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A bulldozer demolishes an ‘illegal construction’ in Jaipur. October 20, 2024.

Supreme Court lifts the veil on demolition as extra-judicial punishment

In a people-centric judgment, the court demolishes “coincidence theory” as hollow, mandates due process to protect citizens’ right to shelter.

A vegetable-seller in Bengaluru flaunts a cart full of tomatoes.

Tomato: The berry with a wolf

The tomato is prized for its redness, which derives from the magic molecule lycopene, that will liberate humanity from cancer.

Counter Culture

Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again is an epic cop-out

The movie, a forceful, joyless retracing of the Ramayana does a disservice to the very thing it purports to be in service of: the police force.

Prathyush Parasuraman

FROM THE SIDELINES

BJP is back to its favourite bogey: ‘The Other’

The measured campaign in Haryana was an aberration. In Jharkhand, the BJP has reverted to its radical right-wing playbook.

The majority’s 7:2 verdict explicitly criticises the “Marxist reading” of the Constitution, arguing that the framers intended flexibility in economic policy rather than state control of private resources.

Supreme Court’s historic ruling redefines private property rights, favours market economy over state control

Nine-judge bench overturns “socialist-era” interpretation of Article 39(b), limiting state’s control over private property.

Justice Chandrachud’s tenure ends with critical questions about judicial independence and conduct

The 50th CJI came promising judicial reform but exits leaving a legacy of compromised independence and diminished institutional credibility.

SUM AND SUBSTANCE

For India’s rupee now, comparisons are better done from the bottom than the top

Once measured against strong currencies, India’s falling rupee finds new peers in struggling economies like Turkey and Iran.

Mitali Mukherjee

More stories from Columns

The Open Hand Monument in Capitol Complex, Chandigarh.

Empty hands: Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh between symbol and reality

Today, its modernist symbols—from the towering Open Hand Monument to the unused Pit of Contemplation—float like ghostly ideals.

Prathyush Parasuraman

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool have never been enthusiastic about a caste census.

West Bengal’s ‘casteless’ myth

Three privileged castes control politics, culture, and education in the State, where 45 per cent of the reservation belongs to SC/ST and OBCs.

The Nobel Prize for Economics being announced at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on October 14.

2024 Economics Nobel winners sanitise colonial history through economic theory

Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s thesis on institutional development ignores colonialism’s systematic exploitation and wealth transfer.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends an EU-Gulf Cooperation Council roundtable meeting in Brussels, Belgium, October 16, 2024.

Meet Europe’s new ‘emperor’, Ursula von der Leyen

How an unelected bureaucrat seized control of the European Union and now dictates the continent’s policy on everything from vaccines to war.

The chilli’s malice is ubiquitous.

Chilli: The red devil

Chillies came to India with Vasco da Gama in the late 15th century, and utterly destroyed its cuisine.

An Israeli military bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip on November 15, 2023.

The enablers of Israel

By blithely equating Israel with Jews, Western regimes and media are actually sowing the seeds of anti-Semitism, not combating it as they claim.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini being greeted by supporters after winning the Assembly election from the Ladwa seat in Kurukshetra district, at Ladwa on October 8, 2024.

BJP’s narrow victory in Haryana signals a potential turnaround

By focussing on local leadership, fine-tuning caste calculations, and leveraging administrative advantages, the BJP outmanouevred the Congress.

EV cars inside BYD’s first electric vehicle factory in South-east Asia, in Rayong, Thailand, on July 4.

European Union just made it more expensive to buy electric cars from China

EU leaders have decided to slap steep extra taxes on Chinese EVs, even though it might slow down the region’s shift to cleaner vehicles.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

Indira Gandhi in Delhi on April 20, 1982. Documentary film Indi(r)a’s Emergency covers events from the 1942 Quit India Movement through to the Emergency period.

Can a film be progressive if it is too subtle?

Circumventing censorship with minor tricks doesn’t make a film progressive; it merely turns the capacity to evoke pity into an artistic virtue.

Prathyush Parasuraman

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das

Horses, elephants, unicorns: Who does the RBI’s rosy outlook really describe?

The central bank claims victory over rising prices, but many Indians still struggle with costlier food and widening wealth gaps.

Mitali Mukherjee

The Union government concedes that marriage does not negate a woman’s consent and argues that violations of consent within marriage have different consequences than those outside marriage.

Supreme Court deliberations on marital rape exception could redefine consent within marriage

The Centre argues for maintaining ‘Marital Rape Exception’, but those seeking its repeal say it violates women’s rights, bodily autonomy, and dignity.

Voters arrive at a polling booth to cast their votes in the second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election, in Srinagar on September 25.

Kashmir election reveal a populace eager to reclaim political agency

Still, it is “the system” that dictates who among the political players will take part in the electoral process.

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