Harish Khare At the beginning of the Lok Sabha election season a couple of months ago it seemed that the outcome of the 2024 outcome was a foregone conclusion. And, when the Election Commission announced the election schedule, the received wisdom was that the prolonged time-table was designed to enable the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s… Read More Six-Week Show Begins But the Charisma Has Gone
As vast solar plants multiply, so does the scrap, set to reach 19m tonnes by 2050. But disposing of the waste often falls to informal traders who risk injury when dismantling broken panels Under the scorching sun, a sea of solar panels gleams in the semi-arid landscape. Pavagada, 100 miles north of Bengaluru in southern… Read More Clean energy’s dirty secret: the trail of waste left by India’s solar power boom
By Simone McCarthy and Aishwarya S Iyer, CNN High in the Himalayas, the people of a remote northern Indian territory fear their way of life is under threat from the changing climate, looming development – and border tensions with China. At stake, they believe, is the future of Ladakh, one of the world’s highest elevation regions, where indigenous… Read More Herders in Ladakh say they’re losing grazing land – and a way of life
By Colin Gonsalves * After having read the 72nd report of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on alleged irregularities in the conduct of studies using HPV vaccines by PATH in India, it was startling to see Bill Gates bobbing his head up and down and smiling ingratiatingly on prime time television while the Prime Minister lectured him in… Read More What’s Bill Gates up to? Have ‘irregularities’ found in funding HPV vaccine trials faded?
Bharat Bhushan Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Opposition leaders of displaying a “Mughal mindset” when videos surfaced of Lalu Yadav, Tejashvi, and Rahul Gandhi bonding over cooking mutton. Not only did he accuse them of deviating from Hindu dharma in the auspicious month of Sawan, but he also alleged that the display of bonhomie was deliberate. The videos,… Read More Food, community and elections
http://www.reporters-collective.in For the past 11 months, Manipur has been locked in an ethnic conflict. The conflict that has killed more than 219 people, injured 1,100 and displaced 60,000 is frequently oversimplified as a struggle between the Hindu Meitei and Christian Kuki-Zo communities, mirroring the religious polarisation seen in communal conflicts and assaults on religious minorities… Read More Scoop: Assam Rifles blames Manipur CM
The moment the middle class feels it has no access to a public good, it does everything it can to devalue it. The systematic destruction of Delhi University is a case study in elite secession Mukul Kesavan The death of Delhi University has gone unremarked. It isn’t formally dead; it still educates tens of thousands… Read More In memoriam
A sudden wave of protest meetings held in Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Meerut by leaders of the dominant, landed community has forced the BJP to address their question and try to gloss over the divisions in its electoral caste rainbow by ramping up the Hindutva card and sentiments of nationalism. Omar Rashid With just a week… Read More Rajput Anger in Western UP Puts BJP in Firefighting Mode Days Before Polling
‘The present regime has been making a direct onslaught and subtle subterfuge against the basic structure of the Constitution, including independence of the judiciary, and ridiculing the judiciary for exercising power of judicial review on legislations’ R. Balaji The All-India Lawyers Union (AILU) has condemned the recent letter by 600 lawyers to the Chief Justice… Read More ‘Crocodile tears in name of safeguarding judiciary’: AILU condemns letter by 600 lawyers to CJI
(NB: In 2022 alone, 7.5 lac Indian students migrated abroad for higher studies. By 2025, Indian students studying abroad are expected to spend up to $70 billion. Those curious about Sardar Patel’s proficiency in English and also his views on V. D. Savarkar’s role in Gandhiji’s assassination, could check volume 6 of Selected Correspondence of Sardar… Read More Ruchir Joshi: Out of depth – India’s anti-knowledge brigade
After the truth-shower 