Democracy

SC flags rising bail rejections, says democracy must not be police state

The Supreme Court has expressed dismay over rejection of bail pleas by trial courts in "not very serious cases" despite the completion of investigations. A bench comprising justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan on Monday said a democratic country must not function like a police state, where law enforcement agencies exercise arbitrary powers to detain individuals without genuine necessity. It observed that two decades ago, bail pleas in smaller cases rarely reached the high courts, let alone the top court. "It is shocking that the Supreme Court is adjudicating bail pleas in cases that should be disposed of at the trial court level. The system is being burdened unnecessarily," Justice Oka said while hearing a bail plea. This is not the first time the top court has flagged this issue. It has repeatedly urged trial courts and high courts to adopt a more liberal stance in granting bail, particularly in cases involving minor infractions. The apex court had previously expressed its angui

Airstrike in Myanmar kills nearly 30 people, says opposition group

An airstrike by Myanmar's military on a central village under the control of a pro-democracy resistance group has killed at least 27 civilians and injured 30 others, an opposition group and Myanmar's online media said Saturday. The attack occurred Friday at 3 pm in Let Pan Hla village in Singu township, about 65 kilometres north of Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, a spokesperson for the Mandalay People's Defence Force said. The military did not comment on Saturday. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021, triggering widespread popular opposition. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict. The military government has stepped up airstrikes against the armed pro-democracy People's Defence Force and ethnic minority guerrilla groups that have been fighting for greate

Gyanendra's push for relevance meets resistance in democratic Nepal

Nepal's recent political history tells us that the route to a return of monarchy cannot go through India despite friends in high places

Punishment for breach of privileges must be proportionate to misconduct: SC

The judgment also outlined a few guiding principles for courts to consider while scrutinising the proportionality of actions taken by the House against its member(s)

'Democracy puts food on the table': Jaishankar claps back at US Senator

EAM S Jaishankar also slammed the West for backing non-democratic forces abroad while championing democracy at home

Where strongman failed, women are fueling a democratic revival in Sri Lanka

When the country all but ran out of cash and fuel, the burden fell disproportionately on women, who shoulder the domestic load

Trump's foreign aid freeze may prove to be boon for authoritarian strongmen

When President Donald Trump froze foreign assistance for 90 days, he argued that such a drastic step was needed to eliminate waste and block what he derides as woke spending that doesn't align with American interests. Experts say the suspension has another, far more serious consequence: emboldening authoritarian strongmen. Wrapped into the billions the US spends annually on foreign aid more than any other nation are hundreds of grants for grassroots groups dedicated to fighting for democracy in authoritarian countries around the world. Among the groups that won't be receiving critical funding is an organisation that trained poll workers to detect fraud in Venezuela's recent presidential vote, pro-democracy activists in Cuba and China and a group of Belarusian exiles behind a campaign to block the country's strongman from winning a sham election. Cutting funding to these essential efforts sends the wrong signal to dictatorships and undermines the brave individuals fighting for ...

I return to highest calling in democracy: Blinken during farewell speech

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also described his return as 'private citizen' as 'the highest calling in a democracy'

Looking back to look ahead to 2025: Economy, climate, and politics

The public space is now privatised. It is not that democracy is dead, but that it has been fundamentally modified

Jimmy Carter sought to expand democracy long after leaving White House

Amid everything else on his desk the Iran hostage crisis, domestic economic turmoil, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and a gruelling 1980 reelection fight President Jimmy Carter elevated the independence of a country in southern Africa as a top agenda item. Carter hosted then-Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe at the White House soon after his country achieved independence and later described Zimbabwe's adoption of democracy as our greatest single success. Three decades later, Carter, who was long out of office, found the door slammed shut when he and other dignitaries sought to visit Zimbabwe on a humanitarian mission to observe reported human rights abuses after a violent disputed election in 2008. He had become a critic of Mugabe's regime and was denied a visa. Carter didn't give up. From neighbouring South Africa, he relied on emissaries from Zimbabwe for testimony on violence and allegations of electoral fraud. The effort reflected the former president's long commitment to ..

The Unfinished Quest examines India's rise as a global swing power

Why India's democratic system, despite its flaws, is attractive for trade, investment, and economic partnerships

The Troublemaker: A tale of courage, capitalism, and contradictions

Mark L Clifford writes in The Troublemaker, a brisk account of Lai's life and work, the gravity of his predicament began to set in, and Lai sent a laconic WhatsApp message to his associates

India's many voices: Conversations on culture, democracy, and dissent

Can writers, artists, or citizens exist in a political vacuum? This collection of conversations by Githa Hariharan delves into culture, democracy, and dissent

Congress govt prioritised dynasty over democracy: Sitharaman in RS debate

Opening the Rajya Sabha debate on Monday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused previous Congress-led central governments of suppressing freedom of speech

The year we reflected on institutions and their role in political economy

If there is a lesson to takeaway from the institutional turn in political economy, combined with the political currents of populism, it is this: Institutional strength is both vital and fragile

Georgia opposition party leader arrested as protests over EU row continue

Georgian police on Wednesday raided the offices of an opposition party and arrested its leader in an apparent attempt to squelch a wave of mass protests triggered by the governing party's decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union. During the past six nights, riot police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital's central boulevard. More than 300 protesters have been detained since Thursday and over 100 people have been treated for injuries. On Wednesday, the Coalition for Change opposition party said that police raided its offices and detained its leader, Nika Gvaramia. It shared a video showing several officers dragging Gvaramia into a car. Georgian media reported that police also raided the offices of several other opposition groups and non-government organizations. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream party said the raids targeted those

'Bharatiya Nyaya Sahita' strengthens spirit of basis of democracy: PM Modi

The Prime Minister stated that the old criminal laws were the means of oppression and exploitation of Indians for the British regime

Foreign govts criticise sentencing of 45 democracy activists in Hong Kong

Forty-five prominent activists in Hong Kong were sentenced to jail for up to 10 years on Tuesday, sparking criticism from foreign governments and rights groups. The democracy advocates were among 47 people charged under a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2021 for their involvement in an unofficial primary election to pick opposition candidates. In the city's biggest national security case to date, they were accused of agreeing to veto government-proposed budgets indiscriminately after potentially securing a legislative majority to force a dissolution of the legislature and then the ouster of the city's leader. The case involved pro-democracy figures across the spectrum. Thirty-one of them pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit subversion. Fourteen others were convicted following a long trial. Two were acquitted. Australia Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her government was gravely concerned by the sentences for Australian citizen Gordon Ng and the .

Hong Kong to sentence 45 democracy activists in biggest security law case

The sentencing of former youth activist Joshua Wong, 28, and legal scholar Benny Tai, 60, will start at 10 a.m. today, nearly four years after they were arrested

Donald Trump has vowed to shake some of democracy's pillars in US

American presidential elections are a moment when the nation holds up a mirror to look at itself. They are a reflection of values and dreams, of grievances and scores to be settled. The results say much about a country's character, future and core beliefs. On Tuesday, America looked into that mirror and more voters saw former president Donald Trump, delivering him a far-reaching victory in the most contested states. He won for many reasons. One of them was that a formidable number of Americans, from different angles, said the state of democracy was a prime concern. The candidate they chose had campaigned through a lens of darkness, calling the country garbage and his opponent stupid, a communist and the b-word. The mirror reflected not only a restive nation's discontent but childless cat ladies, false stories of pets devoured by Haitian immigrant neighbours, a sustained emphasis on calling things weird, and a sudden bout of Democratic joy" now crushed. The campaign will be remembe