RajivBuzz

  In the rugged, resource-scarce hills of Gujarat’s Panchmahals district —one of India’s most underdeveloped regions, marked by high poverty, poor nutrition indicators, and large tribal, Dalit, and Muslim populations—women who once stayed confined to household labour and early marriages have forged a different path. Through ANANDI (Area Networking and Development Initiatives) and three grassroots women’s organisations in Devgadh Baria , Panam , and Gogamba , they have moved from isolated survival to organised collective power.

Deloitte India 's third edition of its people analytics maturity study , titled " Future of Work and People Analytics Maturity – The Indian Story " and released on 29 July 2026, offers a detailed, data-backed picture of how Indian organisations are progressing—and struggling—with AI-enabled workforce transformation . The report is based on insights from over 85 organisations across India and assesses how businesses are using people analytics to support workforce transformation and business decision-making.

As Europe grapples with an unprecedented summer heatwave, the fragility of nuclear power's dependence on water cooling has been laid bare — with 13 French reactors forced offline and similar shutdowns rippling across Hungary, Romania, and beyond. The crisis has prompted a stark warning from Indian power and climate policy analyst Shankar Sharma , who argues that if such failures can occur in Europe's relatively cooler climate, the risks for water-stressed India are orders of magnitude higher.

For generations, the seasonal Anjani River has been more than a waterway for the Patharvat community of Waghlud Khurd. It has been their classroom, their workplace, their temple, and their source of life. But today, the riverbed that once rang with the sound of hammers and chisels has fallen quiet. A centuries-old stone craft is dying—not because the river has changed, but because the world around it has, says a guest blog published in the website of the advocacy group SANDRP (South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People).

In a significant shift that appears to be reshaping the global maritime demolition landscape, oil tankers from the so-called "short fleet" — vessels operating under international sanctions — are reported to be increasingly making their final voyage to the shipbreaking yards of Alang-Sosiya in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district , industry data reveals.

  A new research has revealed that despite decades of liberalization, India's corporate dynasties have only tightened their grip on the economy—capturing 20% of GDP at their peak and expanding into nearly every industrial sector while quietly driving up prices.

Following my blog , in which I cited renowned mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik , who mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Dimagi Naxal” remark by stating that the word “Naxal” refers to a “special river reed that grows in North Bengal (kash grass) with silvery flowers”, and that “Naxali” would be the name of Lord Shiva’s son Kartikeya, who was “born amongst these reeds”, I received an interesting rejoinder.

Following the Prime Minister’s “Dimagi Naxal” remark, there appears to have been a huge backlash, especially from protagonists of the “Cockroach Janata Party.” The term is being variously interpreted as a move to “isolate” dissidents, following the claim of a successful campaign against Naxalite violence. Social media is full of “Dimagi Naxal Party” memes, making a joke of an expression used, perhaps for the first time in India.

A new World Bank report , Building Human Capital Where It Matters , has revealed that India's human capital deficits are entrenched across homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces, with maternal education creating lifelong skill gaps, rural health quality varying by 46 percentage points between villages, and self-employed workers earning barely half the returns to experience of their salaried peers.

A new report released by the World Bank has delivered a sobering assessment of global human capital development , finding that progress has stalled or reversed across much of the developing world. The report, Building Human Capital Where It Matters , quantifies how deficits in nutrition, learning, and employment can erase 51% of future earnings in low- and middle-income countries , while exposing stark inequities rooted in the settings where people live, learn, and work.

In an article published by the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) titled "Yamuna Manthan Aug 2026: Floodplains remain under threat", a series of recent scientific studies and regulatory developments highlight a critical reality: relying solely on sewage treatment and pollution control will not revive the Yamuna River. 

A few days ago, we went to San Francisco, ordinarily a six-hour drive from Los Angeles. However, it took us more than eight hours because a fire had broken out on one of the mountains along the highway, forcing us to take another route, part of which ran along the seashore.

The arrest and remand to judicial custody of Arun Pannalal , president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum , has triggered concern among civil-liberties, religious-freedom and minority-rights activists, who have accused the Chhattisgarh government of using criminal law to suppress dissenting voices.

India’s housing market is increasingly showing two very different faces: affluent buyers are driving demand for premium homes, even as the supply of genuinely affordable housing continues to shrink.

India’s rapid economic expansion is accompanied by an increasingly concentrated distribution of wealth, raising fresh questions over how headlines GDP figures reflect the economic reality of ordinary Indians. A two year old  social-media post by former bureaucrat Anil Swarup , founder chairman of Nexus of Good , has resurrected a debate over the gap between India’s aggregate economic size and the wealth held by its richest citizens. Swarup argues that looking only at GDP per capita can obscure the extent to which wealth is concentrated among a small section of the population.

I have visited deserts in India, one of them being the Rann of Kutch , which is home to the rare wild ass. It has an ecosystem of its own. The vast expanse of the Rann is mostly barren, with wild asses moving around in groups. There are a few bushes and scattered patches of water bodies. I have travelled across the Rann not once, but half a dozen times.

A new paper by Prof. Vibhuti Patel , former professor at the Advanced Centre for Women's Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences , and former head of the Economics Department at SNDT Women's University, examines how technology has reshaped women's work across industry, agriculture, and allied sectors in India, and argues that the gains have been sharply unequal.

By Jag Jivan   A recent New York Times opinion piece titled "This Teen Took on a $10 Trillion Industry. We Might All Be Healthier Because of Him", by Julia Belluz, co-author of "Food Intelligence," has highlighted what a senior expert believes is a pivotal moment in the struggle for a healthier food environment . The article focuses on the case of Bryce Martinez , a 20-year-old who developed Type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease at age 16. Martinez filed a personal injury lawsuit against 11 major food manufacturers, including Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé, alleging that their ultra-processed products caused his chronic illnesses.

  Currently living in Los Angeles, I find myself missing Ahmedabad . Not because I miss living through the city's recent devastating floods—which, experts say, resulted from a combination of extreme meteorological events and chronic urban infrastructure bottlenecks—but because I am unable to make an on-the-spot assessment of the disaster.