Features

Ambedkar on the Banner, DMK in the Blueprint: What VCK’s Cabinet Berth Really Tests

Dinesh Govindaraj Kamalam For the first time in its history, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) has a minister sitting in a Tamil Nadu Cabinet it did not help elect as the senior partner. Vanni Arasu’s appointment as the state’s first-ever Minister for Social Justice, with charge of Adi Dravidar Welfare and Hill Tribes, is being …

Features

The Architecture of Trust: What Manipur Teaches us About Democracy, Conflict, and the Long Road to Peace

Cheena Khundrakpam When societies experience prolonged conflict, the most visible losses are often the easiest to count. We record the number of lives lost, the homes destroyed, the families displaced, and the schools that fall silent. These figures matter because they remind us of the scale of human suffering. Yet they reveal only part of …

Features

Why ‘Cocktail 2’ Still Punishes Women’s Desire Despite Pretending to be Progressive

Neeraj Bunkar & Ratnapriya Singh Bollywood has long projected itself as a space that embraces modernity. Over the years, Hindi cinema has increasingly shown women drinking alcohol, living independently, pursuing careers, entering live-in relationships, and openly discussing intimacy. Yet, beneath these seemingly progressive images, many films continue to uphold deeply conservative ideas about gender. Women …

Features

Caste at the Kitchen Door: The Ghusramunda Anganwadi Controversy and the Limits of Constitutional Equality

Kshirod Nag The controversy surrounding the appointment of an Anganwadi cook in Ghusramunda village, Muribahal Block, Balangir district, deserves attention. It is not merely an administrative dispute but a sociologically significant event exposing the unresolved contradiction between constitutional democracy and the everyday reproduction of caste hierarchy. According to media reports and televised interviews, a woman …

Assertion

The Distance Ambedkar Travelled, The Distance We Still Travel

Thiruppathi P From a village in Tamil Nadu to Ambedkar House in London, a first-generation scholar reflects on education, memory, and the unfinished struggle for equality. “Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.” — B.R. Ambedkar There are journeys measured in miles, and there are journeys measured in generations. My recent …

Features

The Cockroach Janta Party gives India the image of a Gen Z revolt that the BJP waited for

Dr Govind Dhaske and Gayatri Sutar Many interpret the sudden rise of the Cockroach Janta Party as the beginning of the much-awaited and hoped-for Gen Z revolt against the BJP. It has emerged around real issues that youth could easily resonate with, such as unemployment, examination failures, paper leaks, and inflation. The humiliation of young …

Features

Why a Homogeneous ‘Gen-Z’ Is Impossible in India

Prof. Vivek Kumar Gen-Z, as a homogeneous category, is not possible in India because Indian youth are not a uniform social group. First of all, historically, because of Varnashrama-Dharma, there was no category of youth in Indian society. Because after Brahmacharya, individuals directly entered into the Grahastha Ashrama. Hence, there was no time to enjoy their youth. …

Features

Cleaning the City, Risking Their Lives: Stories of Delhi’s Sanitation Workers

Mohd Ashraf New Delhi: In the hidden corners of Delhi’s vast sanitation network, where the city’s waste disappears out of sight, workers like Sudhir and Jitender carry out some of the city’s most dangerous and invisible labour. Their work keeps drains flowing and neighbourhoods livable, yet their own lives remain marked by insecurity, stigma, and …