Struggle against restrictions on women's entry into public places of worship.

In this issue

13-05-201636 STORIES

Clueless about the future

FL13COLUMNJAYATIMITRA2

A singular person

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Magic of Rafi

An authorised biography of the man who believed in exhibiting the art but concealing the artist behind it and who, above all, was a sensitive and comp

FL13FABIAN

Flawed thesis

The book puts forth arguments in favour of India’s quest for superpower status ignoring the need to address the most urgent priorities such as reducin

FL13ELECTIONSTNANBUMANI

Assembly Elections: Tamil Nadu

Slipping away

The Pattali Makkal Katchi in Tamil Nadu seeks to woo young voters for an image makeover as an all-inclusive party, but it may not succeed.

FL13DRUG

Faulty prescriptions

The Centre’s decision to ban 350 fixed-dose combination drugs brings to the fore the urgent need to curb the unethical practices in the pharmaceutical

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Notion of impurity

Should a natural and biological process be used to discriminate against women, all in the name of religion? The debate spearheaded by “happy to bleed”

Challenge to social reform

A petition in the Supreme Court on the Sabarimala issue raises significant questions.

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Downward spiral

The murder of the activist Berta Caceres brings into focus the political violence against those trying to build a just society.

FL13BOX

An unusual contestant

Violent phase

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Brexit or Bremain?

With the referendum just two months away, public education-led engagement with the issues of Brexit remains tardy because politically disparate groups

FL13POLICE

Class outburst

Protests by garment workers over attempts to curb Provident Fund withdrawals bring to light the underside of working-class life in Bengaluru.

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‘An issue of belief’

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‘To keep alive Maharashtra’s liberal, secular tradition’

Interview with Dr Hamid Dabholkar.

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Assembly Elections: West Bengal

Losing hold

The Trinamool Congress’ grip on voters is loosening as corruption, rural suicides and strong-arm tactics of party workers emerge as the main themes o

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Template for tragedy

The Paravur temple tragedy in Kerala was a disaster waiting to happen, given the increasing frequency of temple festivals involving pyrotechnic displa

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Tradition of exclusion

In history, untouchables, be they men or women, sudras or tribal people, were not meant to enter sacred precincts. Notions of purity and pollution wer

FL13SEER

‘Don’t fight, follow what our shastras say’

Interview with Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.

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Winds of change

The current wave of activism in support of gender equality in places of worship started in Maharashtra, thanks to committed women fighters and court i

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Struggle for equality

The women’s movement for the right of entry into religious spaces seeks to challenge gender- and caste-based hierarchies. The organisations leading it

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Daughters of Eve

In the light of the recent Supreme Court observations on women’s equal right to worship, a section of Christians takes a hard look at the patriarchal

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‘From the mosque to the bedroom, we must assert our rights’

Interview with Asra Nomani, who organised the first mixed-gender namaz led by a woman.

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Pressure on a hill shrine

On the issue of restrictions to the entry of women in the Sabarimala temple, the dominant view in Kerala, even among women, seems to be that tradition

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Exempted, not prohibited

Islam does not prohibit women from offering prayers at mosques but since it prohibits mixed-gender prayers, logistical problems prevent some mosques f

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Grave issues

The Haji Ali Dargah’s decision to deny women access to the inner sanctum from 2011 is widely believed to be a retrograde step because women can pray i

FL13GODDESS

Denial of rights

The anti-women values, customs and usages were directly targeted and remedied in the Constituent Assembly by the founders.

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African Connection

Centuries ago, thousands of Africans were brought to India as slaves. They made this country their own, and their descendants can be found mainly in c

FL13KASHMIRMEHBOOBA

Troubled start

The Mehbooba Mufti government begins work with serious trouble on hand to deal with.

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Reviving a partnership

The Maithripala Sirisena government drops all its objections to the China-funded Colombo port city project conceived by the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa

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Assembly Elections: Tamil Nadu

Hot and heavy

FL13ARMY

Military nexus

The government’s plans to strengthen military ties with the U.S. will sound the death knell for India’s foreign policy independence and strategic auto

FL13RAUL

On the same track

In the historic Seventh Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, President Raul Castro reiterated the party’s commitment to the socialist model of devel

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Missing the wood and trees

The book takes an in-depth look at forest management and governance in the country and the efforts to make it more people-centric.

FLAMUMEETING

History of Aligarh Muslim University

In the battle to retain its minority character, AMU was denied even elementary justice in 1965, and it is the same in 2016. There is time still for th

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