri women, Anjulika Thingnam talks to, who feel that decades-old violence in Manipur has not only increased but taken many different forms.

In light of events in Pathankot, Firdaus Ahmed analyses Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech, given to the military brass last month at the Combined Commanders’ conference aboard the INS Vikramaditya, on the way forward with Pakistan.

With the tension between India-Pakistan rising, Darryl D’Monte reports a recent discussion about the confrontation between these two nuclear states.

The SC recently ruled that a 19-year-old Chandigarh-based mentally retarded girl must be allowed to carry on her pregnancy that was caused by sexual assault. The verdict throws open more questions than it answers, writes Kamayani Bali Mahabal.

The findings of a 2012 Lancet study on death by suicide in India reveal the alarming trend of suicide among those under the age of 29. Comparing the Lancet figures with NCRB data, Shambhu Ghatak highlights the real extent of the problem and identifies some of the key causes.

While any act of self-killing is tragic and worthy of attention, one cannot help wonder why the proportion of male suicides in the country steadily rises with age. Take a look at the stark and sustained picture revealed by the data published by the NCRB.

What happens to the mothers, sisters, daughters, and wives of the Muslim men who are rounded up, rightly or wrongly, for being terrorists? From society to media, none listens to the voices of these women, the results of which could be dangerous finds Puja Awasthi.

When malnutrition among children is widespread, the government is slashing funds allocated to the mid day meal scheme that covers most of the vulnerable children. Questioning this approach of the government, E S Ramamurthy started a petition to raise the funding for mid-day meal scheme to cover minimum nutritional needs of a child.

Ignored by the government, shunned by society and caught in a time-warp of their own, the nomadic castes and tribes of India are almost "non citizens" of the land. R. Akhileshwari describes the abysmal plight of such people from Andhra Pradesh and highlights the injustice and neglect that they are subject to.

Days before Telangana goes to polls, Venugopalrao Nellutla examines the lack of exuberance and the dilemmas among people in the region, even as they look ahead to statehood and their own government in weeks from now.

Widely labelled as the first of its kind, the Intensive Family Survey conducted in Telangana on 19 August gave rise to a range of speculations, and predictably drew its share of brickbats and bouquets. Venugopalrao Nellutla seeks to decipher the real motives and usefulness of the survey.

Deccan Development Society (DDS) is transforming the lives of villagers of Zaheerhabad, Telangana. Ashish Kothari visited the place recently and writes about how DDS is successfully working with Dalit farmers towards ecologically sustainable farming, women empowerment and community-led communications.

Telangana’s free registration of plain paper land sale initiative to digitally clean up its land records not only benefits its dispossessed farmers but makes land governance transparent, reports Manipadma Jena.

With the news increasingly slanted towards the rich, public health takes a back-seat while the concerns of the few are overblown. SARS is the first of many signs in the media of this disparity, says P Sainath.

In the Nandesari industrial area and surrounding it, the chemical pollution that has accompanied years of industrial growth has ravaged agriculture and public health. Surekha Sule reports.

Rajasthan is getting ready for a mass installation of fluoride filters on water handpumps in over 23000 villages. The state's drinking water has dangerously high fluoride levels. But the government's reliance on pumps may cause more harm than good, asserts Deepak Malik.

At an international forum earlier this month, government claims of progress on providing water and sanitation were challenged by a number of NGOs. Darryl D'Monte reports.

The central government's decision to reintroduce the ban on non-iodised salt raised a controversy. For a lay person, it is difficult to see which side makes more sense – the one taken by protagonists of the ban, who include India's topmost experts on iodine deficiency, or that of the opponents. Darryl D'Monte looks into the arguments.

India needs a strong public health system, but our direction is the opposite. Public spending on health is a mere 0.9% of GDP, and medical care is now the second most common cause of rural family debt. Public ill health, private profit - that's the partnership we are forging, writes P Sainath.

Vultures are nature's scavengers and their effectiveness in disposing off dead cattle has been a critical public health safeguard in India. But with the sub-continent losing 95% of its vulture population in just 15 years, scientists and conservationists have been scrambling to understand why, and propose remedies. Darryl D'Monte has more.

The LDF government's recent payment of compensation to the victims is a great climb down, for this is the first time a Kerala government has conceded that endosulfan was the cause of the unusual and lethal health disorders that spread in Kasargode. Does this mean more for the victims to look forward to? P N Venugopal finds out.

They forage the city, collecting and sorting often hazardous waste when the city sleeps and by day they are gone. Most of them are women and we have no long-term policy in place that looks at their welfare or health, writes Kalpana Sharma.

The public's perception that government facilities and services are poor has led them to abandon these in favour of private providers. But those are not necessarily better, writes R Balasubramaniam.

Medical services are today driven by needs and definitions out of sync with the realities of the masses. In conversation with Pamela Philipose, health activist Imrana Qadeer argues why health should be seen through the prism of the various structural components of society - caste, class and gender.

Militaristic theories of Gulf War II's implications must not be allowed to sabotage India's national interests, says Firdaus Ahmed .

Only strategic moves arising from paradigm shifts can bring about purposeful movement away from illusions of ‘normalcy’, says Firdaus Ahmed.

Mehbooba Mufti speaks of her interest in bringing gender parity to Jammu and Kashmir.

J&K's Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill 2004 is now in cold storage, but Mehbooba Mufti and other Kashmiri women appear to have opted for the future character of their State, than their own rights, says Kalpana Sharma.

Dilip D'Souza on his first-hand observations of low election turnout in Jammu and Kashmir.

There is a strong case to reschedule the Kashmir valley railway line project, says Pavan Nair.

Can everyone be a victim? Talking to the Kashmiris, the Pandits, and the people in Jammu, Dilip D'Souza finds each community stating its demands for change in very similar themes. Each is certain that true patriotism demands fair consideration of its view, but each also believes itself to be the victim.

A senior advocate at the Srinagar High Court, Parvez Imroz helped bring together hundreds of Kashmiri families whose members have disappeared in the conflict. The media have not been forthright when reporting about Kashmir, he tells Joe Athialy in this interview, but acknowledges that the support of other people's movements is vital.

Despite the highest legal protections, the population of the chiru continues to decline, raising doubts over enforcement standards for the protection of endangered species. Kanchi Kohli looks ahead to the hearing in the Supreme Court, and hopes the court will affirm the basic premises behind conservation efforts.

Shelter kits developed by Oxfam are being distributed in quake-hit villages in Uri and Tangdhar, but many hurdles have to be overcome to provide these to everyone before the weather turns bitterly cold. Kanchi Kohli finds hopeful but worried villagers and relief workers fighting the odds and the elements.

Women's groups around the country may have held back in the sex scandal in Kashmir because it is embedded in the divided politics of that state. Meanwhile, within Kashmir itself voices that were not heard before are now audible through a women's magazine that was recently launched, writes Kalpana Sharma.

In the 'village of widows' near the Line of Control, women had become accustomed to living off aid and alms. But in 2001, a group of women, part of Athwaas, decided to try to make things better, and something that was impossible to contemplate even six years ago, has now happened. Ashima Kaul reports.

Sectarian positioning with an eye upon votes fuelled the controversy over Amarnath land transfer issue. The two main opposition groups made no effort to counter the bogey of Hinduisation of Kashmir, writes Sant Kumar Sharma.

The Indian liberal can support azadi in Kashmir as the lesser evil, or treat Kashmiri Muslim suffering as the collateral damage of pluralist India. But this is just a choice between two squalid, compromised ideals, writes Mukul Kesavan.