Weekend reads

  1. With the United States pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and pressing for sanctions on the West Asian country, Rakesh Sood in The Hindu argues that President Raouhani has little room for manoeuvre. 
  2. Ghettoisation and Disturbed Areas Act are dividing urban spaces in Gujarat and pushing Muslims to the edge, write Christophe Jaffrelot and Sharik Laliwal in the Indian Express. 
  3. In fighting poverty, it is important to give preference to approaches that help the poor the most for every rupee spent, no matter how they are labelled, says Bjorn Lomborg in Mint. 
  4.   If we have to bring about a greater balance in our trade account, it is important to neutralise the impact of capital flows and bring down the rupee’s appreciation in real terms, argues C Rangarajan in the Economic Times. 
  5. Only a handful of Dalits gave played at the international level for India in cricket. This exclusion is caused by systemic barriers and not factors such as inherent inability, conclude Gaurav Bhawnani and Shubham Jain in the Economic and Political Weekly. 
  6.   Doug Schifter waged a one-man campaign to stop Uber from putting his fellow black-car drivers out of business. Then he decided to take his own life, reports Jessica Bruder in New Yorker. 
  7.   They perform daring escapes from slaughterhouses, zoos, and laboratories. But animals on the run are only as free as we want them to be, writes Tove Danovich in Longreads. 
  8.   Philip Roth’s work could only have been written by someone who came of age during the peak of postwar liberalism, says Laura Tanenbaum in this obituary to the writer in Jacobin. 
  9. In a historic vote on Saturday, Ireland decided to repeal its anti-abortion laws. Harry McGee in Irish Times explains how this happened. 
  10. In ESPNCricinfo, Deivarayan Muthu traces the excellent performance of the Chennai Super Kings, who were dismissed as bunch of old boys at the start of the tournament, in the current IPL season.