Politics

SIR and the Making of a Stateless Citizen? | R. Rajagopal Speaks Out | Teesta Setalvad

Veteran journalist and former Editor of The Telegraph, R. Rajagopal, found himself excluded from West Bengal's electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. What followed, he says,...

ALIFA seeks review of questionable ToR of ‘High-Level Committee on Demographic Change’

Questioning the orientation of the recent constitution of the High Level Committee on Demographic Change, the All India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA-NAPM) has said that India Needs Fair Demographic Approach that promotes inclusion, not social polarisation

Rejected as Voter, also denied a Passport? Here is how ‘New India’ deals with exclusion complaints under SIR: Former editor, Telegraph, R Rajagopal

The pithy, non-indulgant factual ‘note’ by the former editor of Telehraph, Kolkatta who is revered for his unique headlines for the newspaper, generated heat and waves over the week-end even as an utterly compromised and non-responsive administration watched on. R. Rajagopal penned this even as he informed the Prem Bhatia Journalism award that he was resigning from the Jury due to his acute disenchantment with the media profession.

Citizens and Civil Society Groups Issue Urgent Appeal to Halt Escalating Violence in Manipur

On June 26, 2026, coinciding with the 51st commemoration...

To Karnataka’s Anti-SIR Movement: A note of caution and concern

While efforts have been afoot in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by civil rights groups and people’s movements to ensure inclusion of the maximum number of eligible voters under the ongoing, expanded, SIR process. The author argues how these efforts may come to naught, given the structural issues involved: a compromised ECI, rushed timelines and the unlawful and rigid document-test for citizenship. In fact, robust efforts in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu where similar efforts were made also came to naught.

The BEST Strike: Years of unfulfilled promises, structural neglect and the future of public transport in Mumbai

From unpaid employee dues and stalled budget reforms to controversial depot monetisation and the expansion of the wet-lease model, the strike has reopened fundamental questions about the future of public transport in Mumbai

The telegram NEET case and the expansion of platform-level censorship in India

The Court's judgment marks a significant shift in Indian digital rights jurisprudence by accepting that the very design and architecture of a platform may justify extraordinary restrictions affecting millions of lawful users

From a daughter to her mother Indiramma, Kavitha Lankesh writes, “I will miss you. Everyday.”

By the morning of Monday, June 15, 2026, Indira Lankesh (Indiramma as we all knew her), mother of Kavitha and Gauri Lankesh, wife and partner of Parvathi Lankesh and grandmother to her beloved Esha, left peacefully in her sleep. She was 83 years old. Today, on the afternoon of Saturday June 20, about 1/1.30 p.m. her beautiful and loyal daughter, Kavitha Lankesh wrote this tribute to her on Meta/Facebook.

Defectors & Democracy: A critique of the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

The right of voters to recall representatives who defect—as seen in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh—and the requirement of intra-party democracy could form part of a broader institutional redesign. Such measures would deepen democratic values and, above all, signal a refusal by citizens to accept the corruption of their mandate. These may be among the reforms that India's Parliament and democracy most urgently need

The what’s & why’s of Data Centres and how are they hijacking the India Story

While countries such as Singapore and Sweden are curbing the environmental costs of data centres through regulation and innovation, India is actively courting these resource-intensive facilities with little regard for their water and energy demands. From Stockholm's waste-heat recovery systems to zero-water cooling technologies, solutions exist. Yet India continues to trade away land, water and public resources with scant consideration for environmental sustainability or local communities.

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Karnataka launches SIR with 5.5 crore voters, State Govt voices transparency concerns

As Karnataka's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls began on June 30, the State Cabinet called for greater transparency and safeguards against wrongful voter deletions. It sought an extension of the Enumeration Form submission deadline from one month to at least three months, along with the publication of a comprehensive manual detailing categories of "logical discrepancies", the software or algorithm used to identify them, and the standard operating procedures