By A Representative   In a new episode of the Unmute Podcast , activist Deepa Pawar, founder of Anubhuti Trust and a voice from India's Nomadic and Denotified Tribes (NT-DNT), laid bare the deep-seated wounds inflicted by colonial-era laws that branded her community as criminals. Speaking with hosts Gagan Sethi, a veteran development practitioner with over 40 years in policy advocacy and minority rights, and Minar Pimple, founder of YUVA and former Amnesty International director, Pawar dismantled the myths of progress that sideline these marginalized groups, urging a reckoning with dignity, citizenship, and mental health in the fight for justice.

By A Representative   The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat has written to the Chief Electoral Officer of the state alleging that over a thousand Muslim voters from Akbarnagar in Ahmedabad’s Bapunagar constituency have been wrongly removed from the electoral rolls following a demolition drive. In a letter dated 17 January 2026, addressed to Harit Shukla, IAS, the MCC claims that 1,206 residents of Akbarnagar’s “Chhapra” locality, who were previously listed as eligible voters in Part 173 of the 49-Bapunagar Assembly seat, have been excluded from the ongoing Special Summary Revision.

By A Representative   A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India audit report tabled in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on 7 January 2026 has revealed alarming lapses in the quality and safety of drinking water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), raising serious public health concerns for residents of the capital. 

By Vikas Gupta  Democracy thrives on equilibrium. Governments pursue their ideological agendas and campaign promises, while opposition parties scrutinize policy choices, amplify neglected issues and highlight failures. This competition revolves around material benefits and everyday civic concerns, with every party ultimately judged on credibility and delivery.

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  A stable Iran is clearly in India’s interest. While US President Donald Trump has so far avoided a direct attack, the situation remains deeply uncertain. The central problem is that few governments take Trump’s words at face value. His actions have revealed a clear pattern: Washington targets adversaries even while pretending to negotiate with them.

By Vikas Meshram  The world today is confronted with overlapping crises— climate change, food insecurity, land degradation, and water scarcity . Despite technological advances and extensive policy planning, both ecological balance and human society appear increasingly fragile. In this environment of uncertainty, the wisdom of Indigenous (Adivasi) communities offers a compelling alternative. Rooted in sustainability, cooperation, and respect for nature, their traditions demonstrate what modern development has forgotten.

By Ravi Ranjan*  Noted Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi’s poem “That Old Muslim” occupies a singular place in contemporary Hindi poetry for its nuanced exploration of modern Indian social, moral, and historical structures without resorting to overt political or ideological declarations. The poem unfolds through an ordinary yet ethically charged scene—an old Muslim night watchman returning at dawn from guarding an office in a new colony to his home in the old city. This simple movement becomes a profound meditation on labour, marginality, silence, and temporal liminality, constructing meaning not through explicit statements but through relational, spatial, and temporal dynamics.

By A Representative   A recent citizen survey conducted by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan India (JSAI) has exposed a critical public health crisis in Madhya Pradesh’s major urban centers, revealing that a staggering 89% of Indore’s population lacks access to 24x7 water supply. The report , released in the wake of the devastating contamination tragedy in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area, paints a grim picture of urban infrastructure where residents in both Indore and Bhopal are forced to consume water they do not trust. 

By A Representative   The National Alliance for Climate and Environmental Justice (NACEJ) has strongly criticized what it described as coercive actions against climate activists Harjeet Singh and Sanjay Vashisht, following enforcement raids reportedly carried out on the basis of alleged violations of foreign exchange regulations and intelligence inputs. 

By Parineeta Dandekar, Himanshu Thakkar*  “At the ground level people are really interested and they want to get involved… our report, if nothing else, seems to have served the purpose of triggering such interest,” said Dr. Madhav Gadgil while delivering a lecture on “Democracy and Ecology in Contemporary India” in Delhi in July 2013. He was speaking about the 2010–11 report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), which he chaired—one of his most significant contributions to environmental governance in India .

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Objective Studies (IOS) in New Delhi, a milestone for any institution. The driving force behind it was Dr Manzoor Alam, who set out to build an organisation capable of bringing together academia, intellectuals, and religious leaders. It was a rare undertaking, particularly for someone who chose to remain in India rather than pursue lucrative opportunities abroad.

