India’s free trade agmts. undermine access to affordable medicines. The govt must resist big pharma’s narrative that stronger IP protection drives investment & innovation, & instead heed health advocacy groups that say healthcare costs for the poor will balloon. www.theindiaforum.in/health/how-i...

India’s trade deals with the EU & the US differ in structure & implications. While Europe offers rules-based predictability, the US is transactional & conditional. For better outcomes, India must invest in deep manufacturing & reduce the cost of making products. www.theindiaforum.in/economy/same...

Bengaluru’s air quality monitoring stations are too few to capture local pollution levels. Community monitoring using low-cost sensors can fill this gap and can empower citizens to report local air pollution and demand greater govt investment in monitoring. www.theindiaforum.in/environment/...

This voluminous study of 75 years of the Constitution examines key constitutional changes since Independence covering property rights, economic and social justice, reservations, personal liberty, and Union-State relations. www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

The war on Iran resulted from a convergence of Netanyahu’s long-held ambitions, US economic manipulation, and self-serving advice on the nuclear issue. With US officials openly eyeing Iranian assets, and trust fully broken, prospects for peace remain bleak. www.theindiaforum.in/internationa...

The West Asian crisis threatens the int'l system in a manner unseen since the belligerence of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. It is in India's interests to resist the American-Israeli project that wants to retrieve a colonial order of Western expansion by force. www.theindiaforum.in/internationa...

Patent filings in India are being driven by a few pvt universities responding to distorted incentives that prioritise quantity over quality. Without significantly boosting R&D investment and reforming incentives structures, India will not become a true innovator. www.theindiaforum.in/education/in...

“Pink” initiatives reveal a policy tendency to create protected spaces rather than make systems safer. This normalises separate services instead of pursuing structural reforms that ensure safety across public transport networks. www.theindiaforum.in/forum/beyond...

"The deftness with which Snigdha Poonam traces the journey of scammers from the confines of a chat box to the flooded alleyways of Barpeta to the shiny expressways of Cambodia is astounding, to say the least." Sneha Annavarapu reviews 'Scamlands' www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

"The questions for us are: How do we find the courage to allow the contradictions within Hinduism to play out? How do we find the security to embrace the contradictions that are integral to the Idea of India? How do we trust our history?" www.theindiaforum.in/history/what...

India's language diversity is a strength. But the compromise on language in the Constitution has led to a tilt towards Hindi and has caused tensions over language. It is time for constitutional reform that ensures equal respect for all language communities. www.theindiaforum.in/essay/questi...

Delhi’s proposal to replace pink tickets for women’s free bus travel with “Saheli smart cards” is framed as modernisation. The shift reflects a broader trend toward documentation and surveillance that will undermine inclusive welfare access. www.theindiaforum.in/forum/saheli...

"The enduring schisms of race, gender, class, and caste in Mauritius echo parallel narratives in India." Vedita Cowaloosur reviews Ariel Saramandi's 'Portrait of an Island on Fire' published by @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

Forward-caste dominance in universities produces a manufactured civic sense that delegitimises Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi assertion. This critique of opposition to the UGC rules shows how algorithmically amplified common sense reproduces caste hierarchy as normal. www.theindiaforum.in/caste/how-co...

What lessons can we draw from Gandhi's marches into our political practice in the present? Janaki Nair writes www.theindiaforum.in/history/walk...

Estimates based on PLFS point to over 55 million Indians employed in silica-exposed occupations, mainly in construction. The vulnerability of this workforce is a major public health challenge, demanding improved exposure data & stronger epidemiological research. www.theindiaforum.in/economy/esti...

A Dalit student graduating in the mid-2020s will encounter screening systems built on decades of unequal hiring and skewed promotion data. Unless institutions change how algorithmic systems are built, tested, and audited, inequality can only harden. www.theindiaforum.in/caste/algori...

Sam Dalrymple shows that dominant national identities crystallised only in the 20th century, leaving questions of citizenship, belonging, and inclusion deeply contested across the region. Gita Ramaswamy writes www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

‘The strategic geometry and security architecture of West Asia will undergo important changes after this war as countries look for new partners. By our unseemly embrace of Israel and post-haste dumping of Iran, we have dented our future credibility as a partner.’ www.theindiaforum.in/internationa...

Sharda Ugra writes: The cricketers have played under the shadow of an overbearing BCCI; the Board's uber-nationalism has sullied the game and its carte blanche to the money men. The ICC , on its part, has been rendered powerless. www.theindiaforum.in/society/mark...

The historical allocation of land and who inherits it dictates why some neighbourhoods have birds, tree-lined avenues and far better civic amenities. www.theindiaforum.in/caste/punes-...

The UGC’s regulations, now kept in abeyance by the Supreme Court, contained ambiguities and provisions for stringent sanctions without clear safeguards. The debate narrowed down to whether upper-caste students can be recognised as victims of caste discrimination. www.theindiaforum.in/education/le...

"André Béteille represented a world that now seems to have vanished. Re-reading his work after his passing, I realise how much I missed, how many conversations I should have had with him, and how very lucky I was to have known him." www.theindiaforum.in/society/empa...

Capitalism is a system embedded in politics, power, and nature, shaped by evolving state forms. ‘Capitalism: A Global History’ argues that the system’s historical adaptability is key to understanding its post-neoliberal future. @penguinpress.bsky.social www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

Narratives around the revival of Kerala's Vechur cow serves as a lens to examine how public engagement and societal values influence the establishment of scientific facts. www.theindiaforum.in/science-and-...

