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Opinion
Night and Law: A Tumultuous History
The night may empower the authorities by making them more vigilant, but it can also ‘weaken’ the rule of law by making them exercise summary power.
Politics
Sanatan Capitalism: How Economic Hardship and Hindutva Go Hand in Hand
The language of Hindutva enforces a sheath of oneness over the widening economic inequalities, selling a dream of political equality among members of the majority community
Recent
India's Troubled Relationship with Law, Authority, and Justice
At a time when 'bulldozer justice' and mob lynching are creating a new normal of social and political life, the question of the relationship between law and justice deserves another robust debate.
Top Stories
On English Speakers and a False Sense of Superiority
In colleges and schools, a lot of students are bullied and belittled for their inability to speak and write well in English. This is not okay.
Top Stories
'Don’t Stop Dancing': The Pressure of Perfection
We have failed our artists by constantly demanding perfection.
Politics
Perception, Legality and Politics of the Migrant Worker Crisis in Lockdown
‘Walking back home’ from industrial centres has let the labour force script itself back into the nation’s narrative.
Top Stories
My Aunt's Story of Healing in Nature
After the death of her husband, everything seemed futile. But slowly and steadily, with her rooftop garden, my aunt got back up on her feet.
Between Welfare and Criminalisation: Were Domestic Servants Always Informal?
Will the welfarian protective legal regime elevate their condition from the ‘help’ to the ‘worker’?
Government
When the Janata Curfew and Clanging are Over, the Coronavirus Will Still Need Fighting
People can find different ways of showing solidarity. But people have a right to know from the government how institutions and structures are being overhauled to deal with the impending crisis.
Politics
Majoritarianism Has Turned the Populace Into an Ever-Ready Mob
The Delhi riots was forged in the politics of perpetually aggressive and unethical electioneering.
Top Stories
Second-Hand Dreams
What is it like to own a world once lived in.
Top Stories
Why Autobiographies Are the Need of the Hour
We must trust the magic of individual testimonies and let them strip the false tableau that rules the day.
Politics
In Today's 'New India', Conversation Is the Key
Why is it that faith in one leader trumps falsehoods peddled by that same leader? To know the answer, we need to engage with those who disagree with us.
Railways and the Raj: Travelling Through 'Bad Imperialism' and 'Good Nationalism'
Does the story of the Indian railways really stop at presenting a fact file of imperial patronage?
Top Stories
Railways and the Raj: Travelling Through 'Bad Imperialism' and 'Good Nationalism'
Does the story of the Indian railways really stop at presenting a fact file of imperial patronage?
Culture
Understanding the Mind of the Indian Voter
The formation of political opinions is not limited to how one accesses and consumes information. Familial and caste affiliations play a big role too.
From ‘Naihar' to ‘Sasural', How Folk Songs Map a Woman's View of Marriage and Migration
Bhojpuri folksongs have evocatively captured how the lives of women are unevenly spread across two homes – naihar (natal) and sasural (that of the in-laws).
Culture
Cultures of Liberalisation: Between Raj and Raja of the 1990s
Between Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Raja Babu, the Indian middle class had two versions of liberalisation to choose from – a metropolitan and a provincial.
When Women Sang in the Age of Steam
Making use of popular Bhojpuri folksongs, we enter into the rich social and gendered world of women; a world that was woven around sexuality and migration.
Politics
Bihar's Elites Are Caught Between Class Contempt and Genuine Fear of Jungle Raj
The middle class fears the return of the bad old days, forgetting its own contribution to the making of the state's political culture of the 1990s.
