South Asia Citizens Web

Many liberals seem to oppose a common civil code merely because the BJP claims to support it. This knee-jerk reaction is unfortunate. For a principled liberal position would be in favour of a common law to regulate the social practices of marriage, divorce, succession, inheritance, and adoption, this based on the best practices of all laws anywhere in the world, the judgment and selection done from the point of view of gender equality.

The moment of the end of the colonial regime and the birth of two nations, India and Pakistan, was also the moment of the Partition of the subcontinent in which millions were dislocated, displaced, and rendered homeless . . .

In the 10 months since Modi’s election, Hindu right-wing groups such as the RSS have expanded their influence across much of India’s government, say analysts. The groups’ role has become especially crucial in the formulation of new Indian education policies slated for adoption later this year.

First exiled from her country, Sri Lankan writer Sharmila Seyyid, has now been ‘raped’ and ‘killed’ online. Fundamentalism knows no boundaries. In India, it was Perumal Murugan who announced the death of the writer in him. In Sri Lanka, writer Sharmila Seyyid was ‘raped’ and ‘murdered’ online on March 28, marking a new low in the history of intolerance.
There is no clash of fundamentalists in India, but a symphony that is now reaching a crescendo, against freedom of expression and existence, which is reaching across borders.

On 15 April 2015 there was a demonstration at the Bihar Bhavan, Delhi, in support of the Bihar Nav-Nirman Abhiyan, formed of nine organisations two years ago to struggle for the land rights of the people. On 9 April this year, around 400 satyagrahis gathered outside the chief minister’s house. They were peaceful and were prepared to be arrested and taken to jail, but the administration made the police react in an inhuman way. Five leaders were taken to jail, and the remaining hundreds were (…)