Mulk Raj Anand at 120: Champion of India’s Forgotten Lives
On this 120th birth anniversary of Mulk Raj Anand—born December 12, 1905, in Peshawar—his defiant credo endures: “Our tragic age demands poetry of courage and not whimpers about the inevitable end of all maya.” Far more than a pioneer of Indo-Anglian fiction or “India’s Charles Dickens,” Anand forged novels that elevated the sweeper, coolie, and […]
A Song, Not a Political Football: Vande Mataram, Parliament and the Politics of Memory
Vande Mataram: Echoes of History in Parliament’s Heated Debate Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay penned *Vande Mataram* in 1875 as a hymn evoking the motherland’s natural splendour, later expanded in his 1882 novel *Anandamath*, set amid the devastating Great Bengal Famine of the 1770s that claimed millions due to drought and East India Company exploitation. This war […]
Babri Politics Returns to Bengal: How Manufactured Outrage and Opportunistic Mobilisation Threaten a Fragile State
The sudden “Babri Masjid” moment in Murshidabad exposes a deeper political script aimed at fragmenting Bengal’s electorate before 2026. A New Storm in Bengal Elections are only months away in West Bengal, and the shadows of Ayodhya—once buried, once forgotten—have suddenly resurfaced in the unlikeliest of places: Murshidabad. The laying of a so-called “Babri Masjid” […]
The Second Exile: When Madness Claimed the Soul of Ayodhya
On December 6th, the calendar turns to a date etched in India’s modern history not by pride, but by profound sorrow. It marks the day, three decades ago, when a historic structure fell—and, more tragically, when a foundational idea of the Indian Republic, the sanctity of shared space and secular tolerance, was violently fractured. Eminent […]
India’s Enduring Economic Arc: Triumph, Shadows, and the Credibility Imperative
India’s economic saga spans ancient pre-eminence, colonial devastation, and a modern resurgence that positions it as the world’s fourth-largest economy in nominal terms and third in purchasing power parity, with nominal GDP at $4.19 trillion. Recent data from the National Accounts Statistics reveal an 8.2 percent real GDP growth in the July-September 2025 quarter—a six-quarter […]
From UGC to HECI: Another Quiet Burial of Nehru’s Vision for Higher Education
The Union government is set to introduce the Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Bill in the Winter Session of Parliament. If passed, the 68-year-old University Grants Commission will cease to exist, replaced by a new, unitary regulator—the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI). On paper, the move promises “less […]
The Politics of Renaming : A Convenient Distraction in Modern India
The Politics of Renaming : A Convenient Distraction in Modern India The renaming of public infrastructure, geographical locations, and major institutions has become a conspicuous—and increasingly preferred—feature of contemporary Indian governance. Streets, railway stations, airports, towns, and entire cities are routinely rechristened under the pretext of celebrating local culture, honouring forgotten heroes, or restoring historical […]
From Approval to Authority: Reclaiming What It Means for Women to Lead
Women’s issues dominate global conversations, evolving as women express, lead and reshape the world. Freedom, dignity, gender equality, equal pay, work life balance and above all, the multifaceted roles women play remain central themes. While many empowered women are redefining long held male perceptions, countless others continue to struggle, caught between a modern urge to […]
From Macaulay to Modi: Transformation of Education & Laws in India
Mumbai: The recent surge in public debate, sparked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pointed critique of the colonial “Macaulay mindset,” has cast a fierce spotlight on the 19th-century British historian, Thomas Babington Macaulay. This is not merely an academic quarrel; it is a profound national reckoning with the foundations of modern India. The central dichotomy, […]
Seventy-Six Years On: Has the Constitution Failed Us, or Have We Failed It?
Seventy-Six Years On: Has the Constitution Failed Us, or Have We Failed It?As India commemorates 76 years as a Republic, the foundational query posed by the celebrated jurist N. A. Palkhivala—Have we failed the Constitution, or has the Constitution failed us?—resurfaces with piercing urgency.Our Constitution, a meticulously crafted document enshrining the values of Justice, Liberty, […]
