Counterview

By Shamsul Islam   India is witnessing an aggressive political and cultural campaign to equate Hinduism with vegetarianism. What was once a personal dietary preference has increasingly been transformed into a test of patriotism, religiosity, and social acceptability. Under the rule of the RSS-BJP combine , vegetarianism is no longer projected merely as a lifestyle choice; it is being weaponised as a marker of “true” Hindu identity.

By Shankar Sharma*  There is a sort of newfound euphoria sweeping India with respect to nuclear power — and in particular, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). In political speeches, policy documents, and newspaper editorials, the word "nuclear" has acquired a fresh, almost romantic glow, as though a technology once synonymous with catastrophe at Chernobyl and Fukushima has been quietly reinvented.  To be sure, the challenges of climate change and India's growing electricity demand are real and urgent. But enthusiasm is not a substitute for analysis. A hard look at the global evidence, the domestic cost picture, and the practical hurdles of nuclear deployment raises questions that this national conversation urgently needs to confront.

By Dr Jayant Kumar*  Grassroots development work across India is passing through a deep but largely unacknowledged crisis. Foreign funding has sharply declined. CSR support often remains visibility-driven and socially neutral. Government systems frequently suffer from discontinuity, corruption, and weak last-mile accountability . As a result, remote regions, vulnerable communities, and transformative grassroots initiatives are increasingly left unsupported.

By Vikas Meshram   The scorching flames of the Middle East conflict are now slowly reaching the kitchens of ordinary people. The true price of this war is paid in daily markets, vegetable shops, and in the shattered minds of farmers. Expensive crude oil, skyrocketing fertilizer prices, and rising agricultural costs are together creating the conditions for global food inflation — and this crisis is directly tied to what people eat and drink every day.

By Kuntal Mukherjee*  As fresh warnings emerge about the possible return of El Niño conditions and their likely impact on the southwest monsoon , concerns are once again growing across rural India. For urban India, El Niño may appear as just another climate phenomenon discussed in weather bulletins. But for millions of farmers, especially in central and eastern India, it can mean failed crops, mounting debts, water scarcity, distress migration , and deep psychological stress. In a country where agriculture remains heavily dependent on monsoon rainfall, the threat of an El Niño year is not merely meteorological; it is social, economic and humanitarian.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak   Politics is a tool for social, political, economic, and cultural transformation—of individuals, families, societies, states, governments, and institutions—toward a progressive path of human emancipation from poverty, marginalisation, inequality, deprivation, and exploitation, as well as other forms of oppression created by feudal, patriarchal, capitalist, and imperialist power structures. The struggle against dominant powers not only produces mass leaders but also strengthens and deepens democracy across the world.