Muslim Gig Workers: His Name Was Bad for Business, So He Buried It
NB, News Briefings, May 2026 Asad Ashraf NB, News Briefings, May 2026 Asad Ashraf

Muslim Gig Workers: His Name Was Bad for Business, So He Buried It

There is a specific kind of humiliation that disguises itself as practicality. Gig workers, especially Muslims, have been changing their names on professional apps, not for amusement, but because their real names cost them customers. The decision has become larger than a personal adjustment, pointing to a larger social reality hidden behind these choices. I have come across this issue at least three times in recent months.

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India Averaged Over 3 Hate Speech Events Per Day in 2025, Says Report
NB, News Briefings, January 2026 Vishal Arora NB, News Briefings, January 2026 Vishal Arora

India Averaged Over 3 Hate Speech Events Per Day in 2025, Says Report

In 2025, India recorded 1,318 in-person hate speech events, averaging more than three per day and overwhelmingly led by Hindu nationalist groups and political actors affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, according to a report by the India Hate Lab. The report supports the inference that a political choice is behind the sustained scale of public incitement, which undermines both the rule of law and the idea of equal citizenship.

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Behind the Growing Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh
NB, News Briefings, January 2026 Vishal Arora NB, News Briefings, January 2026 Vishal Arora

Behind the Growing Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

A Hindu businessman was attacked by a mob in Bangladesh’s Shariatpur district on 31 December 2025. He was beaten with sharp weapons, doused in petrol and set on fire. This was the third such attack in a month, part of a larger pattern of violence against religious minorities since the fall of the previous government. The incident shows that the interim administration has failed to enforce the rule of law in cases involving political or communal violence. That failure has left the country’s transition in a dangerously exposed state.

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India’s Move Toward ‘Data Nationalism’ and Post-Truth Governance
NB, News Briefings, December 2025 Vishal Arora NB, News Briefings, December 2025 Vishal Arora

India’s Move Toward ‘Data Nationalism’ and Post-Truth Governance

Across three major areas involving climate risk, press freedom and economic reporting, the government is steadily moving away from global benchmarks. It is discarding international assessments and building its own homegrown versions instead. These are managed or overseen by government bodies, which gives it more control over both the data and the story the data tells. The result is a system that does not just measure progress. It also quietly rewrites what progress is supposed to mean.

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Do Assam’s People Need Guns—Or Just Better Governance?
NB, News Briefings, May 2025 Vishal Arora NB, News Briefings, May 2025 Vishal Arora

Do Assam’s People Need Guns—Or Just Better Governance?

The Assam government’s decision to issue arms licences to “indigenous” residents in remote areas, under the pretext of protection from “illegal immigrants,” marks a retreat from the state’s core responsibility to ensure public security. It also legitimises exclusion and replaces public trust and institutional justice with a politics rooted in fear.

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Lynching in Mangaluru, a City Haunted by Hate

Lynching in Mangaluru, a City Haunted by Hate

Ashraf, a Muslim and daily wage labourer from Wayanad, Kerala, had arrived in this coastal Karnataka city just weeks earlier. On the evening of April 27, he was found dead near a temple in Kudupu—barely 10 km from Mangaluru city’s centre. Reportedly killed on the sidelines of a cricket match, his death was a brutal act that felt grimly familiar.

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Curfew Imposed in Nagpur After Communal Tensions
NB, News Briefings, March 2025 Vishal Arora NB, News Briefings, March 2025 Vishal Arora

Curfew Imposed in Nagpur After Communal Tensions

Curfew was imposed for the second consecutive day in Nagpur, Maharashtra, following communal tensions sparked by demands from Hindu nationalist groups, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, to remove the tomb of 17th-century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The groups argued that Aurangzeb’s legacy was emblematic of historical oppression against Hindus.

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Kerala Church Endorses BJP Leader’s Unfounded ‘Love Jihad’ Claims
NB, News Briefings, March 2025 Vishal Arora NB, News Briefings, March 2025 Vishal Arora

Kerala Church Endorses BJP Leader’s Unfounded ‘Love Jihad’ Claims

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Kerala, P.C. George, who is facing charges of hate speech, made unsubstantiated claims at a public event that around 400 girls from the state’s Meenachil Taluk in Kottayam district were victims of the so-called “love jihad.” The Syro-Malabar Church chose to publicly endorse George’s narrative.

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Study: Dainik Jagran’s Coverage of NRC-CAA Protests, Delhi Violence Biased
NB, News Briefings, Jan25 Vishal Arora NB, News Briefings, Jan25 Vishal Arora

Study: Dainik Jagran’s Coverage of NRC-CAA Protests, Delhi Violence Biased

Hindi-language daily Dainik Jagran’s coverage of the 2020-2021 protests against the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act (NRC-CAA), as well as the communal violence in Delhi, was “biased,” according to a study featured in the recently published book, “Inclusiveness in Indian Media Coverage.” The reportage predominantly supported the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) stance, depicting protestors negatively and associating them with violence while allocating minimal space for their perspectives, it suggests.

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