A comprehensive  New York Times  investigation published on December 26, 2025, chronicles the rise of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — characterized as a far-right Hindu nationalist organization — from a shadowy group founded in 1925 to the world's largest right-wing force, marking its centenary in 2025 with unprecedented influence and mainstream acceptance.

  In a compelling town hall discussion hosted at  L.J School of Law , prominent voices from industry and civil society underscored that corporate investment in strengthening the rule of law is not an act of charity but a critical business strategy for building a safer, stronger, and developed India by 2047. The dialogue, part of the  Unmute podcast  series, examined the intrinsic link between  ethical business conduct , robust legal frameworks, and sustainable national development, against the sobering backdrop of India ranking 79th out of 142 countries on the global  Rule of Law Index .

  Initially, I was not considering writing this blog about why I found Airtel —one of India’s premier communication service providers—to have an outrageously poor sales and customer-service experience, at least in Ahmedabad , Gujarat ’s business capital. However, the last SMS I received from Airtel regarding my request for a Wi-Fi connection in my flat in the Vejalpur area left me stunned.

A new  Government of India  study,  Internationalisation of Higher Education in India: Prospects, Potential, and Policy Recommendations , prepared by  NITI Aayog , regrets that India’s lag in this sector is the direct result of “several systemic challenges such as inadequate infrastructure to provide quality education and deliver world-class research, weak industry–academia collaboration, and outdated curricula.”

  In a thought-provoking dialogue on the  UnMute Podcast  (Part 2), hosts  Gagan Sethi  and  Minar Pimple  engaged  Professor Navdeep Mathur  in a deep examination of the tensions reshaping  India’s democracy  and  civic space . The conversation challenged prevailing narratives on  economic growth , dissected the evolving role of  civil society , and explored tools for  active citizenship  in an increasingly complex landscape.

  In a recent in-depth podcast discussion, a leading public policy scholar issued a stark critique of India's evolving governance landscape, arguing that the growing reliance on public-private partnerships has fundamentally weakened civil society’s ability to hold power to account and advocate for equitable public policy.

Has the Government of India finally moved to completely change important provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, that too without bringing about any amendment in the top transparency law? It would seem so, if one is to believe well known civil society leaders' keen observations on the nuclear energy Bill passed in the Lok Sabha.  Senior RTI activist Amrita Johri has sharply criticised the recently passed Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025, saying that it has effectively “nuked” the Right to Information (RTI) Act through the back door. 

  Central India’s Upper Ken Basin , where the ancient  Bundelkhand Craton  meets the younger  Vindhyan sedimentary rocks , appears at first glance to be a quiet and time-worn landscape. But new research reveals that the region is still being actively shaped by deep, hidden tectonic forces. In a recent study, geographers  Kundan Parmar  and  Satheesh Chothodi  used high-resolution elevation data and underground gravity measurements to decode the subtle fingerprints of active deformation imprinted onto the basin’s rivers and valleys. 

The  2026 World Inequality Report  reveals stark and persistent inequalities across income, wealth, gender, and global financial systems, with India positioned at the centre of several critical trends. The report, drawing on the work of over 200 researchers coordinated by the World Inequality Lab, provides a comprehensive assessment of global disparities up to 2025.

  The award-winning documentary film from India, " Amma’s Pride ", has qualified for the 98ᵗʰ Academy Awards® in the  Documentary Short category , emerging as the only Indian trans-centered story to enter this year’s Oscar race. Directed by  Shiva Krish , the film has been steadily gaining global attention by prioritising community engagement and emotional impact rather than conventional promotional strategy.

  By Rajiv Shah   In what might be interpreted as a move to globalise the contentious issue of India's judicial independence, a new academic study published in a  research journal  associated with the  Heidelberg University, Germany , "Indian Politics & Policy", delivers a devastating verdict on the  Supreme Court of India ’s performance during  Narendra Modi ’s tenure from 2014 to 2025. 

  An online petition seeking a legal ban on  polygamy  has been floated by Javed Anand, co-editor of  Sabrang  and National Convener of Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), inviting endorsements from citizens, organisations and activists. The petition, titled “Indian Muslims & Secular Progressive Citizens Demand a Legal Ban on Polygamy,” urges the Central and State governments, Parliament and political parties to abolish polygamy through statutory reform, backed by extensive data from the 2025 national study conducted by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA).

I first came in contact with Himmat Shah in the second half of the 1970s during one of my routine visits to  Ahmedabad , my maternal hometown. I do not recall the exact year, but at that time I was working in  Delhi  with the  CPI -owned People’s Publishing House (PPH) as its assistant editor, editing books and writing occasional articles for small periodicals. Himmatbhai — as I would call him — worked at the People’s Book House (PBH), the CPI’s bookshop on  Relief Road  in Ahmedabad.

