Anti-Conversion Laws Are a Question of Citizens’ Rights and Freedoms
Maharashtra becoming the 13th state to enact an anti-conversion law once again raises a legal question that goes further than the protection of Christian and Muslim minorities, as the issue is often portrayed. Laws regulating conversion from one religion to another should be assessed by how they affect every citizen’s freedom of conscience and religious expression, rather than by which religious community they appear to protect or threaten.
Questions Over India Today Poll Presenting Modi as Still Popular After Youth Protests
The latest India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll records a considerable fall in support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, despite relying largely on interviews conducted before the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-initiated protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar grew into a nationwide movement demanding accountability. However, India Today and sister organisation Aaj Tak presented it mainly as evidence that Modi remains popular and the NDA would retain power.
What Polygamy Feels Like to a Daughter in Arunachal Pradesh
Growing up in a polygynous household taught me how a man’s decision to take another wife can alter the lives of the women and children who are given no say in it. It divided my father’s time, money and presence between two families, leaving my mother and her daughters to live with the consequences, though I do not hold him alone responsible for what followed.
Nepal’s Political Mood Is Becoming Religiously Charged
Nepal underwent an epochal political upheaval just a year ago, toppling the government in a fashion few could have imagined. An even more dramatic development followed. Voters handed a near-supermajority to the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which was founded only four years earlier. Its senior leader, Balendra Shah, became the youngest prime minister in Nepal’s history and has since been leading the country.
Beaten as a Dalit, Denied Protection Because He is Christian
A recent case exposes that the law has wrongly misunderstood that conversion to Christianity or Islam automatically ends the caste discrimination faced by Dalits. Chinthada Anand, a convert to Christianity, was allegedly attacked as a Dalit in Andhra Pradesh, but the Supreme Court ruled that he could not receive the protection under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act because he was no longer legally recognised as a Scheduled Caste. This raises the question of whether the SC/ST Act should ask what religion the victim follows or whether society, including the alleged attackers, treated that person as a Dalit.
See Jharkhand Protests From Students’ Perspective, Not Politicians’
While government-job aspirants without party affiliations appear to constitute the principal base of the ongoing protests in Ranchi, Jharkhand, the agitation is not organisationally unified. This distinction is important because attempts by political groups to influence the protests risk diverting attention from young people’s genuine concerns about education, recruitment and institutional reform, and from their attempt to raise these concerns democratically.
As India Grows Older, Its Digital Economy Must Protect Senior Citizens
India’s digital revolution has transformed the way citizens bank, invest, receive pensions and access public services. However, beneath this success story lies a growing vulnerability that deserves far greater attention. Cyber fraud is no longer merely a technology or policing issue; it has become an ageing issue.
Government’s Disconnect With Gen Z Is Visible in Its Three Miscalculations
A protest movement built and led by India’s youngest citizens forced Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign, following weeks of hunger strikes and mass demonstrations. The government’s police crackdown subsequently backfired. Relying on its past successes in curbing protests and dissent, the administration led by officials decades older than the protesters tried to use silence and force during those weeks. However, the government and its advisors failed to realise that this time they were dealing with a generation they had no experience managing.
Why the US–Israel Conflict with Iran Is Not a Religious War
Among sections of the public in many countries, including India, the current U.S.–Israel attack on Iran is being framed as a Christian and Jewish attack on Islam. The language of civilisational war carries emotional force and clear political utility in mobilising domestic support, but a closer look at how states actually behave suggests a more grounded reading of the conflict as a typical strategic contest.
Dignity of Labour in India Must Mean Justice
In India, the idea of dignity of labour is missing in large part due to the caste system. While some discussion has begun, much of it centres on showing respect to workers or speaking favourably about their occupations. This limited framing can mask deeper issues of discrimination, exclusion and injustice. It does little to uphold the dignity of either the worker or the work.
Why Has Biren Singh Been Included in Manipur BJP’s Bid to Regain Power?
