Counterview

By Prof. K. S. Chalam*  S. V. Rajadurai and Vidya Bhushan Rawat’s joint effort in bringing out a book on the most original iconoclast of South Asia, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, titled Periyar: Caste, Nation and Socialism, published by People’s Literature Publication, Mumbai, is now available on Amazon and Flipkart . This volume presents an innovative method of documenting the pioneering contributions of a leader like Periyar, and it reflects the scholarship of Rajadurai, who has played a pivotal role in popularizing Periyar in English. 

By A Representative   In a landmark achievement for India's non-profit sector, Educate Girls has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award, widely regarded as Asia's highest honor. This makes them the first Indian organization to ever receive the award, which recognizes "greatness of spirit and transformative leadership."

By Shiran Illanperuma  China’s modernisation has been one of the most remarkable processes of the 21st century and one that has sparked endless academic debate. Meng Jie (孟捷), a distinguished professor from the School of Marxism at Fudan University in Shanghai, has spent the better part of his career unpacking this process to better understand what has taken place.

By Bharat Dogra   Baal Singh, a respected elder of the Bhil Adivasi community in Rajasthan’s Banswara district, is a wealth of knowledge on his community's traditional farming practices. When I recently visited him at his home in Nisnawat village, he spoke passionately about the need to protect the diverse, time-honored crops that form the foundation of tribal agriculture. He was equally firm in his belief that the growing reliance on market-purchased hybrid seeds has been detrimental to farmers.

By Bharat Dogra   For as long as anyone in Jhikali village can remember, a traditional pond has been the lifeblood of farming. Located in the Banswara district of Rajasthan, the Bhil Adivasi (tribal) community relies on its water for sustenance. Without it, farming would be nearly impossible.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak  Click, like, share, and subscribe have become the new currencies of rent-seeking digital capitalism, where the rapid consumption of content is driven by the number of views and subscribers of video shorts and clips. The relationship between digital content and its consumers is shaped by quick browsing and the pursuit of instant fun, infotainment, pleasure, utility, satisfaction, or rejection. These ideals in everyday life influence interpersonal human relationships in the real world beyond the digital sphere. Social life and relationships are becoming like instant coffee.

By Azmat Ali  Across Palestinian villages and refugee camps, in diasporic homes and international museums, small squares of colored thread bear the weight of an entire nation’s history. Tatreez—the traditional art of Palestinian embroidery—has long been more than a decorative practice. Every stitch carries stories: of village identity, of gendered labor, of love and loss, of exile and return. Once part of the intimate fabric of daily life, woven into wedding dresses and household textiles, today it functions as a portable archive of memory, resistance, and survival.