THE fast of the activist educationist Sonam Wangchuk has completed more than two weeks. Without accountability and sensitivity of the government, his life faces a serious risk. There is growing support and solidarity from various student groups and the broad democratic and secular sections of the society. The fast has achieved the objective of bringing to focus, the dire state of Indian education. Resignation of the Education Minister is naturally the focal demand.

DESPITE the best efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh (UP), a major scandal has exploded on the face of the Hindutva brigade. The biggest political project of the Sangh, which was like a blank cheque for encashment of electoral dividends by the BJP for the last two and a half decades, has ultimately turned out to be their biggest embarrassment.

British statesman, Sir Anthony Eden acknowledged India’s constitution making process as a “stupendous exercise” of democratic practice on an unprecedented scale. He viewed it not as a mere imitation of western models, but as a bold democratic venture with incalculable global influence.

THE Supreme Court’s order in connection with petitions against Election Commission’s SIR orders in Bihar states that “the commission is empowered in the exercise of its constitutional mandate to undertake a limited enquiry into citizenship for the purpose of satisfying itself as to eligibility for inclusion in the electoral roll.” This came from a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

THE trouble with the post truth world is that it has an expiry date. The truth can be glossed over for some finite length of time, not perpetually. Truth eventually triumphs. It seems that we have reached that hour of reckoning. Indications were pronounced, coming from the Prime Minister himself, when he in no uncertain terms asserted the need for Indian citizens to ‘tighten their belts’ – an ‘austerity package of sorts’!