Commentary

The disappearances of human rights and political activists are indicative of the regime of surveillance and punishment operative in Pakistan today. Past military regimes were infamous for being intolerant of dissent, but it is under democratic rule that enforced disappearance seems to have taken an organised form. What began as a military tactic to counter militant groups in the north-west of Pakistan has gradually become an instrument to curb political dissent and public speech.

The growing saffronisation of the Bengali public sphere, evident from the violent celebrations of Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in West Bengal, has raised the possibility of a murky manoeuvring of communal politics before the 2019 general elections. With the left and liberal public spaces having failed at addressing crucial socio-religious questions and the far right misappropriating and usurping these spaces, comprehensive critical engagement with the growing presence of religion in the public sphere is necessary.

Film stars Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth are gearing up for the next elections. Rajinikanth wishes to promote a politics based on spirituality, while Haasan is committed to secularism. But both of them have one aim, which is to eradicate corruption from public life in Tamil Nadu. However, this rhetoric of “corruption-free” politics is, in fact, a façade for promoting a politics that sidelines questions of caste inequalities.

Drawing upon a study, this article examines whether the “final reports,” which is the official term for closed cases under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, are justified or not. The popularly accepted notion is that the act is misused by members of the Scheduled Castes against the upper castes, but there is no acknowledgement of its misuse by the upper castes using the former as proxy.

The recent self-immolation of a family in Tamil Nadu drew widespread attention to the issue of usury prevalent in the state. Following a hearing on the depositions of 60 borrower victims at a people’s tribunal in Tirunelveli district, an attempt has been made to examine the nature of the issue, profile the borrower victims, the perpetrators, government apathy and the failure of law enforcement.