The name Cockroach Janta Party is itself an ironic commentary. When those in power belittle protesting youth, dismiss citizens who ask questions, and compare them to lowly insects, then picking up that very insult and naming one's own movement after it — turning it into mockery of the arrogance of power — is a mark of this generation's distinctive style.
This summer's punishing heat bore down hard on rural life in the Bajna block of Ratlam district, Madhya Pradesh, and no one felt it more sharply than families in villages where the handpumps had sat broken for months. As temperatures climbed, so did the thirst of the land, and the desperation of those who depended on it. Eighteen villages were in especially dire straits, with thirty-four handpumps out of order, forcing women to walk long distances just to fetch a pot of water.
The message of the Dal Utsav was unambiguous: the first right over a crop grown in the field must rest with the nourishment of the family, not with the market. This is the very soul of food sovereignty.
Discussion of inequality in India is often trapped in numbers and statistics. But the distinctive quality of Drèze's work is that he brings forward the human being hidden behind those numbers. The face of a grandmother sleeping hungry in a hut, of a tribal youth who goes to ask for work on a farm and returns empty-handed, of a Dalit woman who comes back with nothing because her Aadhaar scan would not work all these faces remain alive in Drèze's research.
As we remember George Fernandes on the occasion of his birth anniversary, this leader forged in struggle, who valued principles above power, and who continued fighting for the common person until his last breath shall remain immortal forever in the history of Indian democracy.
It is now extreme heat itself that is deciding how farming will happen, where it will happen, and how much will happen. This is a crisis that pushes already vulnerable communities even deeper into the pit.
Recent data from the global organization IQAir has presented an extremely alarming picture. Nineteen out of the world's twenty hottest cities are located in India. It is a serious warning about the country's environmental future.
Today, Dayabai is no longer confined to the limits of her home. She regularly reaches out to other women to strengthen the Saksham group and educates her community about the importance of water, land, forests, livestock, and native seeds. Her husband and other family members, who had earlier migrated for more than six months at a stretch, now farm their own land and live together as a family.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar consistently stated in his speeches that casteism will not end until the Chaturvarnya system is abolished. He believed every argument supporting this system was irrational and biased. He argued that the concept of caste was rooted in Hindu scriptures like the Vedas, Puranas, and Smritis, which he saw as central to Hinduism.
Trump had expected Iran to buckle under the shock. The opposite happened. Iran launched fierce counter-strikes on American bases across the Gulf region, shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and dragged the global economy into the conflict.