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Tamil Nadu Govt. Tells Court Governor Acting as a Political Opponent
Tamil Nadu Govt. Tells Court Governor Acting as a Political Opponent

The Tamil Nadu government told the Supreme Court that Governor R.N. Ravi behaved like a political opponent by withholding assent on multiple bills, arguing that his actions blocked duly passed legislation and undermined the authority of the state assembly. The court questioned the Governor’s decision to keep some bills pending for three years before declaring his intention to withhold assent and refer them to the President.

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2025 Delhi Election: Political Parties’ Newfound Love for Women Voters
Ageing Alone – Migration’s Toll on Families in Madhya Pradesh
Does Mumbai’s Middle Class Lack Empathy for Migrant Women?

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Tamil Nadu Govt. Tells Court Governor Acting as a Political Opponent

The Tamil Nadu government told the Supreme Court that Governor R.N. Ravi behaved like a political opponent by withholding assent on multiple bills, arguing that his actions blocked duly passed legislation and undermined the authority of the state assembly. The court questioned the Governor’s decision to keep some bills pending for three years before declaring his intention to withhold assent and refer them to the President.

Assam’s NRC Misstep: Court Demands Deportation of ‘Illegal Foreign Nationals’

The Supreme Court has rebuked the Assam government for keeping people it has declared as “foreigners” in indefinite detention and for its slow pace in arranging their deportation. State officials claim they do not know where to send them. It exposes a fundamental problem rooted in the National Register of Citizens (NRC): if individuals are declared foreign solely because their documents are considered insufficient, what happens next?

Analysis of Independent Forensic Report on ‘Manipur Tapes’

Leaked audio recordings, known as “Manipur Tapes” and purportedly featuring the voice of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, were examined by an independent forensic lab, Truth Labs Forensic Services. The examination concluded with over 93% certainty that the voice in the recordings belongs to the Chief Minister. Based on the report, below is an analysis of how the tapes were analysed and how forensic experts arrived at their conclusion.

Manipur Violence: Forensic Report on Tapes Alleging CM Biren Singh’s Role Ordered

The Supreme Court has ordered a forensic report on audio tapes allegedly linking Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to ethnic violence in Manipur. The state government is allegedly seeking to arrest the petitioner who raised these allegations before the court.

India’s 2025 Budget Breakdown for Everyday Citizens

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled India’s full-year budget in Parliament on Feb. 1. The budget seems to fall short of directly addressing critical economic challenges that impact the vast majority of the country’s populace, including youth unemployment, stagnating wages and widening income inequality.

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Manipur: Prolonged, Preventable Suffering of Meiteis, Kuki-Zos, Nagas
Manipur: Prolonged, Preventable Suffering of Meiteis, Kuki-Zos, Nagas

What does India have in common with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, South Sudan and Ethiopia? Like these four African countries, India has been experiencing armed conflict between two ethnic groups in Manipur for over 21 months. However, unlike these nations, India possesses a significant capacity to control armed unrest, an area in which it can be considered “privileged.”

India Now Has Its Own Antibiotic, But Here’s the Catch
India Now Has Its Own Antibiotic, But Here’s the Catch

India has developed its first indigenous antibiotic, Nafithromycin, designed to combat drug-resistant bacteria. While it is being touted as a breakthrough, the real issue lies not only in developing new antibiotics but in ensuring their responsible use. Amid the ongoing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis—a phenomenon where bacteria adapt to resist the effects of antibiotics, rendering them ineffective—this new antibiotic alone cannot guarantee a solution.

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Power Crisis Deepens in Jammu & Kashmir Amid Winter
Power Crisis Deepens in Jammu & Kashmir Amid Winter

In the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, households commonly face frequent power outages and struggle with unaffordable electricity tariffs. This, despite the region's immense potential for hydroelectric power generation. Asad Ullah Mir describes the developmental injustices his community endures due to the extraction of hydroelectric power. Meanwhile, Abdul Hamid, a 50-year-old resident of Dal Gate in Srinagar, discusses the tough choices low-income families must make between electricity and basic necessities. This raises a pressing question: Why must the people of this region endure cold, dark winters?

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2025 Delhi Election: Political Parties’ Newfound Love for Women Voters
2025 Delhi Election: Political Parties’ Newfound Love for Women Voters

Amid the political frenzy leading up to the 2025 Delhi assembly elections, scheduled for Feb. 5 with results on the 8th, all contesting parties—from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress—are actively courting women voters.

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Ageing Alone – Migration’s Toll on Families in Madhya Pradesh
Ageing Alone – Migration’s Toll on Families in Madhya Pradesh

Haret Kevat and his wife, Nawal Devi, reside in the Morena district of Madhya Pradesh. Their children have moved to other states, driven by the scarcity of jobs and economic prospects in their home state. Their lives, marked by loneliness, represent the predicament of tens of thousands of elderly parents across the region. In Madhya Pradesh, where 36% of rural residents live below the poverty line, nearly half of the male population migrates for work—almost twice the national average. According to the India Employment Report 2024, 50.9% of these male migrants leave Madhya Pradesh for employment opportunities.

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Does Mumbai’s Middle Class Lack Empathy for Migrant Women?
Does Mumbai’s Middle Class Lack Empathy for Migrant Women?

