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?  

    A new study analyzing the attendance records of Members of Parliament during the Budget Session of 2026 has revealed significant disparities in the attendance patterns of MPs across both Houses of Parliament, highlighting that less than two-thirds of the members met a minimum attendance threshold of 75% of the sittings, raising crucial questions about legislative accountability and citizen representation.

  A new report by Parineeta Dandekar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) has brought to light a recurring and largely unstudied crisis in the Indian Himalayas : the phenomenon of glacial streams, or nallahs , experiencing devastating flash floods not from rainfall, but under a blazing sun.

India’s rights-based welfare architecture, painstakingly built over two decades through legal guarantees to work, food, and education, has undergone a systemic legislative and budgetary rollback over the last decade. In its place, a discretionary model of "New Welfarism"—characterized by centralized cash transfers, digital gatekeeping, and diminished state accountability—has been institutionalized, driven primarily by electoral calculations rather than administrative reform.

A new study released by HelpAge India reveals that more than three-fourths of older persons in rural India have experienced climate-related hazards in the past three years, with those living alone, widows, and persons with disabilities facing the most severe risks to their health, livelihoods, and dignity.

  In a detailed discussion on the Unmute podcast, leading labour scholars Professor Ernesto Noronha and lawyer-researcher Anusha Ravishankar have issued a stark assessment of India’s newly notified labour codes , arguing that the long-pending reforms are designed to attract capital at the expense of worker security, weaken collective bargaining , and exacerbate the vulnerabilities of the country’s vast informal workforce .

In a  sharp rejoinder over the proposed Kalpasar reservoir project in the Gulf of Khambhat, with former Government of India Secretary Babubhai Navalawala has dismissed the alternatives floated by veteran sociologist Prof. Vidyut Joshi as mere “supplements” rather than substitutes for the mega project. In the rejoinder to Prof. Joshi’s recent column Samudra Manthan  in Gujarati daily  Sandesh  (see news item here ), Navalawala has argued that the scientific options suggested by the sociologist cannot replace Kalpasar. 

The death of Rajesh Awasthi , a long-serving employee of Dainik Jagran , has left the journalistic fraternity shaken. His suicide, reportedly by consuming sulphas tablets, was not just an isolated tragedy but a reflection of the silent struggles faced by countless journalists across India .  

A comprehensive investigative report published by BehanBox and authored by Sarasvati Thuppadolla reveals the pervasive, systemic caste-based discrimination faced by Dalit Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) across rural India. Even though India’s one million ASHA workers were collectively honored by the World Health Organization with the Global Health Leaders Award in 2022 for their pivotal role in reducing maternal and infant mortality, their marginalized caste identity frequently dictates the harsh terms of their acceptance by the communities they serve. 

Prof. Vidyut Joshi, a prominent sociologist and one of the leading protagonists of the mega Narmada dam project, has raised critical questions regarding the viability of Gujarat’s ambitious Kalpasar project. Writing in the Gujarati daily Sandesh under the headline "Let us consider alternatives scientifically for the Kalpasar project," Joshi argues that rather than remaining trapped in a "civil engineering mindset" focused solely on constructing massive dams, the state must pivot to modern, sustainable, and technologically viable alternatives to quench the thirst of the arid Saurashtra region.

India’s once-explosive app economy is entering a difficult transition phase marked by slowing growth, rising fraud, declining advertising efficiency, and mounting pressure on app companies to prove profitability rather than simply chase downloads.

A major new policy research report published by the World Bank Group has raised pointed questions about India's current industrial strategy, warning that the country's flagship Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme may be working against its own economic strengths — and that deeper structural reforms are urgently needed.

  The U.S. Justice Department is planning to drop criminal fraud charges against  Gautam Adani , India's richest man, following an unusual private meeting in Washington in which his lawyers offered to invest $10 billion in the American economy if prosecutors closed the case, the  New York Times reported  on May 14.

By Rajiv Shah   The Ahmedabad unit of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has released a detailed field research report titled "Are we not Indians? The Development Politics of Uprooting Citizens and Shattering Lives at  Chandola Lake ," documenting the mass demolitions in the city's periphery that took place between April 27 and May 2, 2025.

  A recent academic study has highlighted how caste and social identity continue to shape employment opportunities, wages and access to secure livelihoods in India, even as the country projects itself as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The findings, published in the 2026 Springer volume  Unequal Opportunities: An Analysis of Inequalities in Employment Opportunities Among Different Social Groups in Labor Markets of India , argue that structural discrimination remains embedded in both formal and informal labour markets. 

A comprehensive new study examining 1.5 million urban and rural neighborhoods across India has uncovered deep patterns of residential segregation and systematic inequality in access to public services, with findings that researchers say rival the scale of racial segregation in the United States.

A new World Bank flagship report reveals that  human capital accumulation  in India is being critically undermined by severe deficits in child health, home-based care, and educational quality, with stark disparities linked to gender, birth order, and  environmental pollution . The report,  Building Human Capital Where It Matters: Homes, Neighborhoods, and Workplaces , argues that without urgent policy action targeting the home, neighborhood, and workplace, India risks perpetuating a cycle of low productivity and stagnating economic growth.

India's ambitious  National Perspective Plan  to interlink 37 rivers — at a cost exceeding Rs 10 lakh crore — has attracted fierce opposition from scientists, environmentalists, and affected communities. Ever since Prime Minister  Narendra Modi  laid the foundation stone for the first major project under this plan, the Ken-Betwa River Link Project (KBRLP), on December 25, 2024, that opposition has only grown louder. 

A new working paper by University of Cambridge economist Kaivan Munsh  has revealed how centuries-old social structures both boost and constrain business activity. Focusing on a growing body of economic research, the paper suggests that India's caste system—a network of endogamous communities dating back nearly two to four thousand years—plays a powerful and often overlooked role in shaping the country's economy.