Counterview

By Rosamma Thomas*  The Justice K Hema Committee report that probed the sexual exploitation of women in the Kerala film industry was released to the public two years ago – it states that a criminal mafia comprising actors, directors and producers dominates the film sector in Kerala. On September 14, 2026, filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan started a hunger strike in front of the state secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, demanding a probe into the findings of the Hema Committee Report. 

By Sudhir Katiyar*  The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene in the ban imposed by multiple state governments on visits to government schools by outsiders—a response to the CJP's School Thik Karo campaign—suggests that the campaign has raised concerns within the Indian establishment. This reaction is understandable, as education serves purposes beyond acquiring basic numeracy and literacy skills.  It can be a liberating force, freeing minds from superstition and irrationality toward scientific temper. However, improving infrastructure in government schools is only a first step. Physical upgrades do not automatically improve schooling quality or reduce dropout rates, as illustrated by Delhi's experience during the AAP government.

By Vikas Meshram*  It is an old Indian political tradition for opposition parties to question the impartiality of the Election Commission of India (ECI) following an electoral defeat. Lately, however, the Commission’s own actions have given genuine cause for concern, threatening not just its credibility but the very standing of the country’s democracy. Conducting transparent elections and safeguarding every citizen’s right to vote are the fundamental duties of this constitutional body. Yet, the glaring inconsistencies in the controversial "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR) campaign have raised profound questions about whether the ECI is fulfilling its mandate.

By R.K. Singh*  Do you want India to remain a democracy? If the answer is yes, then you must understand what Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), and his bosses are doing in the so-called Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.  Simply put: They are violating the law. Here is a detailed breakdown of the illegalities being committed and why we must act now to save our democracy.

By A Representative   The Lok Swashasan Andolan, a Madhya Pradesh-level campaign of Adivasi, forest dweller organizations, and other democratic forums, has strongly condemned a letter dated August 6, 2026, issued by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Force (HOFF) of Madhya Pradesh.  The letter, sent by the Working Plan and Forest Land Records Cell to regional forest officials, directs them to receive and process Community Forest Resource (CFR) claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. The campaign group alleges that this directive is a blatant attempt to bypass the legal process and undermines the authority of Gram Sabhas. In a formal submission to the Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), the organization has demanded immediate action against the PCCF for "instigating forest officials to violate the law." A copy of the complaint has also been sent to the Director of the FRA division, Ministry ...

By Syed Khalique Ahmed*  Can a Muslim woman become a mufti —a qualified Islamic scholar authorized to issue fatwas (legal opinions) and guide the community in matters of Sharia ? Can she shape Islamic jurisprudence , or lead educational assemblies attended by both men and women? 

By Guillermo R. Barreto  This month, like every year, the United Nations General Assembly takes place. Heads of State take the floor to send messages to the world. These messages are broadcast on TV, transcribed, and recorded in official documents and the press. We have heard denunciations of violations of international law, calls for peace and coexistence, and also cynical remarks from leaders of genocidal entities. A month of speeches that surely generates revenue for the media and benefits the local economy of New York City. A month that also entails significant expenses for the delegations of the 193 nations that are part of the Organization, in addition to the numerous delegations from nongovernmental organizations present at or around the event.

By Bharat Dogra  Kabaddi is an interesting sport that is growing in popularity in an increasing number of countries beyond its main area of origin in South Asia and neighboring countries such as Iran. The International Kabaddi Federation already has 31 member countries on its rolls and is making efforts to extend this number to as many as 80 countries.

By A Representative   Demonstrations were held in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Brighton on 26 September in solidarity with individuals detained in India under what organisers described as a politically motivated conspiracy case, according to a statement issued by the Joint Committee to Stop Repression in India (JCSRI).

