Email: sabrangind@gmail.com
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
One of Urdu’s Greatest Scholars, C.M. Naim, Passes Away
The UP-born professor was said to be among the finest and authoritative voices on Urdu.
SC: ECI’s ‘wisdom’ on revision of electoral rolls challenged, does a disenfranchisement crisis loom over Bihar, with thousands being declared ‘‘D’ (doubtful) voters?
The ECI's credibility, already under sharp public scrutiny post-Lok Sabha Elections 2024, is further strained by its Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) order of June 24, a controversial directive announced even after electoral rolls were finalised in January 2025: the move faces multiple judicial challenges before the Supreme Court. Hearings are scheduled before a vacation bench tomorrow, July 10
Bengali-Speaking Migrants Detained En Masse in Odisha: National security or targeted persecution?
Over 440 people, mostly Bengali-speaking migrant workers, have been detained in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district under suspicion of being “illegal Bangladeshis”, prompting a political storm, allegations of ethnic profiling, and appeals for immediate release
Political Movement against Privatization of Electricity is the Need of the Hour
Electricity workers, employees and officers have been on agitation...
The Erased Record: A constitutional challenge to the election commission’s 45-day data destruction mandate
The unilateral directive by the ECI to destroy CCTV footage after 45 days transgresses both boundaries, conformity with existing laws and adherence to the Constitution. It is a quintessential "colourable exercise of power"—an action that, while ostensibly within the ECI's administrative domain, is in substance an encroachment upon the legislative field and an affront to constitutional principles
No, India Is Not the Fourth Most Equal Country. Here’s the Real Data
Whichever way one looks at the data, the picture is clear: India is a highly unequal country, and inequality is worsening.
Fr. Stan Swamy SJ: Person, Pilgrim, Prophet
On the fourth anniversary of his death, July 5, a targeted act of violence called an ‘institutional murder’, Jesuit activist priest, Stan Swamy is remembered in Tamil Nadu, the place of his birth, and Jharkhand the site of his years of toil, for his commitment and integrity; a recall
Deported in Silence: India’s mass expulsions of alleged Bangladeshis without due process
Since May 7, over 2,000 individuals—mostly Bengali-speaking migrants—have been rounded up and covertly deported under Operation Sindoor, a nationwide crackdown bypassing legal safeguards. But a growing backlash from constitutional courts and state governments—especially West Bengal—has begun to challenge the legality, profiling, and human cost of these shadow deportations.
Principles of secret ballot, free will compromised, electronic surveillance a possibility with Voting APP introduced by the ECI: Expert
Veteran in computer science and architecture of unique software, Madhav Deshpande seriously questions the Voting APP introduced by the Bihar State Election Commission for local body polls; He alerts Indians to the possibility of electronic surveillance, the constitutional principles of free will and secret ballot being violated in the manner in which the constructed software is being stored
Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time
While writing my previous blog on how and why...
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