By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ*  It took place in 2002—a tragedy that will never be forgotten. The Gujarat Carnage remains one of the bloodiest chapters in post-Independence India. The burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express (from Faizabad to Ahmedabad), near the Godhra railway station in Gujarat, on 27 February 2002, which resulted in the deaths of 59 people, was strongly condemned. Several persons were convicted for the incident, though debate continues over what caused the fire, with some maintaining that it may have been accidental. Any death—particularly one so tragic—leaves an immeasurable void in the lives of loved ones. What followed this incident was violence on a scale that many observers described as beyond comprehension and wholly unjustifiable.

By Jag Jivan*  In a candid conversation that blended personal memoir with sharp critique, veteran civil society leader Ingrid Srinath painted a sobering picture of a sector adrift—caught between corporate metrics, regulatory chokeholds, and a fading sense of purpose. Speaking on the latest episode of the YouTube series Unmute, hosted by Gagan Sethi and Minar Pimple, Srinath—former Secretary General of global watchdog CIVICUS and founder of the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) at Ashoka University—urged civil society to reclaim its soul before it's too late. 

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  After the advent of the computer and the internet, the world is now witnessing the rise of “Artificial Intelligence,” or AI. It is being claimed that almost every aspect of human activity can now be efficiently managed through AI. Even the uniquely human faculties of thinking and reasoning, we are told, can be replicated through intelligent systems. The recently held AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi was an effort to consolidate the global business and policy ecosystem around this new technological frontier. But what exactly emerged from that summit?

By Deepmala Patel*  The Singrauli region of Madhya Pradesh, often described as “India’s energy capital,” has for decades been a hub of coal mining and thermal power generation. Today, the Dhirouli coal mine project in this district has triggered widespread protests among local communities. In recent years, the project has generated intense controversy, public opposition, and significant legal and social questions. This is not merely a dispute over one mine; it raises a larger question—who pays the price for energy development? Large corporate beneficiaries or the survival of local communities?

By Harasankar Adhikari   West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s flagship welfare schemes may appear to have gained considerable public acceptance, as there have been no significant protests against them across the state. Indeed, over the past decade, her government has introduced a range of direct benefit programmes targeting different sections of society. These initiatives have attracted widespread support in her favour.

By A Representative   A human rights group's press statement on 27 February 2026 to mark one year since the arrest of Bastar-based Adivasi human rights defender Raghu Midiyami, has called for his immediate release and an end to what campaigners describe as the criminalization of peaceful Adivasi activism in Chhattisgarh.

By Harsh Thakor*  February 20 marked the birth centenary of Zinaida Portnova, one of the youngest recipients of the Soviet Union’s highest wartime honour. Remembered for her role in the anti-Nazi underground in occupied Belarus during the Second World War, Portnova became a symbol of youth participation in the Soviet resistance.

By Nava Thakuria*  The mysterious death of Assam’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg in Singapore on 19 September 2025 continues to cast a long shadow over the State’s political landscape. Despite appeals from political parties and admirers to keep his name out of partisan debates, the circumstances surrounding his demise appear set to influence campaign narratives in the forthcoming Assam Assembly elections, scheduled for March–April 2026 alongside polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

By Bharat Dogra   The Kherwara block in Udaipur district has emerged as a significant center for pasture regeneration initiatives. Jaan Mohammad has been closely involved in several important efforts in this area. Speaking about his experience of working on around 75 hectares of land in Valibol village, he recalls that in some areas, the regenerated greenery became so dense that it was difficult to walk through the trees.

By Ravi Ranjan*  ​“It is only due to great merit accumulated from past lives that a poet occasionally finds such a knowledgeable critic who truly understands the labor involved in poetic composition—who carefully analyzes the methods of word arrangement, delights in unique aphorisms and insights, savours the dense nectar of poetic rasa, and uncovers the hidden purport of the work.” — Rājaśekhara, “Kāvyamīmāṃsā”

By A Representative   A senior Indian ecologist and long-time United Nations environmental negotiator, Dr. S. Faizi of Thiruvananthapuram, has written to António Guterres, urging the United Nations to launch a high-level investigation into alleged links between certain current and former UN officials and the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein, following disclosures of email communications by the U.S. Department of Justice.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  India's historical foreign policy maintained a notable duality: offering sanctuary to persecuted Jewish communities dating back centuries, while simultaneously supporting Palestinian self-determination as an expression of its broader anti-colonial foreign policy commitments. The gradual shift in Indian foreign policy under Hindutva-aligned governance — moving toward a strategic partnership with Israel while reducing substantive engagement with the Palestinian cause — raises legitimate questions about ideological motivation and geopolitical consequence.