By Jatin Sheth*  Ahmedabad’s selection as host city for the 2030 Commonwealth Games should have been a moment of civic pride. Instead, it exposes the uncomfortable truth that the city, in its present state, is nowhere near ready to shoulder an international event of this scale. The gap between the celebratory rhetoric and the lived reality of Ahmedabad’s civic infrastructure is so wide that only a sustained, time‑bound overhaul can bridge it—and even that will require political will of a kind we have not seen in years. The most basic functions of urban governance have been compromised. Roads cave in with frightening regularity—two hundred collapses this year alone, each one a reminder of the absence of engineering supervision and the dominance of politically connected contractors. Resurfacing is done as if it were a ritual, not a technical process, and the result is predictable: waterlogging, accidents, and financial losses for ordinary citizens. The city’s engineers, a...

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  Rivers are the lifeblood of the Earth. They provide us with food and water, which is why rivers have traditionally been revered and worshipped as mothers. It is impossible to imagine the development of human civilization without rivers. They have sustained humanity and played a vital role in its progress, meeting countless everyday needs. Traditionally, human societies recognized and respected this intimate relationship with rivers. Today, however, rivers are under severe pressure because of an ever-growing culture of greed and profit. The expanding influence of market-driven development is also a major factor in their destruction.

By Sandeep Pandey, Gunjan Singh  A movement had been going on in Ladakh to demand inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, full statehood, two Lok Sabha constituencies and a separate Public Service Commission for Ladakh. Sonam Wangchuk was on his fifth fast in Leh. Suddenly, on 24 September 2025, the youth decided to become more aggressive, having lost patience with Sonam’s peaceful satyagraha when a few persons on fast were hospitalised and there was a delay in the government’s response to the agitation. 

By Shahrukh Bin Parvaiz  The latest resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly calling for the restoration of full statehood raises an important political question that goes beyond the issue of statehood itself: what place do Article 370, Article 35A and the National Conference's long-standing demand for greater autonomy occupy in its present political programme?

By A Representative   A collective of former senior civil servants has launched a scathing attack on the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), demanding the resignation and prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and the complete scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan   India's 2047 ambition cannot be measured only in trillions of dollars. The harder test is whether the country can create productive jobs, repair its public education system, build accountable institutions, make cities liveable and ensure that economic growth translates into a better life for ordinary citizens.

By Bharat Dogra   Scientific and technological progress does not occur exclusively in expensive laboratories; it also flourishes among the farmers, workers, and artisans of remote villages. Given the right conditions, rural communities can solve their own agricultural challenges with inexpensive, context-specific solutions. A prime example is the Mangal Turbine, invented by Mangal Singh, a farmer-scientist from the Bundelkhand region of India. 

By Ravi Ranjan*  Kunwar Narayan (1927–2017) occupies a unique place in modern Hindi literature as a poet of profound philosophical insight, intellectual rigor, and human compassion. His poem Madhyam (Medium) stands as a remarkable reflection on language, silence, creativity, and the possibility of cultural renewal in an age overwhelmed by noise, fragmentation, and mechanization. Through a subtle interplay of poetic imagery and philosophical reflection, the poem explores how human beings can transform social and psychological chaos into meaningful cultural experience.

By Harsh Thakor*  John Lowe, the English jockey whose name on a race card made him a heartthrob of crowds, died on September 21 in a hospital in Perth, Western Australia, after suffering a stroke. He was 75. Lowe had moved to Australia two years earlier with his wife, Gale, to be close to his daughter, Verity, and grandsons, Isaac and Gabriel, after retiring from riding out at Roger Varian's Newmarket stable. He had a fall while gardening at home on September 17, was rushed to hospital where he was diagnosed with a stroke, and passed away four days later with Gale at his side. British jockeys wore black armbands in his memory on September 22.

By Ujjwal K Chowdhury*  My Sundarbans visit began with party flags, not a tiger.  For several hours, our car moved through Jhorkhali, where waterways seemed to wait just beyond each bend. On the stretch I crossed, BJP flags and offices dominated the roadside; BMS flags appeared in some marketplaces. That was just one traveller’s view from a moving car, not an election survey, but it stayed with me. It is a stark reminder that a place’s public colours can change much faster than the private worries of the people who live beneath them.