Srimati, a Dalit migrant woman, lives on the streets of Mumbai with her son Shiv Sagar and her daughter after city authorities demolished her home in Jai Bhim Nagar. While she was worried about men leering at her daughter, she learned of a “Reclaim the Night” protest organised by women from a nearby housing society. That protest was in response to the August 2024, rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in a hospital in Kolkata. Hoping to voice her own family’s safety concerns, she went with other displaced women from her hamlet. But what she experienced at the protest, left Srimati feeling that the middle class extends empathy perhaps only to its own.

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Dinner With a Tribal Woman: ‘My Sons Weren’t Maoists’
Dinner With a Tribal Woman: ‘My Sons Weren’t Maoists’

An elderly woman, Shanti Devi, who lost two of her sons in a shootout by security personnel, resides alone in a Maoist-affected region of Chhattisgarh. This episode of The Dinner Table explores her story.

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Poornima’s Triumph over Bonded Labour: A Story of Resilience
Poornima’s Triumph over Bonded Labour: A Story of Resilience

Poornima was liberated from bonded labour in 2014, but she immediately faced the formidable challenge of rebuilding her life. She needed to secure employment, find accommodation and obtain essential documents. With determination, she returned to her village to acquire the skills necessary for self-sufficiency. Demonstrating both courage and perseverance, Poornima and her husband set up a small tailoring business. This initiative not only sustained their family but also provided employment opportunities for other freed bonded laborers in their community. By converting her adversities into a platform for financial independence and empowerment, Poornima has exemplified how resilience can drive transformative change, offering a future filled with dignity and hope for herself and others.

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WHAT MAKES A ‘HOME’ | Demolition Drives in Delhi
WHAT MAKES A ‘HOME’ | Demolition Drives in Delhi

The video delves into the lives of Delhi's slum dwellers, whose homes perpetually face the threat of demolition. In a recent case, on May 19, 2023, residents of Priyanka Gandhi Camp in Vasant Vihar, Delhi, received official notices from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to vacate the land by June 15, 2023. Despite legal battles fought by the PG camp residents, their ‘Jhuggis’ (slums) were ultimately demolished. Between April 1 and July 27, 2023, Delhi witnessed 49 demolition drives. In 2023, at least 1600 homes have been destroyed and about 2,50,000 are homeless in India’s Capital. This story is about the plight of those who become homeless overnight.

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Unequal Earnings in Salt Farming
Unequal Earnings in Salt Farming

Gujarat stands as India’s foremost salt-producing state, contributing 85% to the nation's total salt output. Within Gujarat, 31% of this production originates from the Agariya community living within the Little Rann of Kutch. Despite being the primary contributors to the salt industry, the Agariya people find themselves receiving the smallest share of profits. Furthermore, they grapple with the adverse effects of climate change, directly impacting their livelihoods. In this narrative, Bhopa and Gunand, two Agariya salt farmers, shed light on the disparity in earnings within the salt farming sector.

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UNEQUAL LIVES | Everyday Struggles of Dalits in Gujarat
UNEQUAL LIVES | Everyday Struggles of Dalits in Gujarat

Bhupat Bhai Sekhaliya, a diligent and hardworking rickshaw driver from Gujarat, belongs to the Dalit community. Despite his unwavering dedication, the respect he deserves eludes him, particularly from individuals of "upper" castes in his vicinity. Many daily activities, deemed "normal" for any resident, remain inaccessible to him. Defiance can lead to physical assault. However, Bhupat's story is not an isolated incident. In Gujarat, the spectre of violence against Dalits looms large, with an average of four cases reported daily. The past seven years have seen a staggering total of over 9,000 documented instances of such violence.

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BREATHLESS IN DELHI | The Human Cost of Air Pollution
BREATHLESS IN DELHI | The Human Cost of Air Pollution

If you are living in Delhi, you might lose 12 years of your life because of air pollution. Jyoti Lavakare Pande, an author and a journalist from Delhi, writes an open letter to highlight the intensity of pollution in Delhi. She reflects on her mother's vibrant and resilient life, filled with smiles and melodies. Her mother, Kamale Pande, a classical vocalist, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, struggling for every breath in Delhi's pollution. She pens down her mother’s journey to raise awareness about the invisible killer looming in Delhi’s air.

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‘Revisiting Childhood,’ with Screenwriter, Lyricist and Filmmaker Shashwat Dwivedi
‘Revisiting Childhood,’ with Screenwriter, Lyricist and Filmmaker Shashwat Dwivedi

This video is from the third episode of our online event series, “Newsreel Asia Conversations,” which gives you a chance to interact with filmmakers who explore social, economic and political themes in their works. It all came together from our team's interactions with these creative minds at the 2024 Dharamshala International Film Festival. In this episode, we featured screenwriter, lyricist and filmmaker Shashwat Dwivedi, and our conversation centred on “Revisiting Childhood,” based on his latest film “Bobby Beauty Parlour.”

‘Why Education Comes with a High Cost for Girls,’ with Filmmaker Tarun Jain
‘Why Education Comes with a High Cost for Girls,’ with Filmmaker Tarun Jain

This video is from the second episode of our online event series, “Newsreel Asia Conversations,” which gives you a chance to interact with filmmakers who explore social, economic and political themes in their works. In this episode, we featured filmmaker and director Tarun Jain, and our conversation centred on “Why Education Comes with a High Cost for Girls,” based on his film “Ballad of the Mountain.”

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