Counting Castes, Counting Controversies: Supreme Court, the Census and the OBC Question
Counting Castes, Counting Controversies: Supreme Court, the Census and the OBC Question
On Monday, February 2, 2026, the Supreme Court of India delivered a significant judgment in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) involving the upcoming Census 2027 and caste enumeration, marking a new chapter in the decades-long debate over caste data in India. While the court r...Read More
The 16th Finance Commission and the 41% Question: Balancing Fiscal Federalism in India
The Finance Commission is one of the most critical constitutional institutions shaping India’s fiscal federalism. Constituted every five years under Article 280 of the Constitution, it determines how resources raised by the Union are shared with the States. The 16th Finance ...Read More
Union Budget 2026-2027 a blend of continuity and cautious ambition
Overview: Growth Promise Meets Reality
Budget 2026–27 was pitched as a blend of continuity and cautious ambition. It aimed to sustain India’s growth momentum, deepen infrastructure development, prudently manage the fiscal deficit, and promote sectors...Read More
The Unheard Echo: Gandhi’s Martyrdom and the Paradox of Disregard
Today, January 30th, is Martyr’s Day. A day when the nation collectively bows its head to remember the moment, 76 years ago, when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi—the Mahatma, the Father of the Nation—fell to three bullets fired by Nathuram Godse at point-blank range. The assa...Read More
Marching Ahead: Economic Survey 2025–26 Signals India’s 7.2% Growth Promise
The Economic Survey of India, tabled ahead of the Union Budget, has once again set the tone for the country’s economic discourse by projecting a robust GDP growth of 6.8% to 7.2% in the next fiscal year (2026–27). In a world grappling with geopolitical tensions, persistent...Read More
January 26: Celebrating the Soul of India - Republic Day
Every year on January 26, the heart of India beats with a unique, collective rhythm. The air over New Delhi turns crisp, the sky is streaked with the saffron, white, and green of the national flag, and a grand parade down Kartavya Path showcases the nation’s military might, ...Read More
The Unyielding Flame: Revisiting Netaji’s Legacy on His Birth Anniversary
Today, as the nation marks the birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose, we do not merely commemorate a historical figure; we invoke a spirit. A spirit that was restless, revolutionary, and radically committed to India’s freedom. In the grand tapestry of India’s struggle f...Read More
Yamuna 2028 Mission: Promise, Pressure, and the Test of Governance
The Yamuna, one of India’s most sacred rivers and the lifeline of the National Capital Region, has long been reduced to a paradox—revered in faith, neglected in practice. For decades, successive governments have announced plans, allocated funds, and set deadlines to restor...Read More
Kerala Signals Resistance to Centralised Politics Ahead of Assembly Elections
The political atmosphere in Kerala is once again charged as the state moves closer to its upcoming Assembly elections. Recent remarks by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, have added momentum to an already intense political discourse. Addressing a large g...Read More
Somnath, Symbolism and the Politics of Memory: Beyond the Communal Narrative
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the Somnath Temple to participate in the sacred Omkar mantra chanting during the Somnath Swabhiman Parv was presented as a deeply spiritual act. Amidst Vedic chants and ritual solemnity, the event projected an atmosphere of devo...Read More
Mohan Bhagwat’s Address at the Launch of Film Shatabdi: RSS at 100 Years — Continuity, Evolution, and National Purpose
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief, Mohan Bhagwat, in his address at the launch of the song album of the upcoming film Shatabdi, offered a reflective and philosophical interpretation of the organisation’s hundred-year journey. Marking the centenary of the RSS, Bhagw...Read More
Congress Launches ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’: A Nationwide Battle to Save Rural India’s Lifeline
In a bold political move, the Indian National Congress has announced a 45-day nationwide agitation titled ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’ (Save MGNREGA Struggle), aimed at protesting the recent enactment of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) ...Read More
The Economy in 2025: A Year of Uneven Recovery, Persistent Inequality, and Policy Dilemmas
As 2025 draws to a close, the global economy presents a complex and often contradictory picture. Growth returned in parts of the world, inflation moderated in several major economies, and financial markets regained a degree of confidence. Yet beneath these surface improvements...Read More
India’s Water Emergency: How Many Cities Must Run Dry Before Policy Changes?
