Legislators enacted AFSPA in 1958, fearing Northeast insurgencies would burn down India. Those insurgencies are mostly dead, but AFSPA Raj lives on in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur. Experience — Punjab in 1997; Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram since 2014 — shows ending AFSPA can help heal post-insurgency societies. Lifting AFSPA will secure Northeast’s hard-won peace.
Vaccination of adolescents was long overdue. It will help protect older family members
India’s long overdue vaccinations of adolescents is a welcome beginning. It is important for young people to understand its importance not just for resuming their normal life but also protecting older family members. They should not get carried away by a belief in their own invincibility, natural at that age.
Continued targeting of Muslim women points to a culture of impunity in a compromised system
Months after deplorable ‘Sulli Deals’, the emergence of a new app ‘Bulli Bai’ targeting Muslim women points to culture of impunity in a compromised system. Had arrests been made earlier, it wouldn’t have reappeared. Catching culprits cannot be difficult for an all-powerful government that knows how to deploy its agencies.