Counterview

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan   There is an old saying: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Samuel Johnson was not criticising love for one’s country; he was warning against those who weaponise patriotic symbolism to escape accountability. In India today, that warning feels uncomfortably relevant.

By A Representative   A scathing letter addressed to Gujarat's Labour Secretary has brought to light alarming discrepancies in the collection and disbursement of the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess, with activists citing a recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report to demand urgent corrective measures for the benefit of the state's estimated 25 lakh unorganized construction workers.

By Kumar Krishnan*  When river water enters a farmer’s field, it is called a flood; when the same river runs short in summer, it becomes a drought. This is the paradox of the Ganga in Bihar. Villages along its banks are battered year after year by floods and erosion, yet in summer the State faces shortages for irrigation, drinking water, navigation and fisheries. The Ganga cannot be understood merely in cubic feet per second. Its true balance sheet must be measured in farms, fish, soil, groundwater, villages and the lives of communities that depend on it. This contradiction has gained renewed urgency as the 1996 India–Bangladesh Ganga Water Treaty approaches its 30-year review in December 2026. JD(U) working president and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha argues that the treaty should not be renewed in its current form. Instead, he calls for a scientific assessment of basin-wide water requirements up to 2050, with due weight to Bihar’s needs for agriculture, drinking wate...

By Sakshi Gupta*  When children return to school after years of disruption, the most basic question is not whether they are enrolled, whether teachers have been trained, or whether schools have received new teaching materials. The real question is much simpler: can they read, write and do basic mathematics?

By Vijay Prashad  Dear friends and colleagues, The United States and Israel launched a war of aggression against Iran in February of this year. For six months, US missiles and bombs have fallen upon civilian and military targets inside the country. Hospitals, schools, energy facilities, and neighbourhoods have been struck. The 168 schoolgirls killed in Minab have become the terrible symbol of this war. Iranians have been forced to live under the constant expectation of another attack, while Iranian families outside the country endure the peculiar agony of watching the destruction from afar. This follows on three years of Israeli genocide in Gaza, which has been carried out due to the relentless military support of the United States.

By Jorge Coulon   In 1799, Francisco de Goya published Los Caprichos . Among his engravings was one destined to stand the test of time: a man sleeps, leaning over a table, whilst owls, bats and creatures of the night emerge from behind him. At the bottom, a phrase: ‘The sleep of reason produces monsters’.