Counterview

By Martin Macwan*  Respected Prime Minister,  The first step toward true forgiveness is asking for it, and it is out of respect for the Constitution that the title "Honourable" is used for the office of the Prime Minister. Every abuse is "dirty" because almost all abuse is uttered with the conscious intention of publicly humiliating a woman, much like the disrobing of Draupadi in the royal court. This includes remarks like "Jersey Cow," used at public meetings on the Gujarati land of Gandhi and Sardar; comparing a female MP's laughter in India's Parliament to "Surpanakha's laugh"; and using a vulgar address like "Didi O Didi" for a Chief Minister who holds a respected position in a democracy—along with every other such remark. In the 79-year history of independent India, you are better placed than anyone to say which Prime Minister has used such language against women.

By Dr. Manohar Chauhan   Every village tells a story. Every individual carries its identity. Yet, thousands of forest and un-surveyed villages across India remain invisible to the state, their stories unheard, their people undocumented. Even after 20 years of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, we still do not have a clear answer to a basic question: how many such villages actually exist?

By A Representative   Human rights advocates, legal experts and public health leaders have warned that the global fight against HIV is facing an unprecedented challenge from the combined impact of shrinking donor funding and a growing anti-rights movement, threatening decades of progress in HIV prevention, treatment and care.

By Jag Jivan   Pakistan finds itself at both the center and the periphery of a mounting food security crisis gripping the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan region, according to a new World Bank report , " Building Food Security, Creating Jobs ." With a population of 151 million people unable to afford a healthy diet, Pakistan has, by the report's account, the largest group of people in the region who cannot afford a nutritious diet , ahead even of Egypt's 66 million.

By Carlos Ron   On 14 July, at a summit in Orlando, the head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Terrance Cole, declared that Mexico's cartels and Mexico's government are ‘one and the same.’ He offered no evidence. President Claudia Sheinbaum demanded some; none came. Mexico's Security Cabinet answered with figures—tens of thousands of arrests, hundreds of tons of narcotics seized—while Cole's office remained silent. The accusation was never meant to be proven. It was only meant to be deployed.

By Ravi Ranjan*  Sudama Pandey 'Dhoomil's "Patakatha" ("The Script") stands as one of the most searching poetic examinations of Indian democracy ever written. Rather than chronicling political events, the poem delves into the widening chasm between democratic promises and lived experience, between the language of power and the reality of hunger, between institutional celebration and civic suffering. Through its intricate exploration of political language, ideological construction, and the restless consciousness of the ordinary citizen, "Patakatha" emerges as both a devastating critique and a profound meditation on what democracy truly means when measured against human dignity.