“The protests are a product of that suffocating sense of thwarted political agency that a lot of young people feel… The students are, perhaps inchoately, attempting that work of moral repair.” Pratap Bhanu Mehta, former president, Centre Policy Research, on pro-Palestinian student protests at US university campuses (Indian Express, April 24) “The share of youth with secondary and high-school education who are unemployed has increased from 35.2 percent in 2000 to 65.7 percent in 2022.” Ajay Chhibber, co-author Unshackling India, presenting an agenda for the next government (Business Standard, April 26) “The Act has faced three broad challenges. First, at the administrative level, there has been a noticeable increase in harassment and evictions of street vendors, despite the Act’s emphasis on their protection and regulation.” Aravind Unni, urban practitioner-researcher & Shalini Sinha, Asia strategist at the Urban Policies Program, WIEGO, on implementation of the Street Vendors Act 2014 (The Hindu, May 1) “Five high courts – Allahabad, Punjab and Haryana, Gujarat, Bombay and Calcutta – have reportedly 171 vacancies as of April 1, 2024, accounting for over 52 percent of total vacancies of 327 posts in 25 high courts. Sanctioned strength of judges across all high courts is 1,114, and 29.4 percent of positions are vacant.” Editorial titled ‘Fix the judicial supply-demand gap’ (The Economic Times, May 4) “The Prime Minister’s tirade against the Opposition and the minority community only shows that he has no positive issues to persuade them to vote for him. His statements clearly fall foul of the Model Code of Conduct and also amount to corrupt practice as declared by the Supreme Court… If he ceases to be the role model, nothing will be left of our great democracy.” Dushyant Dave, senior advocate (The Hindu, May 6) Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp
