Society

Vande Mataram and the 2026 Amendment: From voluntary honour to penal coercion

While the slogan Vande Mataram galvanised millions during India’s struggle for liberation from the clutches of colonial rule, this essay demonstrates that the 2026 Amendment –that the BJP has orchestrated--does not represent historical continuity, but rather a contemporary majoritarian redefinition of a complex national symbol.

The Normalisation of Suicide at IITs: Institutional blindness and failure

The recent protest at the Lecture Hall of IIT Delhi where slogans of “Investigation, Compensation, and Resignation”, were raised by the student collective raises the crucial demand for redistributive justice, firstly demanding that the administration to recognise these deaths as the failure of institutions to recognise structural inequities, denials and cruelties.

Two women journalists allege police assault after questioning Delhi CM, say attack intensified after police heard they were Muslim

Shaheen and Nafisa Khan say they were detained while covering a CM event and assaulted at Saket police station

Closing of the Indian Mind: Campus subjugation, intellectual mediocrity, & death of democratic assertion

The author, a senior academic analyses the decay in Indian public universities and traces the decline to a state patronage, entrenched, unaccomplished elite and the absence of true representation through student and teacher body elections

Maharashtra’s schools are struggling to survive as students protest, infrastructure crumbles and Marathi-medium institutions disappear

From Adivasi students on hunger strike to Class 10 students demanding teachers, government schools without electricity and internet, and hundreds of schools facing the loss of grant-in-aid, Maharashtra’s education crisis is increasingly visible on the streets

‘We Cannot Be Afraid’: Rhiya Ahir in Conversation with Teesta Setalvad

What does it mean to stand beside young people...

The ‘Reservation Hatao Andolan’ Isn’t a Gen Z Uprising. It’s a Rerun

The demand to “remove reservation” is one of the oldest, most recycled slogans in independent India’s political life, and it has failed, in more or less identical form, every single time it has been tried.

112 Years Ago, Raksha Bandhan Stood for Hindu-Muslim Unity

Day after, August 9, 2017 will be 75 years of the Quit India Movement. On August 9, 1942 the Quit India (Chodo Bharat) slogan was given from Mumbai after the Indian National Congress passed the resolution on the agitation on August 7, 1942.

Water Cannons Instead of Answers: Bihar’s recruitment crisis and the state’s crackdown on protest

Weeks of agitation over recruitment and examination reforms culminated in clashes in Patna, amid disturbing allegations of excessive force, illegal detention and custodial abuse

Amnesty Investigation finds unlawful and deadly force against CJP-led protesters in Delhi and Siwan

The investigation documents the use of pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas, batons and electric shock weapons against protesters, including children, and calls for an independent probe into police conduct

Bihar: Not just Delhi, Patna, Siwan too saw brute police violence against demonstrating students: PUCL

A fact-finding report of the Bihar police brutality against students who were demonstrating peacefully in Patna, Siwan and Sitamarhi reveals that severe beating by lathis, including aiming blows at the private part of women students was a key and shocking feature of the (misconduct) of the Bihar police

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Kerala's Grand Mufti Aboobacker Musliyar and the Misreading of Qur’an

Vande Mataram and the 2026 Amendment: From voluntary honour to penal coercion

While the slogan Vande Mataram galvanised millions during India’s struggle for liberation from the clutches of colonial rule, this essay demonstrates that the 2026 Amendment –that the BJP has orchestrated--does not represent historical continuity, but rather a contemporary majoritarian redefinition of a complex national symbol.

Muslim women will define their own lives & choices: Bebaak Collective responds to Kerala cleric

Islamic history is rich with examples of women’s participation, says a statement issued by Bebaak Collective that also condemns the Kerala Muslim cleric’s controversial statement

Six Days On, Still No FIR: What happened to Shaheen and Nafisa Khan at Saket Police Station?

Shaheen and Nafisa Khan gave a detailed written complaint naming police personnel, describing the alleged assault and pointing to CCTV footage. Yet six days after the September 3 incident, the women say their case has still not been registered

Beaten to Death Outside His Own Home: What Delhi owes Chongtham Vikram Singh

The 55-year-old Manipuri musician died after a group allegedly attacked him in southeast Delhi; seven men and a juvenile have been apprehended

Satya Niketan Collapse: When students and neighbours had to rescue students from a system that had failed them

From locals and NSUI volunteers digging through the rubble to AISA, SFI and others taking to the streets, the tragedy has exposed Delhi’s unsafe student-housing crisis and a State that acted after disaster struck

Declared ‘Foreigner’, denied a hearing, pushed across the border: Gauhati HC pulls up Assam

Court finds “malice in law” holds State machinery acted “in tandem” to defeat Mumtaz Begum’s right to judicial review, and orders ₹2 lakh compensation

‘Gauri Day’ Became ‘Gen Z Day’

When a memorial for the slain journalist Gauri Lankesh became a loud and renewed reiteration for more accountability, equality and justice in India