A stunning failure in transparency has been uncovered in Gujarat, where only 75 out of 11,883 public authorities have submitted mandatory compliance certificates for proactive disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. This revelation comes from an analysis of an official government press note and related RTI correspondence obtained by a citizen. 

I receive a lot of unsolicited material in my line of work — op-eds, press releases, open letters, manifestos. But the document that landed in my inbox recently gave me pause in a way that most don't. It came formatted as a formal submission, signed by a Chandigarh resident called Sumeet, addressed to me in my capacity as someone who works with editorial and public interest content. The subject line read: Submission as Cyber and Human Rights Volunteer – Cyber Ethics and Human Rights Concerns.

A preliminary working paper by Arvind Virmani, economist and member of the Government of India think tank NITI Aayog, has concluded that the Right to Education (RTE) Act — enacted to guarantee free and compulsory schooling for children between six and fourteen — has actually worsened learning outcomes rather than improved them. The paper, published in March 2026 and reported by The Print on 16 April, has drawn sharp pushback from education rights advocates, who argue it builds a politically motivated narrative against constitutionally guaranteed entitlements.

Author and legal commentator Gajanan Khergamker has made his  ebook  '10/3: Exile, Empire And War In The Andamans' publicly accessible online, a month after its limited offline digital launch on 10 March 2026. What began as a publication has, in Khergamker's own framing, transformed into a live, evolving research framework — Project 10/3 — inviting participation from researchers, institutions and citizens.

Following my recent blog on former IAS bureaucrat Atanu Chakraborty’s sudden exit as non-executive chairman of HDFC Bank, a few colleagues from the Gujarat cadre — mostly those I interacted with during my Gandhinagar stint (1997–2012) as the Times of India representative — reacted rather sharply. Most of them sent their responses directly on WhatsApp, touching upon on the merits and demerits of Chakraborty’s controversial move. One former IAS officer, a Dalit, however, went further, raising a broader question: why do some officials like Chakraborty secure plum post-retirement assignments, while others are overlooked?

Dr. Narasimha Reddy Donthi, a noted public policy expert and public interest campaigner, in a  detailed critical analysis  of two Bills introduced in Parliament in April 2026—the  Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026  and the  Delimitation Bill, 2026 , has warned that the twin bills "raise significant constitutional, political and methodological concerns — most critically, a structural inconsistency in the census basis used for Parliament versus State Assemblies, and an over-reliance on population as the sole parameter for delimitation." 

  A perfect storm of geopolitical crisis and policy paralysis is pushing India’s poorest into a devastating double-bind. The ongoing war in Iran has sent shockwaves through global oil markets, and as LPG prices skyrocket and factory slowdowns ripple across urban centers, a massive exodus of migrant workers is underway.  But for millions fleeing the city’s hardships, the safety net of rural employment has all but vanished, leaving them stranded without work or income, says a detailed report prepared by the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a coalition of NGOs and unions, quoting individual migrants.

  A growing body of scientific evidence linking ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption during pregnancy to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes has sparked fresh concern among public health experts, with Indian nutrition advocates warning of serious implications for the country’s already strained maternal health landscape.

  Over the past decade and a half,  Gujarat  has witnessed a remarkable resurgence of Dalit agitations that mark a decisive shift from accommodation to confrontation, according to a major new study published in the journal  National Identities . The research, conducted by  Mahendra Parmar  of the  Central University of Gujarat , draws on 18 in-depth interviews with victims and activists to document how  B.R. Ambedkar ’s radical thought has become the central political resource shaping Dalit identity and mobilisation in the state.