A filmmaker whose work has won international and national accolades, Pradip Krishen is not your textbook environmentalist. Krishen stepped into the world of ecological restoration in unusual fashion in 1994 when he visited Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh to shoot his film Electric Moon. Krishen would go on “Latin walks” with his neighbour, a forester with an encyclopedic knowledge of trees and a fondness for scientific names.

That was the start of Krishen’s journey with trees, giving India one of its best ecological restoration experts. Krishen went on to shape the Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park in Jodhpur and the Kishan Bagh Sand dune park in Jaipur, both considered pioneering projects in the field of ecological restoration.

When starting out at Rao Jodha Park, Krishen said the best bet would be to restore the natural ecology of the rocky desert area of pure rock, with hardly any soil. “I knew, unless we can grow things that can grow here alone, there is no point,” said Krishen. “This is 70 hectares. We can’t go around watering it.”

The first three years were slow: “learning by mistakes and learning by taking very, very careful notes”. Krishen and his team experimented with potting mixes, plants and sites to uncover patterns and thus increase the survival rates of what they had planted.

“There is the whole question of people thinking of restoration as planting trees,” said Krishen. “Unfortunately, that’s the way it has been perceived, because that’s what governments do. And that is such a narrow perception of what restoration is.” Jaya Peter spoke to him at his home in Delhi. Excerpts:

There is a host of restoration work happening in India and there are different schools of thought on the philosophy and practice of restoration. What does restoration mean to you?

There are lots of healthy debates about what is restoration. But at a basic level, you are trying to restore a landscape to what it might have been like before it was disturbed. And you are characterising the disturbance as something that ought not to have happened. Then, there is the whole question of people thinking of restoration as planting trees. Unfortunately that’s the way it has been perceived, because that’s what governments do. And that is such a narrow perception of what restoration is.

How do we look at an ecosystem and decide that it needs to be restored? Are there any metrics by which we can tell that a land is degraded?

If you find reference sites that are much richer and diverse, where you have many systems that are operating, and a much larger cohort of birds and biodiversity, it becomes one way of judging whether it is degraded.

Like the Ridge, for example, here in Delhi. There are no distinct references that I found for the Ridge from the past, but the Ridge was overgrazed and in very poor condition.

The British wanted to plant up the Ridge for a reason that did not have anything to do with restoration. They wanted to plant trees and make it look like some French retreat. They designated the Ridge as being what they called an ameliorative forest.

Restoration might have been implied but it’s certainly not a term that they were using. And because they planted non-native species, the minute they withdrew irrigation they all collapsed. They ended up growing Prosopis juliflora [a kind of a shrub] on the ridge. That is the opposite of amelioration because Prosopis is an invasive species.

So, what is your method of going about a restoration project?

The issue was, what are you leaning on? You are leaning on floras. When I first began, there was no ecological information whatsoever. So if you wanted to understand where to grow a plant and what it needs, books gave you nothing but phylogenetic information. The scheme the book follows only arranges plants according to how they have evolved, what family they belong to. So we have to do all this work ourselves, based on notetaking and observations, learning and making mistakes and finding it out the hard way.

When you are actually planting it, you are faced with the questions, what does that plant need? Does it grow along grading lines? Does it like gravel, does it like clay, does it like sand? What is the kind of site quality that the plant needs? There is none that is actually available to us for restoration.

Taking you back to when you had started, was Rao Jodha your first experiment in restoration?

When I was writing the tree book in 1998, I had a friendly couple who had a lodge in Garhwal. They asked for my help to plant up their property. I don’t remember why using native plants had occurred to me, but it had. It’s common sense, I guess. And we had the most incredible results there in the first year, partly because it is a place with very high rainfall. As a matter of fact, as I think back, I had never had results like that ever again.

That was the first place where I did any kind of native plant gardening. It was an ornamental setting, where things are supposed to look a particular way. It was not about restoration. I was not trying to restore a natural ecosystem or ecology. I was basically planting up a lodge. And then I went back to writing my book.

How did The Trees of Delhi happen?

I moved back to Delhi from Pachmarhi in 1998, with basically nothing to show for the four years of having given up cinema and trying something else. And I remember standing in front of my front gate and looking across and there was a tree there I didn’t recognise. I said, my god, I have lived here for a good 27-28 years and I realised we don’t even know the trees in our own backyard. So I thought, why don’t I use my tree-spotting hobby as a way of writing a short account on the common trees of Delhi.

Luckily at that stage, I was married to Arundhati [Roy] and she’d just written a book. So I didn’t need to look over my shoulder at how I needed to earn a living. So I had this great luxury of being able to spend five-six years immersing myself and the more I read and the more I got into exploring trees and understanding them, the more ambitious I became of my book writing.

So how did the Rao Jodha restoration project come about ?

By 2004, my book still wasn’t out. I was called into a meeting at INTACH Delhi and there were some gentlemen from Jodhpur in the meetings. They approached me to green one of their properties in Nagaur. There they had made a grid, like the forest department does, with every pit equally spaced apart. We changed that up and started planting native species. And again, we had very good results in the year and half. We had two rains.

That’s when I got to know the CEO of the trust in Jodhpur, who took me to the edge of what later became Rao Jodha Park and asked me if I could green it. I said the option they have is to try and restore the natural ecology of a rocky desert. Because it’s pure rock, there is hardly any soil. I explained to them how this is not the kind of land that supports a forest.

I knew, unless we can grow things that can grow here alone, there is no point. This is 70 hectares. We can’t go around watering it. Again, we didn’t know enough about each kind of plant. So we were putting in things, getting typically 60%-65% survival rates.

There is a difference between identifying trees and shrubs and the actual field work that you did in Rao Jodha. In my mind, it’s a huge challenge to be out in the field deciding where to plant what, how long it would take to grow etc because I don’t think that knowledge is available to us. So how did you do that?

I’d say the first three years were learning; learning by mistakes and learning by taking very, very careful notes. We remembered every single place. We decided only to plant in pits vacated by bawlias (Prosopis), which turned out to be a very good decision. So we measured every single pit. We were experimenting with two or three kinds of potting mixes. We’d record that and the plant we planted there as well as the site quality.

We went around after six months to see how the plants were doing and documenting again. If you do this on an excel sheet, and you rearrange your columns in such a way that you only look at one plant species, patterns emerge. So, once these patterns started emerging in color, we got a much better understanding and our survival rates went up.

What does the future look like for you?

I am now at a stage where I have very deliberately given up all fieldwork, partly because I am 75 now. I want to write. Writing doesn’t come easily to me. But it’s hugely enjoyable. I love the difficulty of writing. For example, while writing the introduction to my second book The Jungle Trees, I had enough material to write two books. But I knew I had to condense it into 50 pages, without making it so dense that no light emerges from it.

That became one of the most exciting things I have ever written. I guess it is like cooking with something and then finding it one way, make it loose again, make it dry. It’s just so exciting.

Meera M, a doctoral student at ATREE, helped transcribe the interview.

Jaya Peter is the Communication Head at Ashoka Trust For Research in Ecology and Environment.

A public health advocacy group on Tuesday expressed “serious concern” about the lack of clarity about measures related to intellectual property in the free trade agreement finalised between India and the European Union.

The Working Group on Access to Medicines and Treatment noted that the European Commission’s press release about the agreement said that the deal provides for a “high level of protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property [IP] rights”, including copyright, trademarks, designs, trade secrets and plant variety rights.

This indicates that India has agreed to standards of intellectual property protection that go beyond the minimum obligations under the World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, the collective said.

“However, notably, the press release does not mention patent-related provisions, nor does it clarify whether the agreement includes controversial TRIPS-plus measures such as patent term extensions, pharmaceutical data exclusivity, or other forms of market exclusivity for medicines,” the group said.

Patent term extensions lengthen the tenure of a patent on a medical product so as to compensate inventors for the loss of the term period while the product is awaiting regulatory approval. Data exclusivity grants the first applicants for patents, usually major multinational pharmaceutical corporations, exclusive protection over clinical trial data submitted by them for an extended period.

