The March 15 issue of Frontline this year was also about caste in higher education; about how the furious protests by dominant castes forced the Supreme Court to halt the UGC regulations that sought enforceable rules against caste-based discrimination in colleges and universities. The cover image we used was a riff on the Norwegian artist […]

When parents who had earlier lost children at IIT Bombay joined the protests after the death of the second-year student Sahil Wakode in September, they said they were asking the same questions again. Wakode’s parents have alleged caste discrimination and harassment and have been holding a protest in Mumbai every day to draw attention to their concerns. The institute says it received […]

The success of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s rally on October 12, 2026, gathering 2.5 lakh marchers against electoral malpractices, should not blind us to the fact that King Modi tried, a day earlier, turning Delhi’s streets into hell for children. He is a cruel king. His capacity and appetite for violence are limitless. The […]

Security personnel deploy a tethered drone for aerial surveillance and monitoring during a protest organised by the CJP demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral roll irregularities, at Connaught Place in New Delhi, on October 10, 2026. | Photo Credit: Rushikesh More/PTI On the morning of June 16, 2026, millions […]

Leaders, writers, and activists from Adivasi and Dalit organisations met in Kottayam, Keralam, on September 26 to prepare for a land conclave scheduled to be held in November. Leaders of the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS) told the gathering: “We were cheated during the first land reform. We were promised that in a second land […]

Three moments from Karthik Subbaraj’s Dorothy stand out for me. Or maybe 4. No, 10. Or 50. But I will start with the three. One is when Karthi, played by Rishikanth, points a gun at his friend-lover Subbu, who will soon be Dorothy, played by Sananth. The two are on the top of a rocky […]

The all-round attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations that he took decisions, including those related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, to favour the ruling BJP has emerged as the biggest political challenge that the Narendra Modi government and the saffron party have faced in the past 12 […]

I spent the morning of October 12 googling safe routes to the protest. Modi’s full-bore suppression of the CJP protest on the 10th had left the careful political tourist in me wary; I wanted nothing to do with helmeted men in blue fatigues swinging transparent plastic lathis. For an hour or so, the AI bot […]

The reason democracy is thought to be a stable system of governance and preferred over other forms is it is founded on an implicit bargain between citizens and the state. Political scientists call it the social contract, and democratic elections are the way this contract is periodically renewed. Parties whose vision provides citizens better terms […]

Vivek Bhimanwar, Chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), was sent on compulsory leave on October 12 after thousands of aspirants staged an 11-day sit-in in Pune, which began on October 2, demanding his resignation. The MPSC conducts recruitment examinations for State government posts, and the students wanted him removed over paper leaks at […]