By Rajabhishek Dey*  Institutions need ideals to give their work meaning. But when institutional prestige becomes a substitute for accountability, the ideal can become an excuse for protecting the institution rather than serving the people within it.

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan  India’s elections are contested on the basis of parties, candidates, leaders, local issues, and national narratives. While voters may have diverse reasons for choosing a candidate, the winning representative enters the legislature under the identity of the party on whose ticket the election was fought. A recent analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch highlights how frequently this political identity changes post-election. 

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  The integrity of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is a cornerstone of Indian democracy. Recent developments, however, have raised serious concerns about the ECI's independence and its ability to conduct free and fair elections. The actions of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, in particular, have prompted a critical debate about the institution's autonomy and its role in upholding democratic principles.

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  A new political controversy has emerged in India following a report about differences within the Election Commission of India between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the two other Election Commissioners. According to the report, the two Election Commissioners have raised questions about the addition, deletion and restoration of names on electoral rolls, changes to Form 6, and the management of voter data. They have also expressed concerns about the centralisation of voter data and election software.

By Anand Mazgoankar*  Mr. Gyanesh Kumar is being absolutely fair and rational in refusing to resign. One only hopes he doesn’t suddenly look into the mirror, develop pangs of conscience, wake up to morality or Constitutional propriety, and—God forbid—succumb to the mounting pressure.

By N.S. Venkataraman*  Trustee, Nandini Voice for the Deprived When the Election Commission of India launched the voter-verification exercise known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), it could reasonably be argued that the Commission was justified in undertaking this nationwide exercise. A comprehensive revision of electoral rolls is an important responsibility of the Election Commission, particularly when the objective is to ensure that genuine and eligible voters are able to exercise their franchise in a free and fair election.

Counterview News  In what has been interpreted as a landmark victory for grassroots environmental justice, the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of the Miraj Sub-Division in Sangli district has ordered the temporary shutdown of the 10 MW Bhumi Green Energy Waste-to-Energy (WTE) incineration plant in Tung village . The administrative action is said to have followed sustained community protests and a damning joint fact-finding report by the Paryavaran Rakshan Samiti Sangli , the National Alliance for Climate and Ecological Justice (NACEJ), and the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA). 

By A Representative   A group of former civil servants, organised as the Constitutional Conduct Group, has issued an open letter to the Government of India expressing concern over the erosion of rights of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers in Odisha. The group, which describes itself as having no political affiliation, said Odisha has the fourth largest forest cover in India and the third largest Scheduled Tribe population, and alleged that large tracts of tribal-inhabited forests are being surrendered to mining and industrial projects, reducing both the forests and the communities dependent on them to distress.

By Dr. Palla Trinadha Rao*  For nearly a century, a quiet legal promise has stood between tribal communities in the hill tracts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the ordinary machinery of Indian civil law: disputes concerning their land would not simply be decided through legal institutions designed without regard to their particular vulnerability.

By Professor Suresh Deman*  Xi Jinping's Washington visit was a genuine spectacle. Trump personally greeted him at Joint Base Andrews, complete with a military review, a B-2 bomber flyover, F-22 fighters, bilateral talks and a state dinner — protocol so elevated that commentators reached back roughly six decades for a comparable precedent. But the real story isn't who "won" the ceremony. It's why the leader of a country Washington has spent years trying to contain was treated not as a supplicant but as a power whose cooperation and retaliation had to be negotiated.

By Kumar Krishnan*  As the 1996 India-Bangladesh Ganga Water Sharing Treaty approaches the end of its 30-year term in December 2026, Bihar’s concerns over the river are returning to the centre of the policy debate. At a one-day Bihar Policy Dialogue organised at the Babu Jagjivan Ram Research Institute in Patna, speakers argued that the State’s water crisis cannot be reduced either to the Farakka Barrage or to the question of international water sharing alone.