Including these measures in the India-EU agreement would “compromise the availability of affordable medicines”, the public health group said.

The Working Group on Access to Medicines and Treatment noted that the proposed intellectual property-related text proposed by the European Union in 2022 had “explicitly sought patent term extension and data exclusivity protection” for pharmaceutical products.

However, it added that during earlier rounds of negotiations, especially between 2007 and 2013, India had “rejected these TRIPS-plus demands” following opposition by patient groups and public health advocates.

“We caution against repeating the approach adopted in the FTAs [free trade agreements] with EFTA [European Free Trade Association] and the UK that risk having a direct or indirect impact on access to affordable medicines,” the collective said.

The public health group also urged India to follow recent practice that “reflects a shift away from” including patent-related TRIPS-plus provisions in free trade agreements.

The Working Group on Access to Medicines and Treatment called on the Union government to ensure that the final text of the India-EU free trade deal does not include any TRIPS-plus provisions, particularly patent term extensions and data exclusivity.

It also asked the Union government to release the full text of the agreement in public, and to place it before Parliament.

“India plays an important role as a supplier of affordable generic medicines to low- and middle-income countries,” the advocacy group noted. “Any weakening of its patent laws or regulatory framework through FTAs risks having an impact not only [on] patients in India, but millions worldwide who depend on Indian generic production.”

Also read: India, the pharmacy of the world, must protect its generic medicine industry

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday granted interim anticipatory bail to a Muslim man accused of taking part in the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district in 2024, Live Law reported.

Justice Jitendra Kumar Sinha granted anticipatory bail till February 25 to Mohammed Alam and directed the state government to file a counter-affidavit explaining its stand.

Alam’s father Yameen had earlier argued before the Sambhal chief judicial magistrate that his son was himself a victim of unprovoked police firing during the violence. The Uttar Pradesh government, however, claimed before the High Court that Alam did not sustain any injuries from firing by police personnel, according to Live Law.

The November 2024 violence in Sambhal, which left five dead, had broken out after a group of Muslims objected to a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Chandausi town. The survey had been ordered in a suit claiming that the mosque had been built in 1526 by Mughal ruler Babar on the site of an ancient Hindu temple.

Alam has been booked by the police under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to attempted murder, rioting with deadly weapons, voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from their duty and assaulting a public servant, Live Law reported.

Yameen, however, told the chief judicial magistrate that on the day of the violence, his son was selling rusks and biscuits on his cart near the mosque, when police personnel suddenly fired at the crowd with the intention to kill.

Lawyer Prabhat Srivastava, representing Alam in the High Court, said that no offence had been made out against his client, and that he was not named in the initial first information report.

Srivastava said that his client would cooperate during the trial and would appear before the investigating officer when needed, according to Live Law.

However, Additional Government Advocate Roopak Chaubey, representing the state government, opposed the bail plea and sought time to file a counter-affidavit.

Earlier this month, Chief Judicial Magistrate Vibhanshu Sudheer had ordered a first information report against Additional Superintendent of Police Anuj Chaudhary, who was the was the circle officer of Sambhal at the time, Kotwali in-charge Anuj Kumar Tomar and 15 to 20 unidentified police personnel in connection with the shooting of Alam.

The Sambhal Police had said that they would move the High Court against the order.

Seven days after the order to file an FIR, Sudheer, along with 13 other judicial officers, was transferred by the High Court in an administrative reshuffle. He was transferred to Sultanpur as a civil judge (senior division).

India and the European Union announced that they have finalised a free trade agreement after nearly 20 years of negotiations. The deal, covering 25% of global gross domestic product, will cut or eliminate tariffs on nearly 97% of European exports to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the agreement would make it easier for Indian farmers and small industries to access the European market. New Delhi said that the deal will safeguard sensitive sectors such as dairy, poultry, and certain fruits and vegetables.

The tariffs on cars will be gradually lowered from 110% to 10% and the levies on processed agricultural products, which are currently at 50%, will be eliminated.

India and the European Union also announced that they were elevating their relationship to a security and defence partnership to improve cooperation in the defence industry sector and maritime security. Read on.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that four lakh to five lakh Miya voters will be deleted when the special intensive revision of electoral rolls takes place in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said his job “is to make the Miya people suffer”.