By Vijay Prashad, Ubai al-Aboudi   In January 2026, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem published a grim update to its earlier work, titled Living Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps. This report documents the horrific conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and detention facilities, revealing structural brutality that must be understood not as isolated injustice but as part of a broader system of violence and exclusion directed against the Palestinian people.

By Harsh Thakor*  Sergei Vasilyevich Gerasimov (September 14, 1885 – April 20, 1964) was a Soviet artist, professor, academician, and teacher. His work was posthumously awarded the Lenin Prize, the highest artistic honour of the USSR. His paintings traced the development of socialist realism in the visual arts while retaining qualities drawn from impressionism. Gerasimov reconciled a lyrical approach to nature with the demands of Soviet socialist ideology.

By Rosamma Thomas  Thousands of workers at the Indian Oil Corporation refinery in Panipat, Haryana, went on strike beginning February 23, 2026. They faced a police lathi charge, and the Central Industrial Security Force fired into the air to control the crowd.

By Venkatesh Nayak*  Our elected representatives seek information on a wide variety of topics from the Union Government when Parliament is in session. Ministers respond verbally on the floor of the House to only a handful of them. These are called Starred Questions. In response to the Unstarred Questions, which run into thousands, the Government only tables written replies without responding to them verbally. The text of the MPs' queries and the concerned ministry/department's replies are uploaded on the respective House websites. 

By Ram Puniyani  Choosing one’s religion is both a social and a legal right guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. Yet organisations that pursue politics in the name of religion often refuse to accept this fundamental principle. Dr. Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarsanghachalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has repeatedly asserted that all people living in this country are Hindus. At the same time, he has expressed concern that the Hindu population is declining due to conversions to Islam and Christianity, even suggesting that Hindu couples should have three children to address this “worrying” trend.

By Vikas Meshram   The farmer in India is not merely a food provider; he is the soul of the nation. For centuries, enduring natural calamities and bearing debt generation after generation while remaining loyal to the soil, this community now finds itself trapped in a different kind of crisis. In February 2016, the Modi government launched the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) with the stated objective of freeing farmers from the shackles of debt. It was an ambitious attempt to provide a strong safety net to cultivators repeatedly devastated by excessive rainfall, drought, and hailstorms.

By Syed Osman Sher  South of the Himalayas lies a triangular stretch of land, spreading about 2,000 miles in each direction—a world of rare magic. It has fired the imagination of wanderers, settlers, raiders, traders, conquerors, and colonizers. They entered this country bringing with them new ethnicities, cultures, customs, religions, and languages.

By Ravi Ranjan*  In the vast, often tumultuous landscape of contemporary Hindi literature, the voice of Ranjana Mishra emerges not with a shout, but with a melody. It is a voice steeped in the ancient grammar of Indian classical music, yet intimately familiar with the quiet rebellions of the modern heart. Her recent poem, “Raga Malkauns,” from her acclaimed collection Patthar Samay Ki Seedhiyan (Stone Steps of Time), is a masterful example of this fusion. It’s a work that transforms a midnight melody into a profound meditation on sorrow, feminine identity, and the very nature of creation.

By Nava Thakuria*  Heartbreaking news arrived from Dhaka as the vibrant city lost one of its most active and committed citizens with the passing of journalist, author and progressive Bangladeshi national Saleem Samad. A gentleman who always had issues to discuss with anyone, anywhere and at any time, he passed away on 22 February 2026 while undergoing cancer treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He was 74. 

Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan*  Bangladesh's latest parliamentary elections have delivered a sweeping mandate to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), marking one of the most consequential political shifts in South Asia in recent years. The party secured 212 of 300 parliamentary seats with close to 50 percent of the vote — a commanding victory that signals a dramatic reset in the country's political landscape.

By Darshan Desai*  There is a storm brewing within me, threatening to burst into an ocean of tears, but he would not like to see me weak—not one bit. If there is anything unbelievable for me at this moment, it is the bitter fact that Misraji is no more. I struggle to keep the lid shut; I am not allowed any tears. And why should tears be shed for someone who must be celebrated? Misraji has left behind countless memories, countless lessons, countless stories for everyone. Each person who met him carries exclusive memories of RK Misra, the veteran Gujarat journalist who passed away in the wee hours of February 23, 2026.

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  The historical ills in the relationship between capital and the environment have now manifested in areas commonly referred to as the "environmental crisis." This includes global warming, the destruction of the ozone layer, the devastation of tropical forests, mass mortality of fish, species extinction, loss of biodiversity, poison seeping into the atmosphere and food, desertification, shrinking water supplies, lack of clean water, and radioactive pollution. 

