The abrupt walking off the interactive debate hosted by CNN IBN TV Channel by the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is a sad commentary for the term democracy. Her instructions to the police to take photographs of the students who asked her uncomfortable questions smacks of her mindset to crush criticism by bullying tactics. 

By seeing everything through the prism of CPI(M) and Maoists time and again, she has been belittling herself as an unseasoned politician.&...

Apropos Syed Akbar Hassan’s article “Social Values in Islam: Husne Sulook with Parents” (Radiance Viewsweekly, 13-19 May 2012). It is a very well written article. Apart from his own unique style of writing, I liked the way he has summarised the previous articles written on the subject of ‘children’ and ‘marriage’ before writing about the ‘family values’. This entwines the threads into a whole which constitutes the family.

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Girls are future mothers of humankind. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said, “Paradise lies beneath the feet of mother.” Innocent baby girls – mothers of future generations – are being massacred mercilessly in India. Menace of female foeticide has assumed alarming proportions. According to an authentic survey about one crore baby girls were killed the last two decades, not in rural areas but in educated and rich urban India. Percentage of fema...