When the State Always Doubts Your Identity

Exercises like the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls presage a state of affairs where documents and IDs can never prove sound identification and where citizenship of the ordinary resident is eternally questioned. ▶04-Sep-2025
Nayanika Mathur, Tarangini Sriraman

September 5, 2025

When the state always doubts your identity, Behind India's medical education woes, and more

When the State Always Doubts Your Identity

Exercises like the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls presage a state of affairs where documents and IDs can never prove sound identification and where citizenship of the ordinary resident…
▶04-Sep-2025
Nayanika Mathur, Tarangini Sriraman

How Workers are Forced to Cope with Heat

In summer, street vendors and gig workers in Hyderabad face searing heat during the day and restless nights in poorly cooled homes. Understanding how these vulnerable groups juggle relief from the…
▶02-Sep-2025
Swayambhu Sudyut
Explainer

130th Amendment Bill: Constitutional Morality on Trial

Constitutional morality demands accountability through fair trials, reminding lawmakers that fairness—not expedience—ensures the integrity of democracy. The 130th Amendment Bill, however, risks…
▶01-Sep-2025
Shubham Kumar
Book
Book Review

India’s New Labour Codes Undermine a Century of Worker Protections

India’s new labour codes that consolidated 29 central labour laws in 2019-2020 reveal a pro-employer ideology. These codes reverse hard-won protections and return conditions to colonial-era standards.
▶01-Sep-2025
V. Krishna Ananth

Reducing the Environmental Impact of the Public Distribution System

A study reveals that distributing rice and wheat through India’s PDS costs twice as much as millets environmentally. The PDS inadvertently promotes water-intensive crops in stressed regions,…
▶25-Aug-2025
Raghav Puri, Prabhu Pingali
Book
Book Review

Sharp on Industry, Thin on Science

'AI Con' scrutinises the inflated promises of AI and highlights the social risks. Though timely and provocative, some arguments need refinement, and the limited recognition of genuine…
▶25-Aug-2025
Suvrat Raju

Faith, Filtered: Jagannath Temple at Puri

The Puri Jagannath temple’s organic sanctity has been eroded by commercialisation, turning tradition into spectacle and control. Devotion has been reduced to regulated ritual, and the Rath Yatra now…
▶25-Aug-2025
Ankita Subudhi
Essay

What Lies Behind the World Bank’s Estimates of Low Poverty and Inequality in India?

The World Bank has used non-comparable data, made numerous and inexplicable changes to its methodology, and has departed from past accepted practices, thereby casting doubt on the quality of its…
▶20-Aug-2025
Himanshu

Where the Law Forgets the Maker

Indian law creates a legal vacuum around traditional designs by failing to recognise collective creation, generational knowledge, and community-based craftsmanship. This makes cultural appropriation…
▶20-Aug-2025
Sheetal Srikanth

Bengali Muslims of Assam: In Extreme Poverty and Yet Harassed

Hindutva politics and the entrenched ethnic tensions in Assam have intensified the “othering” of Bengali Muslims in the state. But these "others" live in extreme poverty compared to other…
▶19-Aug-2025
Subhendu Khan, Soham Bhattacharya