By Gajanan Khergamker  The convoy assembled with the studied precision that officialdom frequently deploys when it wishes to signal the reassuring presence of regulation. Vehicles lined up methodically, engines idling beneath the humid Andaman sky, as the procession prepared to enter the dense forest corridor along the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) that cuts through the Jarawa Forest Reserve between Port Blair and Diglipur, passing through Jirkatang, Baratang, Middle Strait, Kadamtala and Rangat, among others.

By A Representative   A coalition of civil rights groups under the banner of the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) on Saturday called for the immediate release of women political prisoners lodged in jails across India under stringent security laws, particularly the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), saying many have spent years in prison without their trials reaching conclusion.

By A Representative   On International Women’s Day, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch released a comprehensive report that paints a sobering picture of women’s political participation in India. The study, which analysed 51,708 candidates across the current Lok Sabha and State/UT Assembly elections, found that only 5,095—or 10 percent—were women. Out of 4,666 MPs and MLAs in the country, just 464 are women, again amounting to 10 percent. 

By A Representative   On March 2, 2026, President Draupadi Murmu launched the Delhi Government’s Pink Saheli Card, one of four schemes dedicated to women, promising free mobility on DTC buses. The initiative was showcased again on March 8, International Women’s Day, when Chief Minister Rekha Gupta boarded a DTC bus to highlight the Saheli Pink National Common Mobility Card (NCMC). The card allows women and transgender residents of Delhi to travel free on buses, but not on the metro or RRTS services, where regular fares still apply.  

By Shabnam Hashmi*  It all began with a phone call from my nephew Pervez in June 2021, telling me that my elder sister Sabiha (photo) had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. My elder brother Sohail, my sister Shehla, and I rushed to the village of Jyothipalya in Magadi, Karnataka, where Sabiha had been living since 2013. She had invested all her retirement savings in two acres of land with a simple but powerful purpose: to create a space where local girls could learn and grow. Even in extreme pain, she remained energetic and hopeful, sharing her dream with us — a learning centre where village children could learn computers and explore their creativity.

By A Representative   The NGO Just Rights for Children has claimed that its campaign, the Bal Vivah Mukti Rath, reached more than 8.5 lakh people across 2,000 villages in Gujarat during a month-long journey that culminated on International Women’s Day. According to the organisation, the campaign covered 25,108 kilometres and organised 2,827 events, including rallies, cultural programmes, pledge ceremonies and survivor testimonies, with participation from over 1.12 lakh students and teachers and more than 500 faith leaders.  

By Rajiv Shah   A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

By Bharat Dogra   In 2003, Harvard economist and demographer David E. Bloom coined the term "demographic dividend" to refer to the economic boost or momentum acquired by a country or economy that has a high percentage of its population in the working age group.  While this concept serves a useful purpose in several contexts—for example, emphasizing the importance of better education and skills for youth in such situations to enable society to benefit adequately from this dividend—it is sometimes wrongly used in a negative sense to characterize the high share of older people in a country, now or in later stages of development, as being burdensome. This may not be stated very openly, but this kind of thinking is prevalent widely enough to influence policy.

By A Representative   A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...