By Ratanja Yadav, Sandeep Pandey   The government has recently enacted the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act ( VB-G RAM G Act ), 2025. This Act has been introduced to replace MGNREGA , which was implemented in 2005 to provide a 100-day employment guarantee to unskilled rural workers. By making major changes to the provisions of MGNREGA, the new Act seeks to end the rights-based approach to employment.

By Ram Puniyani   With the Ram Janmabhoomi Rath Yatra, the BJP’s political strength began to grow. From then on, it started projecting itself as a “party with a difference.” Gradually, the party’s electoral success graph kept rising. However, many thinkers and writers did not find this particularly worrying at the time, as they saw little difference between the BJP and the ruling Congress. The BJP’s real face began to emerge when it became the principal party of the NDA led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It first came to power for two brief tenures—13 days and then 13 months—and subsequently governed for nearly six years with Vajpayee as Prime Minister. During this period, many of these writers began to understand that the BJP was indeed a “different kind” of party, as even then the process of undermining democratic values and norms had begun. During the first term of the UPA government, several schemes were implemented that were based on the concept of “rights.” These included the right...

By A Representative   Gig and platform service workers associated with Urban Company have stepped up their protest against what they describe as exploitative and unsafe working conditions, submitting a detailed Memorandum of Demands at the company’s Udyog Vihar office in Gurugram. The action is being seen as part of a wider and growing wave of dissatisfaction among gig workers across India, many of whom have resorted to demonstrations, app log-outs and strikes in recent months to press for fair pay, job security and basic labour protections.

D.V. Rao, T. Nagi Reddy, Harbhajan Sohi By Harsh Thakor*  In 2025, fifty years have passed since the formation of the Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (UCCRI), established in April 1975. Its emergence was linked to debates within the Indian communist movement following the Naxalbari uprising and the formation of the CPI(ML) in 1969.

By Biljana Vankovska   A passage from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale haunts me often: “That was when they suspended the Constitution… There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home… watching television… There wasn’t even an enemy you could put your finger on.” Today, the enemy list is long: Russia, China, Iran, Hamas—you choose!

By A Representative   The Bharuch District Fisherfolk Association has submitted a formal representation to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Gujarat Pollution Control Board, and the District Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (DEIAA) of Bharuch, Narmada and Vadodara, seeking a review and cancellation of Environment Clearances (ECs) granted to sand mining leases located within the active flow of the Narmada river.

By  Rajendra Singh*  The functioning of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has undergone a troubling shift. Once mandated to safeguard forests and ecosystems, the Ministry now appears increasingly aligned with industrial interests. Its recent affidavit before the Supreme Court makes this drift unmistakably clear. An institution ostensibly created to protect the environment now seems to have strayed from that very purpose.

By Bharat Dogra  Public sympathy for a woman who was sexually assaulted as a minor in 2017 has been growing steadily across India. At the same time, anger against the main accused has intensified as more people become aware of the prolonged suffering endured by the survivor and her family, who continue to face threats allegedly linked to powerful interests.

By Nava Thakuria*  Amid rising anti-India rhetoric, Bangladesh has recently witnessed fresh turmoil following the death of a young radical leader, Sharif Osman Bin Hadi. As the situation gradually returns to a semblance of normalcy, the South Asian nation is preparing for its next general election, scheduled for 12 February 2026. These highly anticipated polls, coming in the aftermath of the student-led mass uprising of July–August 2024 that culminated in the overthrow of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, will notably exclude her party, the Awami League, which had ruled the Muslim-majority country of nearly 170 million people for years.