Originating from the icy grip of the Angsi Glacier, near the northern slopes of the Himalayas, close to Lake Manasarovar in western Tibet, the Yarlung Tsangpo—known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and the Brahmaputra in Assam—embarks on a long and winding 2,900 km journey. It flows eastward across the Tibetan Plateau, a seemingly calm giant,…
Tucked into the bustling lanes of College Street in Kolkata is an unassuming meat shop that old-timers say is more than a hundred years old. Inside it sits an idol of Maa Kali, the fierce and beloved goddess of Bengal. Each morning, she is propitiated with flowers, incense and chants; later in the day, she…
On April 8, when the Supreme Court delivered a landmark verdict in Tamil Nadu vs Governor of Tamil Nadu, it once again laid bare fundamental questions about India’s federal structure, the limits of gubernatorial discretion and who ultimately decides when a constitutional office has overstepped its bounds. The apex court invoked its extraordinary powers under…
The BJP-led Union government has performed a stunning pivot on the question of the caste census. After years of remaining ambivalent on the issue—and even deriding the idea as divisive—Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government now says it will enumerate the nation’s myriad castes in the much delayed decadal census. The unexpected turn is the result…
It’s a sweltering afternoon in Brahimpur in east Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district, but 35-year-old farmer Surya Pratap Singh seems oblivious to it. He is sitting beneath a neem tree, furiously tapping his phone screen. Around him, a few plastic chairs and a charpoy make up what is probably Brahimpur gram sabha’s unofficial gaming lounge. The…
It’s a sweltering afternoon in Brahimpur in east Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district, but 35-year-old farmer Surya Pratap Singh seems oblivious to it. He is sitting beneath a neem tree, furiously tapping his phone screen. Around him, a few plastic chairs and a charpoy make up what is probably Brahimpur gram sabha’s unofficial gaming lounge. The…