I don't think anyone else in global media has looked at this

Haryana shows that growth does not ensure gender equity. Districts closer to Delhi or highways are wealthier, yet they don't always demonstrate better outcomes for women. W/o focused public policy, rising incomes may not dismantle entrenched patriarchal norms. www.theindiaforum.in/public-polic...

When UNESCO, the world’s foremost body on the protection of cultural heritage limits itself to cautious generalities ... it allows the destruction in Gaza to be treated as regrettable collateral damage of war, rather than an actionable crime. www.theindiaforum.in/internationa...

Was Vajpayee indeed the right man in the wrong party, as popular lore and a new biography suggest? www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

The Construction Workers Act struggles to reach India’s mobile construction workforce. Informality & circular migration undermine registration & access. Reimagining social protection demands portability, simple procedures, worker representation & accountability. www.theindiaforum.in/forum/law-on...

India’s Labour Codes, implemented in Nov 2025, consolidate a long-term shift privileging capital interests over collective bargaining. By legalising decades-old practices, they recast citizenship for working people in an economy marked by informality & precarity. www.theindiaforum.in/law/investor...

As India rushes to embrace artificial intelligence, the technology's impact on jobs, electricity consumption, and water usage needs to be taken into account. www.theindiaforum.in/forum/can-in...

Cash transfers to women may seem to acknowledge unpaid female labour but without the redistribution of care work, they remain default caregivers. Meaningful change requires shifting responsibilities alongside resources... www.theindiaforum.in/forum/what-d...

It explores how marginalised women in India navigate health systems. The essays advance the understanding of sexual and reproductive justice and case studies show how patriarchy and material inequalities embed injustice in health care & restrict sexual autonomy. www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

Odisha has largely been untouched by the kind of Dalit and OBC movements that shifted the political landscape in other states. Consequently, these groups have had lesser shares of political power even as caste hierarchies and exploitation prevail. www.theindiaforum.in/forum/why-do...

A daughter’s vigil beside her dying mother becomes a meditation on what fills the void when care systems thin out — and how, in moments of vulnerability, even algorithmic eloquence can begin to feel like care. www.theindiaforum.in/tiffin/vigil...

Clinical trials shape the medicines and treatments we rely on every day. India runs thousands of clinical trials every year, yet most patients never hear about them. The lack of information affects patients who can get access to new treatments | Ponnari Gottipati www.theindiaforum.in/health/when-...

India’s BioE3 policy envisions nationwide biomanufacturing hubs to drive bio-innovation. However, a key issue is whether the hitherto ignored public sector vaccine manufacturers will secure a meaningful role within India’s emerging sovereign vaccine value chain. www.theindiaforum.in/forum/revivi...

The new labour codes promised labour market reform but suffer major shortcomings, including on limited collective bargaining, flawed minimum wages, gender inequities & inadequate social security. These require significant rethinking to align with int'l labour std www.theindiaforum.in/economy/impa...

Replacing MGNREGA with Viksit Bharat signals a shift from demand-driven entitlement to discretionary social protection with fiscal caps. Tech & centralisation recast labour claims as compliance, reconfiguring state-worker relations & risking greater exclusion www.theindiaforum.in/public-polic...

In China and India, economic disparity in the 1950s-70s was low and declining, but began rising thereafter. A new book explores the different drivers of inequality in the two countries and how winners and losers were determined. www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

Sharjeel Imam's ideas were built upon his critique of the dominant narrative of Partition being the 'original sin' of Indian Muslims, against which he argued that the community ought to shed this burden that kept it anxiously self-restrained politically. www.theindiaforum.in/politics/pol...

India’s new Labour Codes relegate worker interests to state or employer discretion. This deepens precarity and wealth concentration. Addressing these outcomes demands a strategic rethinking of the evolving capital-labour contract shaping India’s future workforce. www.theindiaforum.in/economy/labo...

Baba Adhav empowered unorganized sector workers through rights-based mobilisation. A sustained struggle secured landmark social security legislation and fostered transformative initiatives ensuring security and dignity for workers in Maharashtra. www.theindiaforum.in/caste/baba-a...

With US tariffs, Bengaluru's garment factories face the threat of cancelled orders or orders that may never come, creating greater insecurity in an already insecure employment terrain. www.theindiaforum.in/forum/when-t...

India's new thrust to nuclear power prioritises pvt profit over safety. On liability the 2025 law favours the suppliers & operators over the public. Experience tells us the new targets will not be met & the dream of the unproven & expensive SMRs will be a chimera www.theindiaforum.in/economy/sadd...

India’s primary healthcare system must invest in improvement. A contract-dependent workforce cannot sustain relational care; only strengthened Ayushman Arogya Kendras can realise comprehensive, people-centred primary healthcare. www.theindiaforum.in/health/commu...

Phage therapy is moving to the forefront as antibiotic resistance accelerates. A shift will depend on building adaptable phage libraries & training specialists, while investing in and evolving infection‑specific treatments. www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

Trickle-down economics doesn't work. The GoI needs to seriously consider & act upon rather than dismiss the findings & recommendations of the authoritative March 2024 @thomaspiketty.bsky.social led report on income & wealth inequality in India in the last century www.theindiaforum.in/public-polic...

'Visit Bharat' is not about the GDP or the creation of wealth on stock markets, it is about improvement in the lives of the people, especially the most disadvantaged. Fifteen areas call out for urgent attention if India is to become truly developed by 2047. www.theindiaforum.in/public-polic...