By Jag Jivan*  In a compelling new analysis that challenges conventional geographical assumptions about the ancient epic, writer and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik has traced the roots of the Ramayana to the forests and river systems of Central and Eastern India, rather than the peninsular south or the modern island nation of Sri Lanka.

By Nava Thakuria*  As Assam prepares for the legislative assembly election scheduled for 9 April 2026, the family and supporters of cultural icon Zubeen Garg have appealed to political parties not to invoke his name in electoral discourse. The singer died in Singapore on 19 September 2025 during a yacht outing. His death, and subsequent investigations, have since figured in political exchanges in the state.

By Harsh Thakor*   Larbi Ben M'Hidi was one of the six founding members of the National Liberation Front (FLN). He was arrested in February 1957 during the Battle of Algiers and executed by French paratroopers after being tortured in custody. His death was officially recorded as suicide, but later admissions confirmed it was an extrajudicial killing. In 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged France’s responsibility for his assassination.  

By Shamsul Islam   V.I. Lenin in his seminal work State and Revolution (1917) unequivocally stated: "What is now happening to Marx's theory has, in the course of history, happened repeatedly to the theories of revolutionary thinkers and leaders of oppressed classes fighting for emancipation. During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the 'consolation' of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it."

By Harsh Thakor*  On 23 March, the legacy of Shaheed Bhagat Singh was invoked in Kolkata and parts of Punjab through a series of gatherings marking his martyrdom anniversary, amid global political tensions and concerns over escalating conflicts in West Asia.

By Harsh Thakor*  The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas died on Saturday, March 14, at the age of ninety-six. Devoting more than seventy years to analysing democracy, capitalism, and the possibility of emancipatory politics, he was among the most influential intellectual figures of postwar Europe, and his writings will continue to be studied in universities and debated in political theory for years to come.

By Naile Manjarrés  On June 23, 2025—marked as the 2nd of Tir, 1404, on the Persian calendar—a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was announced. This "night of the decree" shifted the trajectory of global affairs; although the world may appear unchanged on the surface, we have yet to fully grasp its impact.

By Prem Singh   Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia (23 March 1910 – 12 October 1967) identified two forms of segregation—caste and gender—as primarily responsible for the decline of social vitality and the erosion of the Indian people’s “ capacity for adventure and joy .” In his exploration of India’s cultural sociology , Lohia argued that these divisions are deeply embedded in the social structure. He even described Indians as “the saddest people on the earth” due to the prolonged persistence of these inequalities, insisting that the country’s true spirit can be unleashed only by dismantling them.

By Ram Puniyani    ​Violence against the Muslim minority has become a common occurrence in our country. While its form and intensity vary, the process of intimidating Muslims never truly halts. However, the second-largest minority community, Christians , is also not spared, though reports of violence against them emerge only sporadically. The primary reason for this is that the violence often occurs at such a localized level that it remains under the radar. Yet, around Christmas, this hostility becomes unmistakably visible.

By Vikas Meshram*  India’s democracy, the world’s largest, has undergone many transformations since independence. The period after 2014 marked a decisive turning point, with political, social, religious, and institutional changes that challenged the fundamental concept of democracy. The BJP’s historic majority under Narendra Modi reshaped Indian politics, bringing Hindutva ideology into the mainstream, weakening opposition parties, consolidating control over institutions, and using social media for image management.

​ By Nava Thakuria*  ​It is a strange thing to be a professional journalist. We are trained to be observers—sometimes even "emotionless creatures"—reporting on the triumphs and tragedies of the world with clinical precision. Writing an obituary is usually just another task. ​But recently, the news has been too close to home. ​Within a span of just a few days, our AECian 1985-90 batch WhatsApp group became a digital hall of mourning. We lost three dear friends to sudden ailments. As the messages of grief flashed on my screen, I found myself clueless. How does one address such an immense emotional weight? It is one thing to write for the public; it is quite another to pen the final words for those who shared your youth. ​Echoes from the Hills of Jalukbari ​Our journey began at Assam Engineering College (AEC), nestled in the serene campus of Jalukbari behind the hills of Gauhati University. We arrived with pockets full of dreams and left with commitments to our families and the ...

