Dhankhar’s resignation and BJP’s outsider syndrome

After Jagdeep Dhankhar’s high-profile exit, outsiders are likely to be kept away from sensitive assignments. Internal gate-keeping and stricter vetting of new entrants could be enforced. Bharat Bhushan The sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar as Vice President of India, on July 21, will trigger ripples across the political system. It will impact the fate of other… Read More Dhankhar’s resignation and BJP’s outsider syndrome

Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: If Gaza’s corpses can vanish from our conscience, what else are we becoming blind to?

NB: This is what needs to be said repeatedly, because so many people have shut their eyes to the most brutal campaign of mass extermination since the American punishment of Vietnam, which left some 4 million dead over a decade. The rate of murder in Gaza would please the operators of the death camps run… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: If Gaza’s corpses can vanish from our conscience, what else are we becoming blind to?

Over 2,100 environmental activists killed worldwide between 2012 & 2023 / The violent erasure of land and environmental defenders 

Global Witness More than 2,100 environmental activists were killed worldwide between 2012 and 2023, with Latin America holding the highest percentage globally, an international non-governmental organization (NGO) said Tuesday. The new report by Global Witness said an estimated 196 land and environmental defenders were killed around the world in 2023 alone. The report found that… Read More Over 2,100 environmental activists killed worldwide between 2012 & 2023 / The violent erasure of land and environmental defenders 

GSI’s Handbook on Northeast India Masks Extraction Behind Technicalities

NB: Congratulations to Bonojit, a former Ramjas College student; for his groundbreaking research and activism. DS The handbook casts the Northeast as a mineral-rich periphery, that is “underexplored” and ideal for private investment. Since March this year, around 55,000 bighas of land across Assam have either been cleared or marked for eviction. Of this, only… Read More GSI’s Handbook on Northeast India Masks Extraction Behind Technicalities

Seeking Justice for Lynching, Demolitions Not a Crime: Former Civil Servants Group on Mahmudabad / ‘You don’t need him, you need a dictionary,’ SC tells SIT probing professor

The Constitutional Conduct Group, a group of former civil servants, on Wednesday (May 28) released a statement of solidarity with Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad who was arrested over his posts on Operation Sindoor. “We are greatly distressed by the grave criminal charges levelled against Mahmudabad and his subsequent arrest,” the statement said, calling… Read More Seeking Justice for Lynching, Demolitions Not a Crime: Former Civil Servants Group on Mahmudabad / ‘You don’t need him, you need a dictionary,’ SC tells SIT probing professor

चुनाव आयोग को मेरी चुनौती, मेरी रिपोर्ट को गलत साबित करके दिखाए ? Ajit Anjum / The Dangerous Farce of the ongoing SIR in Bihar and the Price of Exposing it

बिहार में मेरे खिलाफ FIR ? ‘SIR’ की रिपोर्टिंग का नतीजा ? || Ajit Anjum – बिहार में चुनाव आयोग के दावों का फैक्ट चेक करने की वजह से मेरे ख़िलाफ़ बेगूसराय में हुई FIR ? क्या ‘SIR’ के दौरान मिली कमियों को उजागर करना गुनाह है ? ‘SIR’ की रिपोर्टिंग से बौखलाए प्रशासन की… Read More चुनाव आयोग को मेरी चुनौती, मेरी रिपोर्ट को गलत साबित करके दिखाए ? Ajit Anjum / The Dangerous Farce of the ongoing SIR in Bihar and the Price of Exposing it

Narendra Modi’s Step by Step Journey Towards Creating Fascism in India

Prem Shankar Jha The following are excerpts from The Dismantling of India’s Democracy: 1947 to 2025 by Prem Shankar Jha; reproduced with permission from the publisher, Speaking Tiger. Over the decade since Narendra Modi has been the prime minister of India, at the head of a BJP government supported by a few local allies in the states… Read More Narendra Modi’s Step by Step Journey Towards Creating Fascism in India

Russia has committed flagrant human rights abuses in Ukraine since 2014, rules ECHR

Extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labour among accusations upheld by court in judgment Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent Russia has committed flagrant and unprecedented abuses of human rights since it invaded Ukraine in 2014, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labour, the European court of human rights has found. The court’s grand chamber unanimously held that… Read More Russia has committed flagrant human rights abuses in Ukraine since 2014, rules ECHR

Software & Hard consequences: British Post Office scandal may have led to more than 13 suicides

NB: Here’s a thought for those who put blind trust in electronic ‘intelligence’. There’s no substitute for human wisdom, but ironically that’s in short supply. DS Julia Kollewe First report from Horizon IT hearings lays bare ‘disastrous’ human impact as 10,000 people seek compensation More than 13 people may have killed themselves as a result… Read More Software & Hard consequences: British Post Office scandal may have led to more than 13 suicides