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By Amritananda Chakravorty In a pathbreaking judgment, the Constitution Bench of 5 judges of Supreme Court has recognised right to die as a fundamental right, thereby paving the way for passive euthanasia and living wills to be legal. The Court categorically held that “all adults with capacity to...
By Arun Srivastava Sonia Gandhi reaching out to the opposition parties and their leaders has been an astute move. Her dinner diplomacy reminisces her initiatives that had culminated in the formation of the UPA against the NDA. It was expected of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi that he would...
By Sushil Kutty There is a slight change in the status of President Xi Jinping’s folk singer wife – she will remain First Lady for the duration of his life, not just for two terms, unless with the vast powers vested in him as China’s President for Life,...
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A buoyant BJP, flush from its success in Tripura, has now set its sights on capturing the last of the red forts: Kerala. And the strategy the BJP has hit upon is the same which it tried in Tripura successfully: engineer defections from...
By Nantoo Banerjee Had the Friedmans, Milton and Rose, the last of the laissez-faire doctrine proponents, been alive today, they would have probably called the capitalist realtor-turned US president, Donald Trump, a pseudo socialist. In true capitalism, there is no place for government interference in economic affairs beyond...
Sushil Kutty When death is an inevitable there cannot be such a thing as a right to die. All life on the planet is destined to die. Human beings prefer to live than die. Right to life takes precedence. Besides, as long as the debate/belief on/in ‘God/Creator’ is not...
By Sankar Ray Jam Saqi, former general secretary of the Communist Party of Pakistan passed away on March 5. Suffering from multiple ailments, he died of renal failure. He was 73. Saqi led the CPP delegation at the 12th Congress (Calcutta, 1989) of the Communist Party of...
By K Raveendran The Supreme Court has upheld the right to die in dignity, saying such right must be considered inherent in one’s right to life. It naturally follows that if a person has the right to die in dignity, it also implies the right to live with...
By Harihar Swarup Two important events happened last week; a rash of statue vandalism has broken all over the country after Lenin statues were toppled in Tripura following the Left Front’s defeat. Secondly two arch rivals—Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi party and Mayawati’s BSP decided to join hands in by polls...
By Nitya Chakraborty The resounding success of the BJP in the assembly elections in Tripura by trouncing the CPI(M) which ruled the state for the last twenty five years, has led to an unprecedented churning in the top echelons of the CPI(M) leadership. The magnitude of the success...
JAPAN’S MESSAGE TO ARUN JAITLEY: REMOVE $3-BN RETROSPECTIVE DEMAND NEW DELHI: Japan has asked the Narendra Modi-led government to drop a $3-billion retrospective tax bill raised on Japanese companies operating in India, calling those “unreasonable” and “discriminatory”. It has said the demand could impact future Japanese investments in...
NO PASS-THROUGH STATUS FOR ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FUNDS New Delhi: The income tax department might turn down the demand of alternative investment funds (AIF) such as hedge funds, private equity funds and infrastructure funds to exempt them from tax and impose it at the hands of investors. Such an...
By Dr. Arun Mitra The transfer of Bhupendra Singh, Chairman National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), has evoked strong reaction from the medical fraternity as well as civil society groups working for affordable healthcare to all. This reaction has come in the wake of several positive steps taken by...
By Aditya Aamir Farooq ‘Takla’. Hear the name and a picture flashes: Of barren landscape where nothing grows. Farooq’s mother could not have nicknamed him better: Pat to the pate, ‘Takla’ is Mumbaiya Hindi for bald. And Dawood aide Farooq ‘Takla’ fits the name to the last...
By Gyan Pathak Corruption in India is still rampant. The so called steps taken in the name of ending corruption have failed. These steps brought only harassment for the common people, while the corrupt seem to escape easily. The Corruption Perception Indices for the last four years released...
By S. Sethuraman The majoritarian BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now embroiled in the complicated power games playing out in the South, where it still remains a Party of the North, until it gains a beach-head, wielding power of some sort either by itself or...
By Anand Vardhan HONG KONG: President XI Jingpin has called for “full opening up “of the Chinese economy towards the realisation of his vision of making China strong, including the ambition to take a global lead on technological and industrial change. Addressing delegates from the southern province...
By Rahil Nora Chopra Telangana Chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao is set to visit Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru as part of his effort to forge a third front against BJP and Congress to strive for .qualitative changes in Indian politics. He is also meeting retired...