‘Zubeen was for all’: Singer’s death unites India’s religiously torn Assam

Amid soaring Hindu-Muslim tensions in the BJP-ruled northeastern state, Zubeen Garg’s music served as a rare unifier. In Garg’s music, the idea of an Assam for Hindus and Muslims, Assamese speakers and Bengali speakers alike, was not an illusion. “Zubeen’s songs did not merely entertain, they also addressed the depths of what it means to… Read More ‘Zubeen was for all’: Singer’s death unites India’s religiously torn Assam

RSS’ success also has seeds of destruction

The RSS’ intellectual stagnation and myth-based narratives risk alienating it from India’s knowledge-driven society Bharat Bhushan One hundred years ago, on Vijayadashami Day, September 27, 1925, the men who gathered at the residence of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in Nagpur could have hardly imagined how powerful the organisation they were founding would become. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a… Read More RSS’ success also has seeds of destruction

Citizens for Democracy: Defend the Ladakhi people’s democratic rights / ‘If Innovators Are Treated Like Criminals, How Will India Become Vishwaguru?’: Sonam Wangchuk’s Wife Fires Back At Govt

‘If Innovators Are Treated Like Criminals, How Will India Become Vishwaguru?’: Sonam Wangchuk’s Wife Fires Back At Govt Call of Citizens for Democracy: We are witnessing a dangerous drift in the name of ‘national security ‘ in the frontier province of Ladakh. The peace-loving people of Ladakh are being demonised as anti-national agitators under the… Read More Citizens for Democracy: Defend the Ladakhi people’s democratic rights / ‘If Innovators Are Treated Like Criminals, How Will India Become Vishwaguru?’: Sonam Wangchuk’s Wife Fires Back At Govt

Mainstream, Vol 63 No 37, Sept 13, 2025

Readers outside of India can donate here to support Mainstream Weeklyhttps://tinyurl.com/2rsy4ss6++++++ In this issue What Lessons from the Wrecking Ball in Nepal – Letter to the Readers Nepal’s 2025 Crisis: Causes, Dynamics, and Impacts | Dewendra Pratap Tiwari Decoding Nepal Unrest From the Perspectives of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, B R Ambedkar & K R Narayanan |… Read More Mainstream, Vol 63 No 37, Sept 13, 2025

The Ganga is drying faster than ever – here’s what it means for the region and the world

In a new study, scientists reconstructed streamflow records going back 1,300 years to show that the basin has faced its worst droughts over the period in just the last few decades. And those droughts are well outside the range of natural climate variability. Mehebub Sahana The Ganges, a lifeline for hundreds of millions across South Asia,… Read More The Ganga is drying faster than ever – here’s what it means for the region and the world

Policing Dissent – Amit Shah’s plans risk criminalising protest

The Modi government’s insecurity is evident in its attempt to decode decades of protest as potential subversion. Those who used to accuse public protestors of using a ‘tool-kit’ now clearly want to develop a tool-kit of their own — an alternative official playbook, to deal with all future protests. Meanwhile Niti Aayog declines to furnish information about… Read More Policing Dissent – Amit Shah’s plans risk criminalising protest

Mukul Kesavan: Delhi University and the purging of Ramanujan

First posted October 27, 2011 ‘The essay is a marvellous account of the hundreds of ways in which the Ramayana has been told, complete with examples of this narrative diversity. I can’t imagine that the vice-chancellor, a member of that urbane cohort, the Class of ’75, wanted the essay removed because he agreed with the Akhil Bharatiya… Read More Mukul Kesavan: Delhi University and the purging of Ramanujan

Fish mint, Himalayan chives and berry pickle: how wild ingredients are transforming school dinners in India

By Tora Agarwala in East Khasi hills, Meghalaya Excited chatter and the clattering of steel plates drown out the din of the monsoon rains: it is lunchtime in Laitsohpliah government school in the north-east Indian state of Meghalaya. The food has been cooked on-site and is free for everyone, part of India’s ambitious “midday meal”… Read More Fish mint, Himalayan chives and berry pickle: how wild ingredients are transforming school dinners in India