Counterview

By   Rajesh Sarthi*   Students at Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha have accused the university administration of reneging on assurances made during recent negotiations, as FIRs against six protesting students and campus entry restrictions remain firmly in place. The controversy follows a nationwide Chalo Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha call on September 28, which drew representatives from student organizations, political parties, and socio-political groups across the country to support a movement that has been ongoing since July 8. 

By A Representative   A West Bengal-based human rights organisation, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha, has sought urgent intervention over the alleged arrest and unexplained disappearance of Abdul Barek, a resident of Gopalpur, Bailyamor Panupara, in North Dinajpur, West Bengal.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  Southend-on-Sea, commonly known as Southend, is a historic and beautiful seaside town in southeast Essex, England, just 40 miles east of London. Its sun, sea, children's amusement park, theatres, Southend Pier—the longest pleasure pier in the world—and seven miles of sandy beaches attract hedonistic Londoners, holidaymakers, weekend day-trippers and families on weekend getaways to this historic seaside town.

By Suresh Deman  Born in a one-room cabin in the Tennessee mountains, Dolly Parton turned poverty into poetry, heartbreak into song, and her father's inability to read into a programme that has given more than 300 million books to children. Her remarkable journey suggests that a life is measured not only by how far one travels, but by what one sends back *** Dolly Parton was born into poverty, but never into a poverty of imagination. She entered the world on 19 January 1946 in the mountains of East Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children. The Parton family had little money and few of the comforts that much of America would eventually take for granted. Her father, Robert Lee Parton, farmed, built and laboured wherever work could be found. Her mother, Avie Lee, possessed a different kind of wealth. She filled the crowded home with Appalachian songs, stories, faith and the conviction that hardship need not extinguish beauty. Dolly's childhood poverty was not something later inven...

By Miguel Enrique Stédile   Just before the first round of Brazil's presidential elections, the U.S. embassy and consulates in the country remained closed, following a generic order from the State Department regarding ‘security concerns.’ Elections in Brazil proceed peacefully; there are no civil conflicts or military threats, no records of political violence above normal levels, nor any threats to American citizens or diplomatic structures. But the decision, followed solely and inexplicably by the Australian embassy, is part of a set of actions by Washington to attempt to interfere in the Brazilian elections.

By Syed Ali Mujtaba*   The Ministry of Home Affairs’ resolution on the High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC), issued on May 26, 2026, to scientifically study abnormal population shifts and illegal immigration across India is highly disturbing. It serves the Hindutva agenda and poses a threat to the country.

By Dr. A.V. Yadappanavar*  The floods that battered Upper Assam during the July 2026 monsoon crisis were not simply a story of the Brahmaputra rising after days of rain on the plains. In several of the worst-hit areas, the disaster began much farther uphill, in the steep terrain of neighbouring Nagaland, where intense rainfall sent enormous volumes of water rushing rapidly downhill and into rivers that flow across the state boundary.

By Kvita Sharma*  Every monsoon, the Himalayas deliver the same lesson in mud, water and rubble: fragile mountains do not forgive careless development. Floods, landslides and other extreme events are no longer distant warnings but recurring disasters, and the voices urging caution are growing louder. Among them is Sunita Narain, Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), who has repeatedly argued that climate change can no longer be treated as an abstract threat, and that disturbing fragile ecosystems in pursuit of an aggressive development model carries a heavy price.

By Dr. A.V. Yadappanavar   As the floodwaters of the 2026 monsoon finally begin to recede across Assam, the state is left to survey yet another season of devastating ecological and economic ruin. Every year, the Brahmaputra River basin overflows, driven by a toxic mix of intense monsoon rainfall, fragile Himalayan topography, and unchecked human encroachment. But as the recent deluge has starkly demonstrated, our traditional approach to flood management—building higher and thicker concrete walls—is no longer sufficient. 

By Raqif Makhdoomi   The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, held in three phases from September 18 to October 1, 2024, were marked by high expectations, with the ruling National Conference (NC) campaigning on a platform of transformative change. The electoral rhetoric led many to believe that the new Assembly would usher in a revolutionary era of governance. However, the inaugural session of the Assembly has revealed a stark contrast between campaign promises and legislative reality. Rather than focusing on actionable governance, the political discourse has increasingly centered on structural limitations.