By Bharat Dogra  In Fidurihal hamlet of Kotra block in South Rajasthan, nearly 20 children sit in a circle in a modest room. The simple furnishings are brightened by teaching aids and colorful drawings on the walls—and even more by the songs and poems of children aged around 2 to 6 years.

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan*  Delhi has witnessed women at the helm before, each leaving behind a distinct political and administrative imprint on the national capital. From diplomacy to development, the city's past female chief ministers shaped governance in their own ways. As Rekha Gupta completes one year in office, the question arises: has her tenure lived up to her ambitious promises? After her first year, Gupta appears to have made tall claims but delivered little since taking the oath of office. Despite coming from a background in student politics, her report card as Delhi chief minister is far from impressive. She seems to understand the nuances of politics, yet she is often seen generating considerable buzz without substantial delivery on the ground.

By A Representative   Expressing relief and happiness over a recent judgment of the Supreme Court of India, the mother of a minor girl said the decision has reinstilled her faith in the justice system after the apex court set aside an earlier order of the Allahabad High Court.

By A Representative   The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha has appealed to the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court seeking intervention after a single-judge bench stayed the ongoing police investigation in a hit-and-run case involving High Court lawyer Manoj Tandon.

By Ravi Ranjan*  Rajesh Joshi is one of the most commanding voices in contemporary progressive Hindi poetry. His work is deeply tied to social conscience and the quiet struggles of ordinary people, carrying the scent of native soil after rain and the enduring human will to live amid suffering. Beyond poetry, he has enriched translation and other literary forms. His major collections include "Ek Din Bolenge Ped", "Mitti Ka Chehra", "Naipathya Mein Hansi", "Do Panktiyon Ke Beech" (Sahitya Akademi Award winner), "Chand Ki Vartani", and "Zid". His long poem “Samragatha” sparked wide discussion. He has received the Sahitya Akademi Award, Makhanlal Chaturvedi Award, Shikhar Samman, Pahal Samman, Muktibodh Award, Shrikant Verma Smriti Samman, Shamsher Samman, and others. His poems, translated into English, Russian, German, and various Indian languages, consistently search for faith even in crisis, questioning power with s...

By Rajiv Shah  It is always sad when a journalist colleague passes away — more so when that person has remained firm in his journalistic moorings. Compared to many others, I did not know R.K. Misra, who passed away on February 23 after a long illness, very intimately, but we interacted occasionally over the years.

By Sandeep Pandey*   Shock is being expressed at Galgotias University being found presenting a Chinese-made robotic dog and a South Korean-made soccer-playing drone as its own creations at the recently held India AI Impact Summit 2026, a global event in New Delhi. Earlier, a UGC-listed journal had published a paper from the university titled “Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis,” which became the subject of widespread ridicule. Following the robotic dog controversy coming to light, the university has withdrawn the paper. These incidents are symptoms of deeper problems afflicting the Indian education system in general. Galgotias merely bit off more than it could chew.

By A Representative   A group of 90 retired civil servants under the banner of the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) has written to Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, raising concerns over the timing, methodology and transparency of the upcoming 2027 Census.

By A Representative   A public commemoration marking six years since the February 2020 violence in North East Delhi was held at the Press Club of India on Sunday, bringing together survivors, jurists, political leaders, journalists and civil society members to reflect on questions of justice and accountability that remain unresolved. The event, titled “Lest We Forget: Remembering the February 2020 Delhi Communal Carnage,” was convened by the Constitutional Conduct Group and Karwan-e-Mohabbat. Organisers described the gathering as an act of collective remembrance and a call for renewed democratic vigilance.

By A Representative  As India celebrates the success of the AI Impact Summit 2026, a prominent policy voice is sounding the alarm over what he calls a dangerous gap in the national conversation: the enormous water and energy burden that artificial intelligence infrastructure will place on an already resource-stressed nation.

By Jag Jivan*  Across the West, immigration has increasingly been framed as a cultural threat or a political liability, a stance most visibly associated with Donald Trump but echoed in varying degrees across Europe and other advanced economies. What this debate often ignores is a hard demographic and economic reality: without sustained immigration, much of the Western world faces a shrinking workforce, rising dependency ratios, and long-term stagnation.

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Cuba currently faces the greatest challenge to its sovereignty and independence in decades. The brutal and repressive economic blockade, which violates all international norms and practices, is taking a heavy toll on the tiny island nation. While Donald Trump and his administration seek to strangle Cuba for its independent foreign policy, the rest of the world is expressing its solidarity. 

