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The Battle of Belonging: Why India’s Passport Controversy Matters
A passport is undeniably a travel document, but it is also the republic’s assurance of belonging and sovereign protection in moments of crisis. Reducing it to mere travel facilitation strips it of its civic meaning, since passports are issued not to transients but to members of a political community.
To a living Saint, now dead five years: Meeting to commemorate July 5
July 5, 2026 marks the fifth anniversary of Father Stan Swamy, who’s death in judicial custody in Maharashtra has been condemned for the institutional murder that it was; the 84 year old activist priest, who died of maltreatment by the prison authorities in Mumbai after suffering from the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic was an activist priest remembered for his path-brteaking work among Adivasis in Jharkand
Satluj: A film encountered
The writer writes; Jaswant Singh Khalra never carried a gun. His weapons were documents, persistence and moral courage. He asked a simple question: Where have all the sons of Punjab gone? This is what the film recounts and why it threatens the Indian state
21 Opposition parties to CJI: SIR process is irregular and illegal, must be suspended
The eight page letter, dated June 28, 2026 but released publicly on July 3, includes signatories Mallikarjun Kharge, President, INC, Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party MP, Mamata Banerjee, TMC, Turchi Silva, DMK and independent MP, Kapil Sibal; the signatures of DMK. AAP assume significance as both parties had distanced themselves from INDIA bloc.
If Stan Swamy, the Martyr, were alive today ….
On the fifth anniversary of the tragic death of the People’s Priest, an associate writes that, if alive Fr Stan Swamy would have been at the forefront of all the ongoing struggles of the Adivasis
Somnath to Ayodhya: Plunder to ‘Chanda Chori’
How do we contrast temple destructions during kingdoms and now under a semi-democratising society turning into elected autocracy?
Karnataka’s new PRC rules are people-friendly, but will the ECI accept them?
While a sustained and rigorous campaign by anti-SIR activists across Karnataka has pushed the opposition Congress government to issue a fresh set of simplified guidelines for the issuance of Permanent Residency Certificates; the experience of West Bengal however shows that no amount of pro-activeness by any state government influences an ECI functioning under a non-transparent and non-accountable diktat
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
Waste, Responsibility and Decentralisation: A Gandhian Perspective on Solid Waste Management in Kerala (Part 1)
Waste Management as a Social Problem Urban solid waste management...
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.
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Though sewer deaths have crossed the 100 mark this year, government is silent: SKA
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The Battle of Belonging: Why India’s Passport Controversy Matters
A passport is undeniably a travel document, but it is also the republic’s assurance of belonging and sovereign protection in moments of crisis. Reducing it to mere travel facilitation strips it of its civic meaning, since passports are issued not to transients but to members of a political community.
India
Rajasthan: From Giral to Islampur, how locals are contesting development and historical identity
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