TIF Collection

Questions of Faith

Encountering the Bhakt: Transformation in Religious Thought

Two examples from mediaeval Odisha’s bhakti tradition show how debates and differences about the sacred were part of devotional practice, and not forced onto us after the institutionalisation of…
▶15-Jul-2024
Abinash Dash Choudhury
Book
Book Review

How Hinduism Dealt with British Colonialism

‘Manu Pillai has the skill to pull arguments, hypotheses, theories, & anecdotes from a number of vast & varied sources. He then arranges them seamlessly in a composite narrative that reminds…
▶03-Feb-2025
Arshia Sattar
Book
Book Review

Regulating Religious Expression

The experience of legal provisions against “outraging religious feelings” demonstrates the pitfalls of modern states resorting to penal secularism.
▶07-Aug-2023
Abhinav Sekhri

‘Transgression’: Explaining contemporary India

Complex societal transformations can be assessed through their changing normative structures. One can analyse the different social domains in India by focussing on the key concept of ‘transgression’…
▶01-May-2019
Peter Ronald deSouza

Urban Mobility

A Free Ticket Can Be a Ticket to Freedom

While fare-free schemes for urban public transport ease financial barriers on mobility, their real impact is in empowering women through better city access. An analysis of Delhi’s free bus scheme…
▶16-Feb-2025
Nishant, Archana Singh

Which Way Must Cycling in India Go?

A combination of conventional cycles and e-cycles has the potential to transform transportation in India. While factors such as a safer road design and safe parking play an important role, there are…
▶15-May-2023
Rahul Goel
Book
INDIA AT 75

The Journey since 1947-III: Can the Bicycle Come Full Circle in India?

The bicycle, once a symbol of India’s industrialisation, is now relegated to use by the labouring classes who have to risk life and limb on India’s roads. But it may make a comeback given its value…
▶14-Sep-2022
Divya Kannan

Freebie or Freedom? Tamil Nadu’s Free Bus Travel Scheme for Women

Few have tried to understand the significance of the free bus travel scheme that a handful of states have introduced. In Tamil Nadu the benefits for women have been definite and palpable, though…
▶20-Nov-2023
Sumana Narayanan

Heat

The Social Experience of Heat: Urban Life in the Indian Anthropocene

Climate change has upset time-honed ways of coping with heat. The new way of keeping cool is impossible without dispossession, devastation, and pollution in distant regions.
▶13-Jun-2022
Amita Baviskar

Decline in India’s Wheat Production: Is Heat Stress in Evidence?

Decline in wheat production over the past two seasons because of rising temperatures has reduced domestic availability.
▶01-Jul-2024
Biswajit Dhar

Summer is Around the Corner. Is India Ready for the Heat?

Heatwaves have become a regular phenomenon in the summer. Policymaking needs to step up to mitigate the effects of extreme heat on vulnerable sections of the population.
▶13-Jan-2025
Naresh Singh, Priti Agarwal, Geeta Sinha
Explainer

Making Sense of Climate Models

Predictions of climate have become an important element of global and national policies. Climate models warn us about the dangers ahead and the urgency of public action. How do scientists build these…
▶07-Sep-2024
Ganga Prasath

Dealing with the Delimitation Challenges

Book
Delimitation

India’s Delimitation Dilemma: Challenges and Consequences

Expanding the Lok Sabha proportionally while preserving existing seats & equally distributing Rajya Sabha seats among states could resolve India’s delimitation deadlock without upsetting…
▶16-Oct-2024
Mohd. Sanjeer Alam
Book
Delimitation

Delimitation, Democracy, and Federalism: Options and Solutions

The challenges posed by a delimitation exercise that would result in the North gaining at the expense of the South can be met with a different approach altogether. We could have instead an expansion…
▶07-Oct-2024
Rangarajan R.

Empowering Local Governments in India’s Federal Structure

Panchayats and municipalities are rarely given their due as the third pillar of federalism. The challenges posed by the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies can be side-stepped by…
▶26-Feb-2025
Sunil Kumar