N. Biren Singh, the former Chief Minister of Manipur, has arrived in Delhi with a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators and former ministers to seek the revival of an elected government in the state. His inclusion deserves scrutiny, as the Supreme Court has ordered a forensic examination of audio recordings that allegedly feature his voice making remarks linked by petitioners to the ethnic violence. The visit also comes two weeks after a deadly attack on an Assam Rifles convoy that intelligence agencies suspect was politically motivated.
Nepal’s Gen Z Didn’t Topple the Government, But They Deserve Credit for It
Closer attention to what happened in Nepal suggests that the government did not fall solely because of the Gen Z protests, but because of the chain of events they triggered. It is crucial for Gen Z movements elsewhere to understand the role Nepal’s youth played in the change, so that their hopes are not misplaced and their decisions not misguided. The story also carries lessons for governments around the world.
Manipur: Assam Rifles Ambush Raises Questions on AFSPA Rollback Strategy
Two soldiers from the Assam Rifles were killed and five others injured in an ambush by armed attackers on Sept. 19 as their convoy was passing through a crowded area in Manipur’s Bishnupur district, which had recently lost its designation under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The incident has exposed serious flaws in how security laws have been withdrawn from conflict-hit parts of the state.
Nepal’s Gen Z Must Move from ‘Nepo Kid’ to ‘Every Kid Matters’
Nepal’s Gen Z recently led nationwide protests sparked by a ban on social media but driven by anger at corruption, nepotism and authoritarianism. The slogan “Nepo Kid” helped mobilise young people to reject inherited privilege and dynastic politics. Now that the government has been overthrown, the movement cannot remain defined only by what it opposes. It must advance a constructive agenda. One way forward is to move from “Nepo Kid” to “Every Kid Matters,” making inclusion a central demand. It is essential because the contrast between elite children and ordinary children will remain hollow unless the inequalities among ordinary children are addressed first.
Inside India’s Hidden Digital Market of Incest, Child Porn, Misogyny
On Sept. 10, an Instagram conversation with a young boy led me into a disturbing digital ecosystem where violent sexual content circulates freely. I now fear that a generation of boys may grow up normalising harmful sexual behaviour and misogyny.
Can Nepal Break Its Cycle of Revolutions?
Nepal has recently toppled its government, the fourth such event since 1950. What matters now is recognising that these recurring storms are not caused by failed politicians alone. They come from a “state” that remains unreformed, no matter who holds power. Nepal can end its cycle of revolutions only by reforming the institutions that have blocked reform, protected the powerful and outlasted every elected government.
Nepal’s Rulers Paid for Seeking a Monopoly Over ‘Illegitimate’ Violence
A government does not survive by force alone, but by the public’s acceptance that it has the right to use force in the first place. Nepal’s government seemed unaware of this basic principle. The little trust that remained, already hanging by a thread, gave way completely on September 8, when police used brutal violence against young protesters. By the time ambulances began arriving with school and college students bleeding from bullet wounds to their heads and chests, the state’s claim to legitimacy was in free fall.
Nepal’s Gen Z Show People Hold Power Above the Constitution
In Nepal, a Gen Z movement recently brought down the government and demanded that Sushila Karki, a former Chief Justice of the country, be appointed interim Prime Minister. Although the Constitution bars anyone who has held that office from becoming head of government, the state agreed. This agreement demonstrated a core idea in political theory that the people, not the written text, are the true source of authority. It also stands as a warning to governments everywhere.
India’s Shift to Russia–China Axis Damages Its Democratic, Economic Interests
India is moving closer to Russia and China, stepping away from its partnerships with Western democracies. This new direction weakens its position in global trade, technology and democratic cooperation, pulling India toward authoritarian governments and brings economic punishment and fewer reliable international ties.
The Quiet Power of a 90-Year-Old Monk That China Cannot Silence
China stands as a global giant, with the world’s second largest economy, an expanding military footprint and growing influence in international diplomacy. Yet for all its power, it remains deeply unsettled by a monk living in exile in the Indian Himalayas – the Dalai Lama, who will turn 90 on July 6. The reason lies in what he symbolises and what China has failed to control despite decades of effort.