India is facing what experts describe as a true water emergency — a crisis deepening every year as urban centres strain under dwindling water sources, spiralling demand, and climate disruption. Once considered perennial suppliers of life and growth, India’s rivers, aquifer...Read More
Sowing Resilience: The Future of Indian Agriculture in the Era of Climate Uncertainty
For millennia, Indian agriculture has been a testament to human ingenuity, dancing to the rhythm of the monsoons and flourishing across diverse agro-climatic zones. It is the bedrock of the nation’s food security, rural livelihood, and cultural fabric. Yet, this vast and vit...Read More
The Great Electoral Purge: How India is Cleaning Up Its Voter Rolls
In a massive nationwide drive to ensure the integrity of its democratic foundation, India is witnessing a systematic and unprecedented cleanup of its electoral rolls. The recently published draft rolls for Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islan...Read More
Policing Dissent vs Policing Crime: A Disturbing Imbalance
In a functioning democracy, policing is meant to protect citizens from crime, ensure public safety, and uphold the rule of law. Increasingly in India, however, a troubling inversion appears to be taking place: dissent is policed with urgency and force, while serious crimes—e...Read More
Repealing MGNREGA: A Step Backward for Rural India’s Safety Net
The winter session of Parliament in December 2025 witnessed heated debates as the Lok Sabha passed the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 (VB-G RAM G Bill), effectively repealing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarante...Read More
Soaring Skies: The Future of India’s Aviation Industry
India’s aviation sector is one of the world’s fastest-growing, driven by economic expansion, rising middle-class incomes, and ambitious government policies. As of late 2025, the industry contributes significantly to the economy, supporting millions of jobs and facilitating...Read More
Crony Capitalism and the Shrinking Space for Small Enterprise
India’s economic story is often told through the language of scale—record infrastructure spending, rising market capitalisation, global rankings, and headline investment figures. Yet beneath this narrative of growth lies a quieter, less discussed transformation: the steady...Read More
Mainstream Media and the Crisis of Credibility in India
A free, independent, and credible media is the cornerstone of any functioning democracy. It informs citizens, scrutinises power, amplifies marginalised voices, and enables public debate based on facts rather than fear. In India, however, mainstream media today faces a deep and...Read More
The Demolition of Babri Masjid: A Perpetual Stain on India’s Secular Fabric
On December 6, 1992, a frenzied mob of Hindu nationalists, numbering in the tens of thousands, descended upon the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, and reduced the 16th-century mosque to rubble. Armed with hammers, iron rods, and sheer fanaticism, they dismantled t...Read More
Caste Census as a Democratic Demand: Data vs Ideology
Few issues today reflect India’s democratic contradictions as sharply as the debate over the caste census. What should have been a simple administrative exercise—counting and categorising people for policy planning—has turned into a political, ideological, and moral batt...Read More
Assam’s Broken Classrooms: When Schools Exist Only on Paper An Ground Report from the Ground Zero of India’s Education Crisis
Drive thirty kilometres east of Guwahati on NH-27, turn left towards Jagiroad, and you will reach No. 2 Dakhinpat LP School in Morigaon district. On paper, it is a fully functional government lower-primary school with 187 students and five sanctioned teachers. In reality, the ...Read More
Critical Look at the “272 Intellectuals” Trolling Rahul Gandhi: What Their Campaign Reveals About India’s Political Culture
In India’s highly polarised political climate, public discourse is increasingly shaped not by reasoned debate but by orchestrated noise. The recent episode involving “272 so-called intellectuals” trolling Rahul Gandhi is a troubling example of how public opinion is being...Read More
Nehru’s Measured Choice — The Anthem Debate Revisited
The resurfacing of Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1948 letter to Syama Prasad Mookerjee from the newly released Nehru archives adds a vital layer of clarity to one of independent India’s most emotionally charged debates: why Jana Gana Mana became the national anthem over Vande Mataram...Read More
Bihar’s ₹10,000 Question: Welfare, Vote-Buying, or Weaponising Poverty?
In the political theatre of Bihar, cash has always played a subtle role, but never has it dominated the stage as dramatically as the recent ₹10,000 transfer scheme. Heralded by some as progressive welfare and denounced by others as blatant vote-buying, the initiative has spa...Read More
New Labour Codes 2025: Good Laws, But Will They Deliver for India’s 8 Million Gig Workers?
On 22 November 2025, India finally operationalised the four long-awaited Labour Codes, the Code on Wages (2019), the Industrial Relations Code (2020), the Occupational Safety, Security and Working Conditions Code (2020), and the Code on Social Security (2020). For the first ti...Read More
Bihar Election Anatomy: Did Mahagathbandhan Pay for Excluding AIMIM? And What’s Next at the Helm?