By Harsh Thakor*  On 4 January 2026, the 125th birth anniversary of Cyril Lionel Robert James marked a moment to reflect on the life and ideas of a major figure in Marxist , Pan-Africanist and anti-colonial thought . Born in 1901 in Tunapuna, Trinidad , James spent his life linking the struggles of Black and colonised peoples to the wider project of working-class emancipation. His work challenged Eurocentric interpretations of Marxism by asserting that colonial rebellions and Black resistance movements were central catalysts for global revolutionary change.

By Ram Puniyani*  The campaign around the Ram Temple , including the demolition of the Babri Masjid , paid rich electoral dividends to the BJP and its parent RSS . Kashi and Mathura are in line. A new front has now been opened with the Somnath Swabhiman Parv (Somnath Self-Pride Festival). Speaking on the occasion in full religious regalia, our non-biological Prime Minister stated two things, directly and indirectly. First, that Somnath Temple stood as a symbol of India’s glory, that Muslim kings attacked it repeatedly, and that it returned each time with even greater grandeur. Mahmood Ghazni demolished it in 1026 and plundered it 17 times. The second point was directed against the Congress , particularly Jawaharlal Nehru , the present Prime Minister’s preferred opponent, accusing him of opposing Somnath’s reconstruction.

By A Representative   The People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) has condemned the arrest of Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) vice-president Kranthi Chaitanya and fellow activist Mohan Krishna, who were taken into custody on January 9 and remanded the next day. The duo has been booked over allegedly “provocative banners” displayed ahead of a civil liberties conference in Tirupati.

By Bharat Dogra    It is widely recognised that wars and conflicts are major drivers of civilian deaths . It is estimated that during 2012–21, armed conflict caused roughly half a million deaths annually, most of them civilians. Yet an equally serious reality has received far less attention: economic sanctions may be claiming a similar number of lives each year, despite being imposed ostensibly in the name of peace, security or moral pressure.

By Atul Chandra, Tings Chak*  On January 3, 2026, the United States did not merely bomb a sovereign country and capture its president. It displayed, in the most unambiguous terms, a total defiance of the post-War international order that it helped create. When US special forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and National Assembly deputy Cilia Flores from Caracas and transported them to a Brooklyn jail, they did not simply violate Venezuelan sovereignty. They declared that sovereignty itself, for any nation that refuses subordination to US imperialism, holds no weight.

By A Representative   India announced the launch of an AI-powered child protection tool named ‘Raksha’ ahead of the Government of India’s AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled for February 16–20. The tool was introduced at the ‘Prosperity Futures: Child Safety Tech Summit’ by Jitin Prasada, Union Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The summit was organised by Just Rights for Children (JRC) with India Child Protection and MeitY as partners.  

By Harsh Thakor*  This analysis attempts to identify and rank the most technically correct batsmen of all time—players whose game represented the purest expression of orthodox batting . It is a subjective list that excludes statistical greatness and artistry. Genius players such as Viv Richards , Brian Lara , and Javed Miandad —brilliant though they were—are not included here because their genius often departed from the strict textbook.

By Harsh Thakor*  ‘ Whither Human Rights in India, ’ edited by Anand Teltumbde, is a wide-ranging collection of essays examining India’s human rights landscape over recent decades. The volume surveys major issues including majoritarian politics, state responses to dissent, inequality among Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims, restrictions on civil liberties, judicial functioning, hate speech, and the situation of vulnerable communities. While highlighting the perspectives of public intellectuals such as Father Stan Swamy and Professor G.N. Saibaba, it compiles assessments of how democratic rights have been experienced, contested, and curtailed.

By A Representative   The Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) has cautioned that India’s latest free trade agreement risks widening regional inequality, arguing that export growth remains concentrated in a small number of states despite rising national figures.

By Nandita Lal   The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is expected to be implemented in the first half of 2026. India’s journey with trade deals slowed down in the 2000s after past agreements backfired. But now, in 2025, it’s rushing into new talks with the US, UK, and EU, despite the cautionary history. Alarmingly, the warnings from rights groups in both the UK and India have been largely ignored by the press.

By Harasankar Adhikari  In 2011, after three decades of uninterrupted Left Front rule, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) came to power in West Bengal under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. Many voters, weary of a long period of political stagnation and perceived cadreism, hoped the new government would offer a more responsive and accountable administration. The expectation was that the transition would bring peace, transparency and a break from entrenched structures of party control.