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  China is frequently described as an authoritarian state governed by the Communist Party of China (CPC). Such characterisations are advanced by various media outlets, think tanks, intellectuals, and affiliated institutions. These assessments draw, in part, on frameworks promoted by American political establishments, including the U.S. government and its agencies. For example, the unclassified document titled "The Elements of the China Challenge," published by the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of State, has been criticised by some scholars as presenting a one-sided account of China's political system. The narratives in this document provide a broader framework for discourse on China that is adopted and amplified by media organisations worldwide. Such narratives, critics argue, risk obscuring the complexity of China's development model and its relationship to prevailing global economic arrangements.

By Bharat Dogra   Big farms have been cornering a big share of US farmland while many middle level farms are losing out and small and young farmers face increasing difficulties, even as farm workers who make the whole system function remain dangerously exposed and historically marginalized communities continue to lose ground they once held. Sometimes public attention is focused on the incredibly huge land and farmland ownership of a few extremely rich persons or families. If only farmland is to be examined, then Bill Gates is often considered to be the biggest landowner with about 250,000 acres of farmland spread across about 17 states. There are several others with over 100,000 acres of farmland. However if one also includes those with timber interests or ranches, then landowners of over a million acres are also possible in the USA, with the Emmerson family owning about 2.4 million acres, John Malone about 2.2 million acres and Ted Turner about 2 million acres. However...

By Ravi Ranjan*  ​Alok Dhanwa stands as one of the most significant and distinctive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry, bridging the personal and the political with rare emotional depth and intellectual clarity. His work transforms everyday images—kites soaring at dawn, the slow sinking of a red sun, and twilight stretching into long godhūli —into profound meditations on memory, alienation, civilizational decline, and the stubborn human will to resist erasure. 

By Harsh Thakor*  Seven Maoist cadres, including Loketi Chandra Rao alias Prabhakar of Kamareddy district in Telangana, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. A police officer was also injured in the incident. Special anti-Naxal forces along with local police had been conducting combing operations in the Gadchiroli forest area for three days prior to the encounter.

By Sunil Kumar*  India’s rise as the world’s fourth-largest economy is being loudly celebrated. Yet little is said about where the toiling millions—especially workers and farmers—stand in this narrative of growth. The drumbeat of economic triumph rings hollow when reports emerge of workers dying in factories and farmers losing their lives in the fields. Even the deaths of workers rarely make headlines unless a catastrophe is too large to ignore.

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan*  “She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information.” These were the words used in the official press release by Galgotias University following the controversy at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The statement came across as defensive, petty, and deeply insensitive.

By Vikas Gupta   There is almost nothing in common between India's largest airline and an obscure private university. Yet both managed to bind themselves together through their impact on national reputation — one by grounding a million passengers, the other by embarrassing the nation in front of the very world it had invited over.

By Aysha*  India proudly narrates its digital revolution to the world—data-driven governance, app-based service delivery, real-time dashboards, and claims of greater transparency and efficiency. Yet beneath this celebratory narrative lies an uncomfortable truth: millions of children continue to suffer from malnutrition. This is not simply a matter of food scarcity. It reflects policy failures, deep structural inequality, and a growing exclusion rooted in documentation and digital compliance. When a child is denied nutrition before and after birth, childhood quietly collapses under the weight of weakness, illness, and neglect.

By Vikas Meshram*  In the Sajjangarh block of Banswara district, located at the southern tip of Rajasthan, lies a small village called Ghoti ki Todi. Kamladevi Bhagora, a 43-year-old woman from this village, has done something that has become an exemplary inspiration not just for her own village, but for women across many other villages. A mother of three sons, coming from a farming family, this ordinary woman fought for her land, her rights, and her dreams with remarkable courage — and she won.

By Bharat Dogra  Tara is a young girl from Rama village in Udaipur district of Rajasthan who recently discovered her hidden talents as a football player. While earlier she had never even thought of playing football, it was very encouraging to find many people applauding her performance on the field with the big ball.

By A Representative   The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Hyderabad has issued a notice to anti-displacement activist Damodar Turi in connection with FIR RC-04/2025/HYDERABAD, prompting criticism from the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), a coalition of civil society organisations.

By Jag Jivan*    The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by  Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD *  It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

By Dr. Jayant Kumar*  On February 19th, I found myself caught in an unusually long traffic jam in Delhi. Several roads had been closed due to VIP movement linked to the ongoing AI Summit in the city. As the minutes turned into hours, I couldn’t help but reflect on the irony of the situation. On one hand, the country was hosting global conversations on the future of Artificial Intelligence and technological transformation; on the other, millions of our citizens continue to struggle with basic access to livelihoods, services, and dignity. 

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  The 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) was held from 13 to 15 February 2026, bringing together more than forty heads of state and government, alongside ministers, military officials and policy experts. As in previous years, the majority of participating leaders were from Europe and North America, with discussions largely centred on technological competition, geopolitical tensions, European security, and the future of the transatlantic alliance under North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leadership.