By Shankar Sharma*  ​India’s contemporary energy trajectory presents an alarming paradox: while global technological disruption offers clean, distributed, and cost-effective alternatives, our domestic planning apparatus remains tethered to resource-intensive orthodoxies. From the fragile ecology of the Western Ghats to the rapidly depleting aquifers of the northern plains, current power policies are exacerbating ecological devastation under the guise of developmental imperative. 

By Shamsul Islam   Newspapers in India on September 25, 2026 were flooded with birthday-celebration advertisements for Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, issued by RSS-BJP rulers. Upadhyay was a senior ideologue of the RSS who also served as president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (the first all-India political organization created by the RSS) and was in line to become the third Supremo of the RSS. His body was found at Mughal Sarai Junction (now Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction) on February 1, 1968. The RSS's then-leading figures, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nana Deshmukh, declared that Communists had hired a thief to murder him. 

By Harsh Thakor*  Patricio Guzmán, who  died in Paris on  September 15 at the age of 85, is an  acclaimed Chilean documentary filmmaker whose work chronicled the political upheavals of his homeland and explored the relationship between memory, history, and poetry,  Born in Santiago on August 11, 1941,  Guzmán  gained global recognition for his 1970s trilogy The Battle of Chile , a landmark achievement in political documentary filmmaking that chronicled the administration of former Chilean president Salvador Allende and the political developments leading up to his assassination on September 11, 1973, and the subsequent military coup led by Augusto Pinochet.  

Counterview Desk      A new longitudinal study by three UK-based psychology and biosocial research scholars has revealed that frequent, non-sexual physical touch from a romantic partner significantly improves long-term metabolic and cardiovascular health in older adults. While the science appears clear, experts warn that for elderly Indian couples, reaping these profound biological benefits requires navigating deep-seated cultural and religious taboos surrounding physical affection and "touch therapy" in later life. 

By Dr. P.K. Gupta*  Traditional medicine is simultaneously a repository of cultural knowledge, a source of accessible care, a commercial industry and, at times, a shelter for untested claims and unqualified practice. Any serious scientific examination must therefore avoid two extremes: the romantic belief that everything inherited from tradition is inherently beneficial, and the dismissive assumption that nothing traditional possesses therapeutic value. Cultural heritage deserves respect. Human illness demands evidence.

By Jyotiradiya Singh*  Every year, the National Crime Records Bureau publishes a report that most people never read. It is called Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, and buried inside its tables and percentages is one of the clearest pictures we have of what young India is going through right now. The numbers are not abstract. Each one is a person, a family, a room that went quiet. 

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Rahul Gandhi’s recent press conferences have articulated the issue of ‘Vote Chori’ (vote theft) with striking clarity. Unfortunately, most opposition leaders and his colleagues have yet to fully embrace this narrative. They have not been as forthright and courageous as the public demands. The rot is not merely confined to the Election Commission of India (ECI); it has spread to all institutions responsible for upholding the Constitution. The political executive is shielding these compromised bodies, while modern technology is being weaponized to subvert the people's mandate.

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ*  Taking a swipe at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar , Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke invoked the popular meme "It’s done, bro" and hinted at a possible campaign on electoral reforms. Dipke tweeted: "Election Commission thik karo (Fix the Election Commission)! Important PC tomorrow (Thursday) in Delhi. Gyanesh, it’s done bro!" A day earlier, on 23 September, for the first time in many years, we, the people of India, woke up to news that the promise of "achhe din" may actually materialise—and soon: that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

By A Representative  The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has called for the immediate initiation of removal proceedings against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the restoration of all names deleted from electoral rolls during the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR), following an investigation published by The Indian Express on September 23, 2026.

