India Archive

YouTuber Ravish Kumar is now doing a neat backflip. Earlier, he warned that GST on life and health insurance was crushing the common man. Now that the Modi government has made these premiums tax-free, he suddenly discovers a dozen reasons why relief does not count. It is the kind of timing that would make a gymnast blush and a calculator cry.

When a film finishes at a premiere, it is natural for the audience to clap in excitement, appreciating the art they have just witnessed. But what happens when instead of applause, you sit in complete silence, unable to join the cheerful crowd?

Political tensions in West Bengal escalated dramatically after Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Malda district MLA Abdur Rahim Bakshi delivered a series of inflammatory remarks during a protest rally. Bakshi, who also serves as the TMC’s district president, stunned many when he threatened to physically harm a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator with acid.

India has unveiled an ambitious roadmap aimed at redefining its military power over the next decade and a half. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has released The Technology Vision and Capability Roadmap, a detailed plan involving billions of dollars in investment, to transform the armed forces into a technologically advanced and future-ready establishment.

In a demeaning post on X, the Kerala Congress ridiculed the people of Bihar by comparing them with ‘Bidi’. The post was made in reference to the recent Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms announced by the Modi government, under which the tax on Bidis has been reduced from 28% to 18%.

For more than three decades, the graveyards of Kashmir have stood not only as places of mourning but also as tools in a larger battle of narratives. Instead of being quiet memorials, they became symbols in an information war. Western NGOs, separatist groups, and Pakistan’s propaganda machine repeatedly promoted a single narrative: that unmarked graves in the Valley were “evidence” of mass atrocities committed by Indian security forces.

On 2nd September, the Delhi High Court dismissed the bail plea filed by Tasleem Ahmed, one of the accused in the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 North-East Delhi riots. The Bench clarified that the argument of “delay” raised by Ahmed could not be accepted since the trial record itself showed that the adjournments were repeatedly sought by the co-accused. Many of those co-accused, the Court noted, are already out on bail.

After an exhausting legal battle that stretched over eleven long years, retired professor Anand Vishwanath has finally found justice. The Additional Sessions Court in Thodupuzha has acquitted him of all charges of sexual harassment that were levelled by students belonging to the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M).

On Tuesday, 2nd September, the Delhi High Court dismissed the bail applications of two prominent figures linked to the 2020 anti-Hindu riots in Delhi. The two accused are Shifa-ur-Rehman, president of Jamia Millia Islamia’s Alumni Association (AAJMI), and Meeran Haider, a PhD scholar from Jamia and youth leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Both are facing serious charges in the wider conspiracy case related to the violent riots that shook the capital in February 2020.

On 3rd September, the Congress party once again found itself in the middle of an embarrassing controversy. This time, the spotlight turned towards Pawan Khera, one of the party’s prominent spokespersons, but not directly because of his own actions. Instead, his wife Kota Neelima came under scanner after reports surfaced that she had her name registered as a voter in three separate polling stations spread across two different states.