  The latest  PropEquity report  on housing activity in India’s  top 15 tier-2 cities  reveals a deeper shift underway in the country’s real estate landscape. While overall housing sales volumes declined 4% year-on-year in the July–September quarter of 2025, the total sales value rose 4%, signalling a decisive movement toward premium and high-value homes rather than the mass-market  affordable housing  that traditionally drives demand in these regions. This trend reflects a growing divide between elite housing buyers and the middle-class population, whose purchasing power is increasingly strained.

  Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation , a  Dehradun -based public-interest organization working on  climate change ,  sustainable development  and  environmental issues in Uttarakhand , has released its preliminary  Factsheet on Char Dham Yatra 2025 . The document compiles data on pilgrimage days, footfall distribution, peak footfall dates and zero-pilgrim days across the five major pilgrimage sites— Kedarnath ,  Badrinath ,  Gangotri ,  Yamunotri  and  Hemkund Sahib —for the recently concluded  Char Dham Yatra  2025. The Foundation announced preliminary results in a fact sheet ahead of a comprehensive Char Dham Yatra 2025 report saying, long-term planning, collaborative governance and sustained stakeholder engagement are essential to ensure that the Char Dham Yatra remains spiritually meaningful and environmentally secure. Presenting the factsheet,  Anoop Nautiyal , Founder of SDC Foundation, not...

A detailed independent study titled “Bhandura Nala (Mahadayi Diversion)”, prepared by a group of committed environmentalists from  Karnataka  and  Goa , has strongly questioned the ecological and social viability of Karnataka government’s ambitious plan to divert water from the  Mahadayi river basin  (locally known as  Mhadei in Goa ) through the  Bhandura Nala tunnel project .

  Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch (BBSM), a nationwide network of Indian seed savers and farmers, has written to the Prime Minister of India seeking urgent intervention against proposed amendments to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), currently under negotiation at the 11th Session of the Governing Body in  Lima, Peru , from November 24, 2025. The group has also issued an open letter to national leaders of the  Global South , warning that the changes could cause grave harm to India’s national interests,  seed sovereignty  and  farmers’ rights .

A few days ago, I met a veteran Gujarat-based economist, the author of several books offering a critical evaluation of the state’s economy, poverty, and  gender discrimination . Also present was a retired Gujarat-cadre bureaucrat with an economics background, known for his popularity in the cities and districts where he served during his heyday.

 In a significant development, the Supreme Court’s Centre for Research and Planning (CRP) has released a comprehensive  report  examining 75 years of  judicial discourse on caste , analysing  Constitution Bench judgments  from 1950 to 2025. The report, authored by  Dr Anurag Bhaskar ,  Dr Farrah Ahmed ,  Bhimraj Muthu  and  Shubham Kumar , highlights how the court’s language has evolved—and at times faltered—in addressing  caste , discrimination and  affirmative action .

The  Asian Development Bank  has released a major  policy report,  'Bridging Climate and Biodiversity Law: Coherent, Rights-Based Governance in Asia and the Pacific', warning that Asia and the Pacific, including  India , face deepening climate and biodiversity crises unless countries urgently integrate their legal frameworks to deliver on both the  Paris Agreement  and the  Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework .  Published this month, the document highlights that the region is warming faster than the global average,  greenhouse gas emissions  continue to rise without peaking, and extinction rates are accelerating, while  fossil fuel subsidies  reached a staggering 1.3 trillion dollars in 2022 alone.

I usually avoid being interviewed. I have always believed that journalists, especially in India, are generalists who may suddenly be assigned a “beat” they know little—sometimes nothing—about. Still, when my friend  Gagan Sethi , a well-known human rights activist, phoned a few weeks ago asking if I would join a podcast on  civil society  and the media, I agreed.

  Housing in South Delhi  has become even more expensive, with builders increasingly focusing on  luxury independent floors , according to new data from Golden Growth Fund (GGF). Prices of floors in the city’s most premium neighbourhoods rose between 12% and 17% year-on-year in the July–September quarter of 2025, signalling a market where high-end redevelopment is driving both demand and rates upward.

Environmental policy expert Shankar Sharma  has  written  to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and its affiliated institutions, expressing grave concern over India’s deteriorating ecological health. Citing the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s latest global review, which found that only  Khangchendzonga National Park  received a “Good” rating among 107 national parks, Sharma warned that the findings reveal a “serious concern for the overall health of the country’s flora, fauna, and environment.”

I have in my hand a representation addressed to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gujarat, urging the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stop “atrocities on teachers and education in the name of election work.” The representation, submitted by Dr. Kanubhai Khadadiya of the All India Save Education Committee (AISEC), Gujarat chapter -- its contents matched  what a couple of teachers serving as Block Level Officers (BLOs) told me a couple of days esrlier during a recent visit to a close acquaintance.

A  new report  by a firm describing itself as a "digital real estate transaction and advisory platform,"  Proptiger , states that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has been the largest contributor to housing units among India's top eight cities currently experiencing a real estate boom. Accounting for 26.9% of all new launches, it is followed by  Pune  with 18.7% and  Hyderabad  with 13.6%. These three cities collectively represented 59.2% of the new inventory introduced during the third quarter (July to September 2025), which is the focus of the report’s analysis. 

India’s ambition to transition to a resource-efficient and waste-free economy is hindered by fragmented regulation, weak enforcement, and uneven infrastructure, according to a new  213-page report  by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

  In a landmark judgment on November 3, 2025, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Central Zone Bench in Bhopal upheld the “Right to Life” of villagers from Jodhpura in North Rajasthan, directing wide-ranging remedial measures against environmental and health damages caused by the mining and stone crushing activities of UltraTech Cement Ltd. The order was delivered by Judicial Member Sheo Kumar Singh and Expert Member Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi in the case Jodhpura Sangharsh Samiti vs Union of India & Ors (O.A. Nos. 143/2024 and 144/2024 CZ), marking a victory for the villagers after more than 1,060 days of struggle.

By Rajiv Shah    A recent, well-attended meeting of Gujarat civil society activists in  Ahmedabad , held to discuss the impact of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, has decided to file a petition in the  Supreme Court  against the controversial exercise initiated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) across the country. Announcing this, senior High Court advocate  Anand Yagnik , who heads the Gujarat chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), said that a committee has already been formed to examine the pros and cons of SIR. “While the SIR exercise began in Gujarat on November 4 and is scheduled to continue for a month, we will file a supporting petition in the case against SIR in the  Gujarat High Court  or the Supreme Court after observing how it proceeds in the state,” he said. Yagnik’s announcement followed senior advocate  Shahrukh Alam —who is arguing the SIR case in the Supreme Court—urgi...

A new  Climate Inequality Report 2025 , released by the World Inequality Lab and UNDP, warns that global warming and economic inequality are tightly linked — with the richest 1% responsible for 41% of all emissions linked to private capital ownership. The report argues that climate change is not only a scientific crisis but also a “capital challenge,” driven by unequal ownership and investment patterns.

  A new report by the German environmental and human rights NGO Urgewald has revealed that banks and institutional investors have poured nearly $52 billion into the expansion of metallurgical coal, or “met coal,” despite global commitments to phase out coal financing. Between 2022 and 2024, banks provided $21.96 billion in loans and underwriting to met coal developers, while investors held $30.23 billion in securities of companies expanding coal mining operations. The report, Still Burning: How Banks and Investors Fuel Met Coal Expansion, warns that loopholes in coal exit policies have allowed continued support for coal used in steelmaking — a sector responsible for about 11% of global CO₂ emissions.

The Esya Centre  has released an issue brief titled  Free-Ranging Dogs in India: An Empirical Analysis of Human–Animal Interactions , providing new national-level data on community dog management amid the ongoing debate following recent  Supreme Court directives  on the removal of stray dogs from  Delhi–NCR . Based on a survey of 1,063 respondents across ten Indian cities, the report advocates for humane and evidence-based approaches aligned with public health and ethical obligations.

  As the world prepares for  COP30  in  Belém , a new global report has raised serious alarms about the continued expansion of coal-based industries, particularly in India and China. The 2025  Global Coal Exit List  (GCEL), released by Germany-based NGO  Urgewald  and 48 partners, reveals a worrying rise in  coal-to-chemical projects  and  captive power plants  despite mounting evidence of climate risks and tightening international finance restrictions.

  By Rajiv Shah   A few days ago, I attended a press conference for the release of a study examining the impact of automation on women workers in Ahmedabad’s construction sector. Conducted by  Geeta Thatra  and  Saloni Mundra  for  Aajeevika Bureau  and  Work Fair and Free , the study immediately caught my attention—particularly a passing reference in the presentation to how  Marxist theory  tends to reduce women’s oppression to class relations and economic structures such as private property, production, and wage labour.

  Recently, I attended what I would call a veterans’ meet — a gathering to recall the  Emergency  imposed by  Indira Gandhi , whose resistance is said to have begun in  Ahmedabad  on  October 12, 1975 . At that time,  Gujarat  was one of the two states described as an “island of freedom.” It was ruled by  Janata Morcha  chief minister  Babubhai Jashbhai Patel . The other such “island” was  Tamil Nadu .

This blog continues  my story , “A revdi-funded dream? Tax breaks, hype, unease: PwC reveals GIFT City’s fragile foundations.”  Ironic though it may seem, what PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently observed about the lack of a talent pool in Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s dream project, the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), had already been predicted by another global consultant — McKinsey & Company — not days or months ago, but more than two decades earlier in what was then described as a feasibility study.

 Backed by generous subsidies (or so-called "revdis") channeled to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship project, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City, a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report claims it is “uniquely positioned to connect India to international markets and foster next-generation FinTech and IT innovation.” 

A few days back, I was a little surprised to receive a Hindi article in plain text format from veteran Gujarat Dalit rights leader Valjibhai Patel , known for waging many legal battles under the banner of the Council of Social Justice (CSJ) on behalf of socially oppressed communities.

I have been forwarded a report titled “Profit and Genocide: Indian Investments in Israel”. It has been prepared by the advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) and authored by Hajira Puthige. The report was released following the Government of India’s signing of a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Israel.

  My interaction with critics and supporters of Mahatma Gandhi, ranging from those who consider themselves diehard Gandhians to Left-wing and Dalit intellectuals, has revealed that in the long arc of his public life, few issues expose his philosophical tensions more than his shifting stance on Varnashram Dharma—the ancient Hindu concept that society should be divided into four varnas, or classes, based on duties and aptitudes.

  A  new report , "Who Controls the Narrative? Legal Restrictions on Freedom of Expression in the Commonwealth", prepared by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA), and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, approvingly quotes Access Now, which has named India the “world’s internet shutdown leader,” with at least 116 recorded shutdowns in 2024.

The other day, P. Sainath was in Ahmedabad to deliver a lecture on the "Role of Media in Democracy: Prospects and Retrospect." An excellent speaker, he is not just a left-wing rural journalist but also an  erudite scholar . This was the second time I listened to him in Ahmedabad. The last time I attended his lecture was in 2017, when he  told me , on the sidelines of a function organised by an NGO, that he “differed” from Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s view that rural-to-urban Dalit migration would help annihilate casteism. Frankly—call it my inertia or whatever—I am not very familiar with Sainath’s recent writings, though from time to time I do read some of the very in-depth reports focusing on rural India on the excellent site he has been running for about a decade, People’s Archive of Rural India ( PARI ), which is, for all practical purposes, a virtual database for learning or understanding anything about how people live and work in rural India. Not that I wasn’t familiar with Sainat...

Maryam Namazie , a British feminist heading an organisation called Ex-Muslims International , has been frequently sending me e-mail alerts about the activities of her group. The latest one—about the organisation taking strong exception to the persecution of a feminist for wearing a "blasphemous" T-shirt in Morocco —was particularly striking. Namazie's organisation interests me also because it claims on its website that it has affiliations in several countries,  including India .

The other day, someone very close to me took me to a sub-office of the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services (AMTS), where I filled out a form for what has been loudly advertised as a free pass for senior citizens aged 65 and above.

Following my blog "AAP’s rising star in Gujarat or guardian of patriarchy? The Gopal Italia dilemma", I received an interesting comment from social activist Sudhir Kariyar, who works among tribal workers in Gujarat. The blog discusses how Italia, who won a by-election, wrote a letter to the Gujarat chief minister claiming that, on getting involved in love affair, young girls are being "lured" and "trapped" by wedding mafias across the state, urging the authorities to take legal action against this.

The recent ghastly incident in Ahmedabad's sprawling Maninagar (East) area, in which a 10th-class student of the Seventh Day Adventist School was stabbed to death by a boy from the 9th (or 8th?) standard, made me look up what kind of school it is. I found it to be part of the larger Adventist movement, which began in the United States in the 19th century within the Protestant Christian framework.

For some strange reason, I closely followed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during its formative years in Gujarat . I personally knew several of those who had initiated themselves into the new party in the state. These included child rights activist Sukhdev Patel , who was appointed as convener; well-known danseuse and cultural personality Mallika Sarabhai ; senior journalist Nachiketa Desai ; former BJP MLA Kanu Kalsaria ; and Dalit rights leader Jignesh Mevani . My interactions with a few of them suggested that they were all driven by a strong yearning to create an alternative to the BJP, particularly at a time when the Congress appeared to be losing political grip in Gujarat. All of them—except perhaps Kalsaria, who seemed more of a grassroots campaigner for environmental protection—had strong left-of-centre leanings, and were not politicians as we know them today. Having such ideological leanings, they often didn’t even agree with each other on different issues. Not without reason, the ...