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Demonstrators attend a protest against a new citizenship law in Shaheen Bagh, area of New Delhi, India January 19, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

28 Mar 2020 2 minute read

Long live Shaheen Bagh

Husna Rizvi on the militant women at the centre of India’s thriving secular movement.

A boatsman rows a boat on river Ganges past holy 'ghats' (banks) in the northern Indian city of Varanasi December 16, 2007. REUTERS/Arko Datta

5 Mar 2020 3 minute read

Varanasi’s secular dream

Nilanjana Bhowmick observes tolerance in India’s most holy city.

Looking the very picture of a traditional way of life, mathematics teacher Phunchok Angmo, photographed at Thiksey monastery, near Leh, Ladakh, is observing startling changes in her pupils. 'The children here no longer care about the culture and they spend less time taling to eachother,' she says. 'They spend their free time on laptops.'

4 Feb 2020 7 minute read

Globalization and extremism – join the dots

Insecure people can be highly susceptible to false narratives purporting to explain their precarious situation, argues ...

Rag pickers collect recyclable material at a garbage dump in New Delhi November 19, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

8 Jan 2020 3 minute read

Invisible green warriors

Nilanjana Bhowmick heralds India's most overshadowed environmentalists: waste-pickers

Demonstrators attend a protest against a new citizenship law, outside the Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi, India, January 1, 2020. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

6 Jan 2020 6 minute read

Not Modi’s India any more

Ongoing countrywide protests are rooted in a battle for India’s secular values, argues Nilanjana Bhowmick...

6 Oct 2019 3 minute read

Radical readings on Kashmir

As Kashmir enters the 64th day of a communications blackout, Ammar Bukhari recommends a reading list on the...

17 Sep 2019 3 minute read

A numbers game

Enrolment does not equal education, argues Nilanjana Bhowmick.

8 Aug 2019 3 minute read

As nationalism grips India, indigenous struggles persist

On World Indigenous Day, columnist Mari Marcel Thekaekara revisits the fortunes of India’s ‘original...

28 Jul 2019 8 minute read

Small city, big dreams

India’s rapidly expanding cities attract young dreamers like magnets. Snigdha Poonam observes how the...

14 Jul 2019 3 minute read

Time is money

Lack of punctuality in India is sometimes given a ‘spiritual’ spin by Western observers, but underneath this comic veneer is...

19 Jun 2019 2 minute read

A ray of light

30 May 2019 4 minute read

What’s next for Indians living under Modi?

Narendra Modi’s second mandate is a ‘sword hanging above the heads’ of India’s minorities. Nilanjana Bhowmick explains why...

30 Apr 2019 5 minute read

Kashmir’s ever-present torture chambers

Umar Lateef Misgar reports on an alleged victim of the policing crackdown in Kashmir: a school teacher who...

26 Apr 2019 3 minute read

The most important election since independence

Mari Marcel Thekaekara reflects on the Easter Sunday...

22 Apr 2019 3 minute read

The giant of India’s environmental movement

Fiona Broom reflects on the legacy of the pioneering environmental journalist, Darryl D'monte, who passed...

27 Mar 2019 3 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Where is India’s Jacinda Ardern?

Can the country produce its own iconic Prime Minister? It desperately needs one, writes Mari Marcel Thekaekara...

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