Counterview

By Mohd Ziyauallah Khan   Tamil Nadu's political landscape is undergoing a significant transformation. For decades, the state's politics has been dominated by the Dravidian giants—the DMK and the AIADMK. However, the emergence of actor-politician Vijay and his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), has disrupted the traditional political order and opened new possibilities for alternative leadership.

By Harsh Thakor*  On the morning of June 18, 2026, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), assisted by personnel from the Kolkata Police, West Bengal Police, and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), conducted searches at the residences and workplaces of several activists associated with social and political movements in West Bengal. Among those searched were Tathagata Roychowdhury, General Secretary of the Revolutionary Students' Front (RSF); Sukumar Kayal, a government school teacher and activist linked to the Sangrami Krishak Mancha; and Jhelum Roy, a research scholar and activist associated with Feminists in Resistance (FIR).

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  Like many other celebrated narratives of modern development, agriculture in India is becoming increasingly distressed. Ironically, this deterioration continues to be hailed by society, governments, and corporate interests as a sign of progress. The critical question is: if farming continues along its present trajectory, how long can it survive? More importantly, will this crisis not eventually threaten human existence itself?

By Bharat Dogra   Well-known environmentalist Pandurang Hegde has been leading a campaign to save bees in Karnataka. Imagine his distress when he recently found hundreds of honey bees on his farm in a state of agony and confusion—swirling aimlessly, trembling, and gradually losing their senses. Eventually, he had to clear hundreds of dead bees from the bee boxes on his farm. The fact that this tragedy unfolded on World Bee Day made it even more painful. What had happened was that pesticides had been sprayed indiscriminately on areca plantations in neighboring farms. Unsuspecting bees that had foraged there returned carrying toxic pollen contaminated with pesticide residues. This led to acute distress and ultimately the death of hundreds of bees.

By Ravi Ranjan*  In the landscape of contemporary Hindi poetry, few observations have resonated as deeply as Kedarnath Singh's characterization of the verb "jana" (to go) as "Hindi ki sabse khaufnak kriya"—the most frightening verb in the language. This seemingly simple linguistic observation opened a window into the complex web of relationships, power dynamics, and existential anxieties that define human experience. 

By Nava Thakuria   When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated her 81st birthday under detention somewhere in military-controlled Myanmar on June 19, 2026, various global bodies raised their voices for her release along with other political prisoners languishing in jails across the southeast Asian nation. Amid tight military vigil, anti-junta residents of Myanmar also observed her birthday in various locations, wishing good health to their beloved pro-democracy icon.