The advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) has raised serious concerns over a recent World Bank brief that cites a decline in India’s consumption-based Gini coefficient — from 28.8 in 2011–12 to 25.5 in 2022–23 — portraying it as a sign of growing equality. According to CFA, the data offers a misleading picture of socio-economic reality on the ground.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) have attributed the failure to address inhalant misuse among teenagers to "existing domestic policies." While the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act 2015 penalizes the sale or provision of narcotics, psychotropic drugs, alcohol, and tobacco to minors (under 18), it notably omits inhalant misuse. Even the Gujarat Juvenile Justice Rules 2019, formulated for the Act's enforcement, also fail to "recognize the issue," the researchers highlight.

  The Government of India has refused to disclose any information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act related to its controversial decision to block over 8,000 social media accounts—mostly on X (formerly Twitter)—during Operation Sindoor, as well as to restrict access to several digital news platforms, including The Wire, in early May.

 "Major Hints" ("મેઝર હિન્ટ્સ"), translated into Gujarati by veteran journalist Anil Devpurkar and noted Gujarati writer Dr. Bharat Mehta, is an honest and powerful account of the author Dr. I. I. Pandya’s decades-long engagement with Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), Vadodara. Originally written in English, this work is more than just a personal memoir—it is a critical testimony on how public institutions function, fail, and sometimes resist.

  In a thought-provoking  column published in  Sandesh , eminent sociologist and former Vice-Chancellor Prof. Vidyut Joshi has raised urgent concerns over the erosion of intellectual autonomy and social relevance in Gujarat’s leading research and academic institutions. Building on insights from the recent paper  Secret of Creating High Performing Knowledge Institutions  by development economist Prof. Tushaar Shah, Joshi paints a stark picture of institutions that have strayed far from their foundational vision.

 On the fourth anniversary of the death of Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Fr. Stan Swamy, a one-day hunger strike was observed on Friday by his co-accused in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case. The protest was held in memory of Fr. Stan, who died in custody on July 5, 2021, amid allegations of medical neglect and institutional repression.

  Participants at a national workshop on Farmers’ Rights and Collective Bio-Cultural Heritage, held in Hyderabad on July 1-2, have strongly opposed the growing influence of private corporations and international regimes over India’s seed systems. Organized by the Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch (BBSM), the workshop culminated in a joint statement that called for a complete overhaul of the country’s legal and policy framework governing seeds and farmers’ rights.

  As India commemorates a decade of the ambitious Digital India mission launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 1, 2015, a critical digital gap remains unaddressed: citizens still cannot file Right to Information (RTI) applications online with the Indian Parliament.

  Over 130 signatories representing India’s organic farming community have submitted a strongly worded letter to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), objecting to key proposals discussed at a hybrid meeting held by the authority on May 7, 2025. The meeting, convened to review the Food Safety and Standards (Organic Foods) Regulations 2017, reportedly considered drastic amendments that stakeholders claim will harm small producers and the broader movement for agroecological food systems.

  In a historic step toward corporate accountability, the Basel Civil Court has advanced proceedings against Swiss agrochemical giant Syngenta, agreeing to assess evidence in a civil lawsuit brought by three Indian plaintiffs—two widows and a survivor—from Yavatmal, Maharashtra. The case stems from the 2017 mass poisoning linked to Syngenta’s pesticide Polo, which is banned in the EU and Switzerland but still sold in India.