By Nazifa Jannat*  Recent protests organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) in Bangladesh highlight public concern about reports of possible Bangladeshi involvement in a proposed “ Gaza International Stabilization Force” (ISF). These protests reflect anxieties over the nature and purpose of the initiative at a time when Gaza continues to face extensive destruction, displacement, and humanitarian crisis. The PSC argues that participation would be inappropriate given the stated goals of the force and current conditions on the ground.

By Vijay Prashad   Iran is in turmoil. Across the country, there have been protests of different magnitudes, with violence on the increase with both protesters and police finding themselves in the morgue. What began as work stoppages and inflation protests drew together a range of discontent, with women and young people frustrated with a system unable to secure their livelihood. Iran has been under prolonged economic siege and has been attacked directly by Israel and the United States not only within its borders, but across West Asia (including in its diplomatic enclaves in Syria). This economic war waged by the United States has created the situation for this turmoil, but the turmoil itself is not directed at Washington but at the government in Tehran.

By Dae-Han Song   In a flagrant disregard for international law and national sovereignty, the Trump administration invaded and kidnapped Venezuela's President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Rather than being an isolated event, the increasing bravado of and remarks from President Donald Trump open the terrifying possibility that, if not opposed, Trump’s war machine will proliferate its aggressions, with next possible targets being Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia or Greenland . US hyperimperialism is dividing and unraveling the world at a time when we should be coming together to address our most existential crises.

By A Representative   A nationwide child-led advocacy group has called on the Union Government to ensure that the upcoming National Census captures data on children across three distinct age groups, arguing that the current system masks the realities of millions of adolescents.

By Prof. Hemantkumar Shah*  Iran today sits at a dangerous crossroads, and the question many are whispering, both inside and outside the country, is disarmingly simple: Is Allah the enemy of democracy? Yet the real target of that question is not God but the people who govern in His name. Iran’s political history since the 1979 Islamic Revolution offers haunting clues as to why this question even arises.

By Biljana Vankovska   The New Year did not begin with hope or joy, except for the arms dealers. More precisely, for the military-industrial-media-academic-NGO complex that feeds on permanent war. Orders are flowing, profits are booming, and blood has once again become a growth sector. For any normal society, pirates belong in adventure films, not in the civilian power corridor. Yet Venezuela, more precisely, its legally elected president Nicolás Maduro, became the first trophy of the New Year.

By Manuel Bertoldi   10 points for debate and political orientation of the popular forces of Our America... One . The recent military aggression by the United States and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro constitute the most serious and explicit attack that US imperialism has carried out in the entire history of the Venezuelan nation. At the same time, they represent the most profound imperial offensive against the sovereign projects of our region so far in the 21st century and a breach of international law established since 1945 after World War II.

By Carmen Navas Reyes   The relationship between Cuba and Venezuela transcends traditional diplomacy; it is a phenomenon of direct confrontation against imperialism and a model of cooperation between peoples that has transformed the geopolitics of the Caribbean and South America. This alliance is not a recent or improvised development; it has deep roots, and its destruction has become a primary strategic objective for the United States.

By Prof. Hemantkumar Shah*  India ’s ongoing pursuit of free trade agreements is being celebrated by the Union government as a marker of economic maturity and global ambition . Yet for millions of small and marginal farmers , these deals are fast becoming instruments of economic insecurity and creeping dispossession. This warning was voiced sharply at the Kisan Swaraj Sammelan held near Palanpur , where farmers and activists from a dozen states gathered to reflect on policies reshaping Indian agriculture . The core anxiety expressed was simple: free trade agreements are being negotiated quietly and aggressively, and their burden is falling disproportionately on India’s poorest cultivators.

By Palla Trinadha Rao   When the separate State of Telangana was formed in 2014, progressive sections of society believed that one of the region’s most enduring injustices—the alienation of tribal land—would finally be addressed. There was widespread expectation that a State born out of a powerful movement against historical neglect would correct the wrongs committed during the era of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

By Atanu Roy   India’s federal system has always carried within it the potential for friction between the Union government and the states, but seldom has that tension burst into public view with the theatre witnessed in Kolkata on January 8. What should have been a routine—if politically sensitive—raid by the Enforcement Directorate on a private consultancy linked to the Trinamool Congress spiralled into an extraordinary street-level confrontation with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee physically entering the scene.

By A Representative   Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has sounded a pointed warning to the Union government over Sri Lanka’s fast-moving constitutional proposals, arguing that the latest reforms being pushed in Colombo pose “grave risks” to the already fragile political rights of Sri Lankan Tamils. 

