RajivBuzz

  By Rajiv Shah  The recent decision of the Supreme Court of India to initiate contempt proceedings against 15 states and Union Territories for failing to eradicate manual scavenging and for non-compliance with its 2023 directions on eliminating hazardous sewer cleaning and paying ₹30 lakh compensation to the families of victims could have significant implications for Gujarat .

The relationship between civil society, the state, and the creative arts has reached a critical juncture. At a time when democratic discourse is increasingly filtered through surveillance, market-driven logic, and shrinking public spaces, the ability to "see" and "listen" differently has become a radical act. In the latest episode of the UnMute podcast , hosts Gagan Sethi and Minar Pimple joined forces with interdisciplinary practitioner Avni Sethi and design educator Dr. Vijayendra (Vijay) Singh Sekhon to explore a provocative question: can art, design, and education cultivate the human capacities required to sustain a healthy democracy?  

  In the flood-prone Kosi Diyara region of Bihar, water security is often defined not by scarcity, but by the challenges of living with hydrological volatility and seasonal extreme flows. In a field report published on July 28, 2026, by the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), Dr. Rahul Yaduka , Postdoctoral Researcher with the WATCON Project at SOAS University of London , outlines how seasonal migrant farmers are redefining water security by adapting to the erratic nature of the Kosi River rather than fighting it.

  Pakistan finds itself at both the center and the periphery of a mounting food security crisis gripping the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan region, according to a new World Bank report , " Building Food Security, Creating Jobs ." With a population of 151 million people unable to afford a healthy diet, Pakistan has, by the report's account, the largest group of people in the region who cannot afford a nutritious diet , ahead even of Egypt's 66 million.

A new study, " Exploring the interlinkages between child marriage and family laws in South Asia ," has shed light on the profound legal ambiguities and systemic challenges that perpetuate child marriage in India , despite the country's significant progress in reducing its prevalence. 

  Away from my home (Ahmedabad) in the United States, I have been staying in Los Angeles for quite some time. "Los Angeles" is Spanish for "The Angels." Founded in 1781, the city was originally named El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles , which translates as The Town of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels—a reference to the Virgin Mary.