Politics

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.

Assam’s Foreigners’ Tribunals bypass constitutional safeguards: Report

Given the possibility of the onset of a nationwide exercise to update the National Register of Citizens, the report, ‘Unmaking Citizens’ by NLSIU & Queen Mary University of London, calls for an urgent, fundamental rethinking of the legal structures governing citizenship in India

Non-Electors Within Electors: ECI reports over 61 lakh potential exclusions

As Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) deadline arrives, ECI data reveals over 61 lakh potential voter exclusions, including millions identified as deceased, migrated, or 1 lakh untraceable, and nearly 7 lakh who haven't submitted forms, this massive culling of names fuels the INDIA Bloc's intensified, third-day protest, marked by LoP Mallikarjun Kharge's dramatic tearing of a symbolic SIR document outside Parliament

Bihar’s untraceable electors spiral by 809% in just one day, ECI reports 1 lakh ‘missing’, 15 lakh Bihar voters yet to submit forms

Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls faces intense backlash, while 52 lakh deletions were flagged by July 22 by the controversial ECI, including 11,484 "untraceable" electors, this figure for "untraceable" voters shockingly surged to 1 lakh (an 809% jump) by July 23, with overall deletions hitting 56 lakh—a dramatic increase of 3 lakh in just 24 hours. Leader of the Opposition, RJD leader, Tejaswi Yadav threatens boycott of state polls

In a ‘major win’ for anti-caste activists, a US Federal Court upholds California Govt’s authority to act against caste oppression

The US District Court for the Eastern District of California in its ruling on July 18, in response to an allegation by the Hindu American Foundation that had claimed that the California civil rights department's enforcement of anti-caste policies violated the “constitutional rights of all Hindu Americans,” dismissed HAF’s contention

When data is used as a weapon against reality: Deviations in the HCES & CES, claims of poverty line

This Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) is qualitatively different in methodology (including sampling) from the earlier Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) last conducted in 2011-12, and therefore the two are not comparable. So the claim that India’s poverty has declined to below 5% doesn’t hold water: Second, the NITI Aayog has made no effort to even determine an official poverty line, last defined in the Census 2001.

ECI to SC: Voter ID insufficient for Bihar roll, defends citizenship verification power

Bihar’s electoral roll crisis: ECI defends excluding Voter IDs for new entries and power to citizenship verification; ECI’s revision flags 52.3 Lakh (6.62%) electors not found at their addresses (including 18.6L deceased, 26L shifted, 7.5L multiple entries and 11K untraceable voters), amid concerns over disenfranchisement of genuine voters and procedural hurdles, opposition stages black-clad protests outside the Bihar assembly

Weaponising Truth: A critical analysis of the Karnataka Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Bill, 2025

Marketed as a tool to fight disinformation, the Karnataka Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Bill, 2025 hands sweeping powers to the executive, criminalises speech, and threatens to silence dissent, satire, and critique—under vague and ideological pretexts

‘Define Special Intensive Revision scope… make it clear not linked to citizenship’: BJP ally TDP writes to CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Questioning the modus of the recently begun controversial SIR exercise, the TDP letter to Election Commission (ECI) states categorically that any such ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) should provide voters enough time, and that those in electoral rolls must not be required to re-establish eligibility “unless specific and verifiable reasons are recorded”

Journalist Ajit Anjum booked for exposing Bihar’s SIR flaws

Senior journalist Ajit Anjum faces FIR in Balia, Bihar for exposing alleged voter list irregularities, he calls the FIR "a certificate for me as a journalist," vowing to continue reporting despite perceived intimidation tactics, Anjum said “I will not be scared. I will show only the truth”

Behind the numbers: Economist Indira Hirway debunks India’s poverty reduction narrative

A recent article by noted economist Indira Hirway, titled...

Trending

Related VIDEOS

ALL STORIES

ALL STORIES

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.

After Akbar Ali Mondal’s Killing, Pani Sol’s Hawkers Ask: How Will We Survive?

Ground Report I In Pani Sol, one of Bengal's largest villages of hawkers, Akbar Ali Mondal's killing has left thousands of Muslim traders fearful about earning a living and supporting their families

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

Declared Foreigners, Facing Deportation: Supreme Court grants interim relief

Women detained after being declared foreigners argue that tribunals disregarded substantial evidence and relied on minor inconsistencies to reject their citizenship claims

Release Kashmiri HRD Khurram Pervez immediately & unconditionally: International HR Fora

In a strong joint statement issued on the occasion of Khurram Parvez’s 49th birthday on June 18, 2026, close to 100 international organisations and an equal number of individuals, including those associated with the United Nations like World Organization against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Frontline Defenders, Amnesty International, among others, have demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the Kashmiri human rights defender and the relentless campaign of judicial harassment.

The Court spoke, the police paraded anyway

The Rajasthan High Court's landmark judgment on public shaming was ignored within the month it was delivered; what have other High Courts said on this depreciable practice?

Thirty years on, justice remains elusive for Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana

A chapter in a major 30-year review of the PoA Act argues that institutional failures, rather than legislative gaps, remain the biggest obstacle to justice

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