By Llanisca Lugo González  In these early days of January, we have witnessed what we hoped never to see, though it comes as no surprise: the kidnapping of a legitimate sitting president through a criminal act of aggression by the United States.

By Vikas Meshram  The Supreme Court has recently taken suo motu cognizance of the definition of the Aravalli mountain range and related issues arising from it. The Court has stayed its November 20 order that accepted a new definition of the Aravallis, clarifying that the conclusions and directions in that judgment will remain in abeyance until critical questions are examined more closely.

By Sandeep Pandey, Mir Shahid Saleem   Shri Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti, a conglomerate of Hindutva organisations, has succeeded in forcing the shutdown of the MBBS programme at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Katra merely because 42 of the 50 admitted students, selected on the basis of their NEET scores, happened to be Muslims. Hindutva interference in academic institutions has been steadily growing since the Modi government came to power, but this is the crudest and most alarming example yet.

By A Representative   A detailed representation submitted on 5 January 2026 by power and climate policy analyst Shankar Sharma has urged key statutory bodies and the Union government to halt approvals for pumped storage power projects (PSPs) in river valleys, citing high ecological costs and the growing viability of battery energy storage systems (BESS) with grid-forming capability as a superior alternative.

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  Among the exceptional individuals who laid the intellectual and scientific foundations of environmental conservation in India—and challenged the dominant development discourse—Professor Madhav Dhondo Keshav Gadgil stands as a towering figure. He was not only a pioneering ecologist, but also among the first to view environmental protection through the lens of democracy, local communities and social justice.

By Vikas Meshram   The Banswara district in the southern part of Rajasthan is known for its rich tribal heritage and cultural traditions. It is here that the remarkable story of 50-year-old tribal farmer Badarsingh Phoolji Ad from Sukheda village unfolds — a story that demonstrates how firm determination, the right guidance, and access to knowledge can transform a life. Badarsingh not only reshaped his own economic situation but also emerged as a role model for farmers in the region.

By Nava Thakuria   Amidst the crisis that escalated following the COVID-19 pandemic within the Assam Tribune Group of newspapers in Guwahati , a popular Assamese weekly newspaper shut down at the end of 2025.

By Archana Kumar*  This account does not seek to expose names or tarnish identities. Its purpose is not to cast blame, but to articulate—with dignity—the silent suffering of a woman who lived her life anchored in love, trust, and duty, only to be ultimately abandoned.

By Prakash N. Shah*  ​A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards . 

By Shankar Sharma*  The recent news that NTPC is scouting 30 potential sites across India for a massive nuclear power expansion should be a wake-up call for every citizen. While the state-owned utility frames this as a bold stride toward a 100,000 MW nuclear capacity by 2047, a cold look at India’s nuclear saga over the last few decades suggests this ambition may be more illusory than achievable. More importantly, it carries implications that could fundamentally alter the safety, environment, and economic health of our communities.

By Vikas Meshram  India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

By Bharat Dogra  Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today. 

By Jag Jivan    The global health landscape is witnessing a decisive shift toward aggressive regulation of the food industry, a movement highlighted by two significant policy developments shared by Dr. Arun Gupta of the Nutrition Advocacy for Public Interest (NAPi). 

By A Representative   The Centre of Indian Trade Unions ( CITU ) has strongly refuted allegations that the organisation, or one of its senior Odisha leaders, supplied Bangladeshi labourers to mining sites in the Koira mining belt of Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts . The charge, directed at Jahangir Ali , State Vice President of CITU’s Odisha committee and a prominent leader of mine workers, was termed “false, conspiratorial and politically motivated.”

By Daniela Ortiz, Gisela Cernadas   Current developments in Venezuela may appear to be unfathomable—until one recalls the long history of imperialist interference in Latin America and the Caribbean. The events of the first week of January constitute an escalation of a long-standing campaign to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution and resume control on the country with the largest known oil reserves in the world. The emerging world order and the strengthening of international organisations non-aligned with the interests of the United States (US) rush the US to increase the pressure on the Latin American region.

By Nazifa Jannat*   On January 3, 2026, the international community was stunned by the announcement that the United States, under President Donald Trump, had carried out a military operation leading to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The intervention, which included air strikes in and around Caracas, has triggered serious concerns about the legality of the action, the motives behind it, and the implications for global sovereignty. It also raises difficult questions for smaller states, including Bangladesh, about how to safeguard their independence amid rapidly shifting geopolitical power.