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BMC: Women corporators past the 50% mark, 121 women get elected in 2026
A total of 121 women got elected the Mumbai Mahanagarpalika in 2026, crossing the 50 per cent mark: with 227 corporators in all; BJP has sent 47 women to the civic body, Shiv Sena (UBT)34, SS (Shinde) 17, Congress 13, MIM 4, MNS 4 and NCP and Samajwadi Parti one each
Madhav Gadgil’s unshakeable faith in science
Renowned environmental scientist, Madhav Gadgil, who was a recipient of numerous awards including the Padma Shri in 1981 and the Padma Bhushan in 2006, passed away in Pune late night on Wednesday, January 7, after a brief illness
Sharia, Manusmriti or the Indian Constitution
Two extremes, the dominant Hindu right and a creeping conservatism among Muslims seek to undermine the constitutional mandate
BMC Polls: ECI claims superintendence on citizenship even as Foreigners (NRIS) enter Mumbai airport carrying Indian Voter IDs
Mid-day carried an exclusive report today, January 7, on how airport authorities had, after checks caught 28 NRIs with foreign passports allegedly flying with Indian Voter ID cards; ; India does not allow dual citizenship
Gadchiroli, Maharashtra: Pregnant Woman walks 6 km from village for childbirth, dies
Twenty-four-years-old Asha Santosh Kiranga, resident of Aaldandi Tola in Etapalli taluka in Gadchiroli district, was nine months pregnant; Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister is the “guardian minister” for the district
Congress leader of the opposition Kerala Assembly writes to Modi, Fadnavis over arrest of a Malayali priest in Nagpur
In a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, V.D. Satheesan, Congress leader of the opposition Kerala Assembly has sought urgent intervention regarding the detention/arrest of twelve individuals, including Father Sudhir, a priest of the CSI South Kerala Diocese, arrested by the Maharashtra Police following a complaint filed by Bajrang Dal activists
Poetry award for Ipsa Shatakshi at the world book fair, January 2026
Activist and poet, Ipsa Shatkashi, will be awarded the kritya Yuva Puraskar 2026 at the World Book Fair on January 15, 2026
West Bengal: SIR unravelled
Multiple reports of serious anomalies in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process being unilaterally conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in West Bengal have come to light; exclusion of Matuas, immigrants from erstwhile east Bengal, is only one of them
Girija Gupte, trade unionist passes away
Girija Gupte, an activist widely recognised for her sustained...
Searchlight on 2025: The polished window and the dry rot
The author, in his inimitable style writes of the abyss of disintegration that 2026 is likely to harbour in
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Rights
Removed Without Process: The Doyjan Bibi case and the Gauhati High Court’s Retreat from demanding deportation records
In refusing to question the absence of any deportation or handover records after a woman vanished from a holding centre and was reportedly transferred to the BSF, the Gauhati High Court has signalled a dangerous judicial tolerance for undocumented removals carried out in the name of sovereign authority
Dalit Bahujan Adivasi
50,000 strong Adivasi, farmers march from Charoti to Palghar, hold indefinite dharna for land rights
The CPI (M)-led massive long march from Charoti to Palghar in Maharashtra ended with a dharna at the Collector’s office, Palghar
Media
J & K: Attempt to muzzle FoE, Media? Police summons to media, journalists
The peremptory, even extra-legal summons to four journalists from national publications has drawn outrage; the repressive action, clearly an action of intimidation, is aimed at those who have reported on a controversial move by the J & K administration and police to collect information on Mosques etc in the union territory
Communalism
Publicly Tortured, Forced to Eat Cow Dung: No arrests in Odisha Pastor assault case
More than two weeks after a Hindutva mob assaulted and humiliated Pastor Bipin Bihari Naik in Dhenkanal, police inaction and a counter-FIR against the victim raise serious questions about justice and religious freedom
Gender and Sexuality
MP: Beautiful woman ‘distracts, rape may follow’ says Cong MLA, outrage follows
Intemperate and insensitive remarks by Congress MLA Phool Singh Baraiya on women, rape and women from Dalit and Adivasi communities have left the Congress shame-faced on the eve of LoP Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state
Gender and Sexuality
Manipur gang-rape survivor dies without justice, three years after 2023 ethnic violence
Abducted, brutally assaulted and gang-raped during the Meitei–Kuki conflict, the young Kuki woman succumbed to trauma-linked illness as her case languished without arrests, exposing systemic failure in prosecuting sexual violence in Manipur
Gender and Sexuality
BMC: Women corporators past the 50% mark, 121 women get elected in 2026
A total of 121 women got elected the Mumbai Mahanagarpalika in 2026, crossing the 50 per cent mark: with 227 corporators in all; BJP has sent 47 women to the civic body, Shiv Sena (UBT)34, SS (Shinde) 17, Congress 13, MIM 4, MNS 4 and NCP and Samajwadi Parti one each
Communalism
Busted: ‘Hindu’ Narratives of Desecration of Somnath, Buddhist & Jain Temples in India
Be it the Jagannath Mandir in Odisha, a Buddhist temple that was ‘taken over’ by Hinduism or the Jain idols destroyed during Adi Shankracharya’s countrywide yatra, these are no less historically significant than the stories around Somnath and other temples that may have been razed and raised by emperors who happen to be Muslim