By Ravi Ranjan*  While examining the poetics a mundane object, one finds how a pair of shoes becomes a profound philosophical and social metaphor across Vincent van Gogh's painting "A Pair of Shoes" (1886) and two Hindi poems titled "Jute" by Kedarnath Singh and Ashok Vajpeyi .

By A Representative   Members of the National Alliance for Justice, Accountability and Rights (NAJAR - Gujarat) and the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM Gujarat), along with several civil society organizations, have strongly objected to the proposed amendments to the Gujarat Registration of Marriages Rules, 2006, notified on 20 February, 2026. The groups have urged the State Government to withdraw the draft, citing grave concerns over constitutionality, privacy, and individual freedoms.

By Hidayat Parmar*  In the crowded landscape of India’s public life—often dominated by towering names and powerful positions—quiet forces of moral strength are easily overlooked. Yet, it is these unassuming individuals who fortify the ethical and social foundations of the nation. Bal Tembhekar, fondly known as Balbhai, was one such rare soul—an embodiment of service without spectacle and influence without publicity. His passing at the age of 100 marks the end of an era of silent yet transformative activism rooted in Gandhian ideals.

By Ravi Ranjan*  In the landscape of contemporary Hindi poetry, Venugopal occupies a unique and vital space. His work, primarily collected in three volumes— Ve Hātha Hote Haim ( They Are Hands ), Havaem Cupa Nahim Rahatim (The Winds Do Not Stay Silent), and Cattanom Ka Jalagita ( The Song of the Rocks over Water )—is marked by extreme verbal economy and profound symbolic depth. Across these collections, natural elements such as roots, wind, rock, river, and sky become dynamic symbols of revolution and change. His poetry operates in the liminal space between the political and the existential, forging an aesthetic of resistance that is as subtle as it is powerful.

  By Rajiv Shah   Following  my recent blog on Dalit cuisine —where I argued, citing several studies, that it is deeply shaped by the caste system and the history of untouchability —I received an intriguing response on a private WhatsApp chat from a retired Gujarat-cadre bureaucrat. A likeable and thoughtful official, I have known him since the early 2000s, when I was covering the Gujarat Sachivalaya for The Times of India .

By Nava Thakuria*  When most Left veterans and their parties failed to impress Nepal’s electorate in the single-day polling conducted on 5 March 2026, a relatively new party and young leaders secured a decisive mandate in the Himalayan republic. The Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP), formed in mid-2022, recorded a resounding victory in the election that was necessitated by the violent youth uprising of September 2025 which shook the South Asian nation of 30 million people and led to the collapse of the government in Kathmandu.

  By Rajiv Shah   “What has gone wrong with the Congress? Why is it making such stupid demands? That’s the only reason why none trusts the party,” exclaimed someone close to me after reading a Gujarati daily report that the Congress had demanded the cow be declared India’s national animal.  

By Dr. Ravi Ranjan*  Kumar Ambuj's poem " Ritubhang " emerges as a profound meditation on the fractured relationship between humanity and the natural world, standing as a vital counterpart to T.S. Eliot's modernist masterpiece " The Waste Land ." Where Eliot diagnosed the spiritual desolation of the early twentieth century through images of drought and barrenness, Ambuj confronts the ecological and technological crisis of the twenty-first century Anthropocene , forging a new poetic language capable of articulating what happens when seasons themselves become untrustworthy and nature transforms from a living presence into an uncertain algorithm .  The poem's central innovation lies in its refusal to treat environmental degradation as merely an external phenomenon; instead, Ambuj insists that the disruption of seasons is simultaneously a disruption of human consciousness, a fracturing so profound that the ancient non-duality between self and world now mani...

By A Representative   A coalition of over 35 civil society organisations, women's rights groups, and constitutional rights advocates convened at a press conference in Mumbai to voice strong opposition to the Maharashtra Cabinet's proposed "Dharma Swatantrya Adhinivam, 2026," warning that the legislation threatens fundamental rights and targets interfaith relationships under the guise of preventing forced conversions.