The Bihar results — BJP 89, JD(U) 85, INDIA-alliance (Mahagathbandhan) 35, AIMIM 5, BSP 1 in a 243-seat assembly — signal a dramatic verdict. These numbers (which broadly match media-reported trends) imply a crushing defeat for the Opposition bloc, a...Read More
The Red Dawn at JNU: Left Front’s Sweep Marks a Shift in Campus and National Mood
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), often described as the ideological nursery of India’s student politics, has once again become the centre of political attention. The recently concluded JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) elections for 2025 have sent a clear message — the L...Read More
Fate on the Line: 121 Seals Bihar’s Destiny in High-Voltage Clash of Giants.
The dust has settled on the frenzied campaign trails, the final rally chants have echoed into the political ether, and now, the silence before the storm descends upon Bihar. The high-octane campaign for the first phase of the high-stakes Bihar Assembly elections culminated on ...Read More
The Persistent Shadow: RSS and the Cycle of Bans in Independent India
In a sharp rebuttal echoing through the corridors of Indian political discourse, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale declared on November 1, 2025, that the organization “cannot be banned just because of the wishes of a person.” His words...Read More
A Comprehensive Comparative Study of NDA and Mahagathbandhan Manifestos for the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025:
In the high-stakes arena of the 2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections, scheduled for November 6 and 11, the contest between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and BJP, and the opposition Mahagathbandhan (also referre...Read More
Revising Democracy: Election Commission’s Second Phase of Voter List Overhaul Faces Test of Transparency and Trust”
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has embarked on the second phase of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 12 states and Union Territories, marking a significant step in the ongoing effort to ensure clean, transparent, and accurate voter lists ah...Read More
Tejashwi’s Masterstroke: Revitalizing Bihar’s Panchayati Raj for Inclusive Empowerment
In the high-stakes arena of Bihar’s 2025 Assembly elections, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav has emerged as a beacon of progressive populism, unveiling a transformative package for the state’s grassroots democracy. On October 26, 2025, addressing a packed ...Read More
Jaihind’s Justice Juggernaut: Rewriting Congress’s OBC Playbook in Bihar
In the sweltering heat of Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on September 24, 2025, a clarion call echoed across Bihar’s politically charged horizon. Dr. Anil ‘Jaihind’ Yadav, the freshly minted Chairman of the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) Other Backward Classes (OBC) De...Read More
The Disruptors: Analyzing the Impact of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM on Bihar’s 2025 Assembly Elections
As Bihar gears up for its assembly elections on November 6 and 11, 2025, with results slated for November 14, the political landscape is more fragmented than ever. The traditional bipolar contest between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising the Bharatiya Janata P...Read More
Tackling Pollution in India: Challenges, Responses, and Global Perspectives
India, home to over 1.4 billion people, grapples with one of the world’s most severe pollution crises. Air, water, and land pollution plague the nation, with air quality often stealing the headlines. According to recent data, all of India’s population lives in areas where ...Read More
Gehlot’s Bihar Blitz: Congress Scrambles to Patch Up RJD Rift Before Polls Explode
With friendly fights and delayed deals threatening Mahagathbandhan’s unity, can Gehlot’s intervention turn frustration into firepower against BJP-JDU?
In the high-stakes arena of Bihar’s assembly elections, the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance is teetering on t...Read More
Bihar Election 2025: Seat-Sharing Struggles and Anti-Incumbency Shape Political Battlefield
As Bihar prepares for its two-phase assembly elections on November 6 and 11, the state's political landscape is defined by sharp contrasts between the ruling coalition and opposition alliance. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) presents a picture of settled formulas and st...Read More
A Cry for Justice: The IPS Officer’s Death That Shook Haryana’s Bureaucracy
New Delhi, October
The tragic death of Haryana-cadre IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar has shaken the foundations of India’s bureaucracy, revealing the dark underside of caste discrimination, official harassment, and systemic corruption within the state’s administrative ...Read More
Chidambaram’s Controversial Remark on Operation Blue Star: Courage of Conviction or Political Convenience?
New Delhi, October 14 — Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s recent remarks on Operation Blue Star have stirred an unexpected storm within the Congress party, reopening a painful chapter in India’s history — and raising questions about hi...Read More
Supreme Court Seeks Details on Deletion of 3.66 Lakh Voters in Bihar
Balancing Autonomy and Accountability
The Supreme Court of India has sought detailed information from the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the removal of 3.66 lakh voters from Bihar’s electoral rolls during the recent Special Intensive Revi...Read More
Gandhi's Idea of India: "Ram Rajya" vs. A Modern Nation-State
Gandhi's vision for an independent India was radically different from the centralized, industrial republic that eventually emerged. His idea, which he often called "Ram Rajya" (The Kingdom of Lord Ram), was not a theocratic Hindu state but a utopian, decentralized federation o...Read More
