Culture

Caste from the pre-modern, colonial to the post-Republican; this analysis draws from, among others, works by Nicholas Dirks (2001), Anand Teltumbde (2014) and Gopal Guru (2016) to map this transition showing that contemporary caste should be best understood as a sort of social schizophrenia driven by imaginative acts whereby power perpetuates itself through a convoluted hermetic legitimising act in India.

Delhi university has seen persistent protest by Ambedkarite and left groups demanding implementation of the UGC Guidelines 2026 that were summarily stayed by the Supreme Court; in one such, a confrontation during a mobilisation over UGC equity regulations, AISA women leaders were subject to brute and allegedly sexualised threats, while a right-wing YouTuber filed a separate assault complaint; police have registered parallel FIRs

Following the recently unleashed hysteria on the misnomer “Bangladeshi immigrants”, spearheaded by BJP elected officials from the Centre to States, as many as 12 Bengali migrant workers have been murdered, revealing the physical targeted harm that can flow out of systemic hate speech made by those in public authority; these are statistics compiled by the West Bengal Migrants Welfare Board; 4 of the 12 killed have been in “progressive” Maharashtra and 10 in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

A shop sign in Kotdwar, a shutter kept open in Nainital, a landlord’s refusal in Purola, and a Valentine’s Day standoff in Jaipur — how everyday acts of defiance are reshaping the narrative of communal tension in India

The Wire's submission to the government at the post-facto hearing on a request to block social media URLs over a 52-second satirical video.

In 2025, citizens nationwide mobilised across labour, environment, religious freedom, and electoral integrity