Trump Administration Tells Venezuela to Expel China, Russia, Iran & Cuba
Trump Administration Tells Venezuela to Expel China, Russia, Iran & Cuba Before Oil Production Can Expand NEW DELHI, The United States, under President Donald Trump, has issued an unprecedented demand to Venezuela’s new interim government: dismantle economic and strategic ties with China, Russia, Iran and Cuba, and agree to an exclusive oil partnership with the U.S. […]
The Illusion of Autonomy: Why the VBSA Bill Risks Shackling Higher Education
The recently introduced Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill, 2025, has been presented by its proponents as a landmark move to “free” Indian universities. Writing in th Indian Express, Delhi University Vice Chancellor Prof. Yogesh Singh argues that the Bill will usher in an era of “minimal structural encumbrance” and “maximum governance.” However, a closer […]
The Birth of the Indian National Congress and the Making of India’s Freedom Movement
On this day, December 28, 2025, we look back exactly fourteen decades to a crisp winter morning in Bombay. The setting was the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College and Boarding House at Gwalia Tank. There, 72 individuals—lawyers, journalists, and scholars—gathered to birth an organization that would eventually dismantle the most formidable empire in human history.As noted […]
The Architect of Quiet Transformation
vo aasmaan tha magar sar jhuka ke chalta tha”! “He was the skyBut he walked with his head bowed down”! The Architect of Quiet Transformation:A Tribute to Dr. Manmohan Singh One year ago, on December 26, India lost more than a former Prime Minister; it lost the personification of intellectual integrity and dignified statesmanship. Dr. […]
A Modernist Titan of Urdu Letters: Remembering Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi (1935–2020), the towering Indian Urdu poet, author, critic, and theorist, reshaped Urdu literature by infusing it with modernism. On this fifth anniversary of his passing on December 25, his legacy endures as a bridge between tradition and innovation. Pioneering Criticism and Literary Revival Faruqi formulated fresh models of literary appreciation, blending Western […]
A Shared Devotion: Why Jesus and Mary Hold a Sacred Place in Islam
As the world marks the birth of Jesus this December, the festive lights and carols often mask a profound theological reality: the story of Christ is not exclusive to Christendom. For nearly two billion Muslims globally, Jesus (Isa) and his mother Mary (Maryam) are not peripheral figures; they are central to the Islamic faith, serving […]
Textbooks as Battlegrounds: The Perils of NCERT’s New Portrait of Mahmud of Ghazni
A quiet rewrite of the past risks hardening the present A quiet but seismic change has slipped into India’s classrooms. The new Class 7 NCERT social science textbook, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, devotes six pages to the “Ghaznavid Invasions,” recasting Mahmud of Ghazni as a fanatical iconoclast bent on forcing his version of Islam […]
Centralising Control, Offloading Costs: Why the New Higher Education Regulator Imperils Universities and States Alike
A Central Regulator With Shrinking Accountability The new higher education regulator Bill promises rationalisation but in practice concentrates unprecedented power in a single umbrella body while eroding mechanisms that once tied regulation to public funding and academic judgment. By abolishing the UGC, AICTE and NCTE and replacing them with the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan and […]
Meher Castelino, India’s First Femina Miss India & Pioneering Fashion Journalist
Meher Castelino, the trailblazing beauty queen who became the inaugural Femina Miss India in 1964 and later emerged as one of the country’s most influential fashion journalists, passed away on December 16, 2025, in Mumbai. She was 81. Early Life and Historic Pageant Victory Born in Mumbai, Castelino graduated from the prestigious Lawrence School in […]
Remembering Internationally Renowned Filmmaker, Director & Screen Writer Shyam Benegal
Remembering internationally renowned Filmmaker, Director and screenwriter # Shyam Benegal on his 91st birth anniversary (14 December) Probably one of the the greatest filmmakers from India Shyam Benegal was a legendary Indian film director, screenwriter, and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema in India, Benegal’s career spans over five decades, during […]