By Vivek Sakpal*  Is India moving towards a system in which elections continue to exist, citizens continue to vote, and institutions continue to carry democratic names, while the substance of political competition, institutional independence and public confidence gradually weakens? It is an uncomfortable question, and perhaps an exaggerated one. But recent developments make it worth asking: could a democracy retain the appearance of electoral legitimacy while steadily losing the conditions that make elections genuinely meaningful?

By A Representative   A fact-finding team comprising an academic, a journalist, a social activist and a human-rights activist has alleged that a 60-year-old man and his three sons were unlawfully detained and pushed back to Bangladesh from Suti in Murshidabad district without any legally sustainable determination of their nationality, and has demanded their safe return along with an independent, time-bound investigation into the actions of the police officials involved.

By A Representative   A prominent human rights organization has filed a formal complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of India and senior police authorities in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, alleging the arbitrary detention of twenty-three Bengali-speaking migrant workers under immigration laws. The complaint, submitted on September 18, 2026, by Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) and the Programme Against Custodial Torture and Impunity (PACTI), raises serious concerns about the alleged profiling of marginalized Muslim communities and the use of language, poverty, and geographic origin as proxies for determining foreign nationality.

By Rajiv Shah  A few days ago, while visiting a local library in a relatively small town on the eastern coast of the United States, the person who took me there asked if I wished to borrow a book. I looked around. While I couldn't find much that immediately connected with me, one book seemed of particular interest: Black & Buddhist .

Counterview News   A recent analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms reveals that the Bharatiya Janata Party has positioned itself as the primary national destination for post-election political defections, absorbing a total of 29 sitting legislators between 2022 and 2026. Broken down by legislative house, the BJP gained 7 Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament and 22 Members of Legislative Assemblies, accounting for 26 percent of all 111 nationwide party switches. 

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan   The controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has moved beyond a dispute over voter-list management. Reported objections by two Election Commissioners have raised questions about institutional procedure, transparency, technology and the difficult balance between removing ineligible entries and protecting every eligible voter from wrongful exclusion.

By A Representative  The Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPI) has raised serious concerns over the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) latest move to open a fresh public consultation on front-of-pack labelling (FOPL) regulations , warning that the process could further delay a policy that has already been in the works since September 2022.

By Rezgar Akrawi   On 8 September 2026 the researcher Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic, declaring that the two largest companies in the field are ‘gambling with our lives,’ and the people building these systems ‘earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.’ His concern was not an isolated one. Tens of thousands of people, among them leading scientists, have signed an international statement demanding a ban on the development of ‘superintelligence’ until there is scientific consensus that it is safe. The International AI Safety Report warned of the growing ability of models to dodge evaluation and get around the tests.

By Vijay Prashad   Donald Trump’s campaign to bring Greenland under United States control has often been dismissed as bluster. That is a mistake. Behind the language of a property deal lies a serious attempt to revive an old imperial principle: that Washington may decide the political and economic future of the entire Western Hemisphere. Greenland, strategically placed between North America and Europe, has become a test of that claim – and of whether the sovereignty of a small Indigenous nation counts when it conflicts with the ambitions of a great power.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  The demonisation of Marx, Marxism, and its emancipatory logic on an everyday basis is not new. All emancipatory philosophies, philosophers, and their radical projects of social, cultural, political, and economic change face similar roadblocks. Despite all propaganda against the emancipatory praxis of Marxism, it continues to exist as a moral compass, political hope, cultural renaissance, economic alternative, and a tool of struggle against all the dominant narratives of the capitalist system.

By Harsh Thakor*  ​Fifty years after the death of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong on September 9, 1976, left-wing and Maoist organizations around the world held rallies, discussions, and digital campaigns to commemorate his legacy. Amid contemporary international economic pressures, geopolitical friction, and rising global disparities, participating groups argued that Mao’s framework of anti-imperialism and mass mobilization remains relevant to modern socio-political struggles.