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.

Israel’s Rafah camp – ‘humanitarian city’ or crime against humanity?

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has announced a controversial...

Indian Muslims need to be protected as much from the communalism of their co-religionists as majoritarian communalism: In remembrance of CM Naim

An intrepid critique of entrenched and entitled Muslim elites, CM Naim, a historian and essayist, recently passed away at 85. Here his work is remembered for its out of the box thinking and commitment to both the culture and language around Urdu; an essay that recalls his works

Bihar:  SC signals that ECI should consider Aadhaar, EPIC (Voter ID card) & Ration card for electoral roll revision 

Hearing a batch of petitions challenging the sudden “special intensive revision” being conducted in Bihar by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Supreme Court (SC) pressed ECI to include Aadhaar, Voter ID Card, and Ration cards in Bihar's electoral roll revision process, since the only concern for the constitutional body was establishing accurate identity not citizenship

Dissent Note: Maharashtra Special Public Safety Bill, 2024

Sweeping powers, vague definitions, and silencing of dissent entrenched in law; deliberative process exposed as political theatre

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

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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