In Assam, “Miya” is a derogatory word used to refer to undocumented immigrants and is exclusively directed at Muslims of Bengali origin. They are often accused of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.

Sarma, addressing reporters about allegations of “vote theft” on Tuesday, said: “Yes, we are trying to steal some Miya votes. Ideally, they should not be allowed to vote in Assam. They should be able to vote in Bangladesh.”

In Assam, the Election Commission is conducting a “special revision” of the voter list, instead of the special intensive revision exercise underway in 12 states and Union Territories. Assembly elections are expected to be held in the state in three to four months. Read on.

The new University Grants Commission regulations on promoting equity in higher education institutes sparked protests by upper-caste students in several cities, and led to a challenge being filed in the Supreme Court. The students argue that the rules, notified on January 13, could lead to discrimination against them and that they do not provide for safeguards against false complaints.

Protests were held outside the commission’s headquarters in Delhi and at Lucknow University.

The plea in the Supreme Court argues that the new framework denies grievance redressal mechanisms and institutional protection to persons who do not belong to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

The BJP Kisan Morcha’s vice president in Uttar Pradesh’s Salon town resigned from his post, citing discontent about the new regulations. This came a day after the Bareilly city magistrate resigned to protest “anti-Brahmin” government policies. After he resigned, the Uttar Pradesh government suspended him on charges of indiscipline. Read on.

The Madras High Court set aside an order of a single-judge bench who had directed the Central Board of Film Certification to grant a U/A certificate to actor-politician Vijay’s film Jana Nayagan. The court sent the matter back to Justice PT Asha for fresh consideration.

A U/A certificate allows children below the age of 12 to watch a film under parental guidance.

The High Court said that the principles of natural justice had not been followed in the single judge’s order. It added that the film certification board should have been given an opportunity to defend its decision before the direction was issued.

Jana Nayagan, which is Vijay’s final film before the Tamil Nadu elections, has been caught in a legal battle after the censor board delayed the certification of the movie. It was supposed to release on January 9, ahead of harvest festival Pongal. Read on.

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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday claimed that four lakh to five lakh Miya voters will be deleted when the special intensive revision of electoral rolls takes place in the state and said that his job is to “make them suffer”.

“What ‘vote chori’ [vote theft] means to us?” Sarma asked while speaking to reporters. “Yes, we are trying to steal some Miya votes. Ideally, they should not be allowed to vote in Assam. They should be able to vote in Bangladesh.”

He added: “We have made arrangements so that they cannot vote in Assam. But this is preliminary. When the [special intensive revision] comes to Assam, four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be cut.”

In Assam, “Miya” is a derogatory word used to refer to undocumented immigrants and is exclusively directed at Muslims of Bengali origin. They are often accused of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.

Once a pejorative in Assam, from the common use of the honorific “Miya” among South Asian Muslims, the term has now been reappropriated by the community as a self-descriptor to refer to Muslims who migrated to Assam from Bengal during the colonial era.

Assam is not among the 12 states and Union Territories where the Election Commission is conducting the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls. The poll panel is separately conducting a “special revision” of the voter list in the state, which is similar to the usual updates to the electoral roll.

The state is expected to head for Assembly polls in three to four months.

असली वोट चोरी कैसे होती है? जब बाहर से आए घुसपैठिए मतदाता सूची में घुस जाते हैं। कांग्रेस मुझे जितनी भी गालियाँ दे हमारा घुसपैठियों के विरुद्ध अभियान जारी रहेगा। यह असम के अस्तित्व का सवाल है। pic.twitter.com/P1ZKXyMgJe

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 27, 2026

“So, let the Congress abuse me as much as they want,” the chief minister told reporters. “But my job is to make the Miya people suffer.”

Sarma made the comments on the sidelines of a government event in Digboi in Assam’s Tinsukia district.

Reacting to Sarma’s comments, Congress leader Aman Wadud said that the chief minister had “made the Constitution absolutely ineffective” in Assam.

The chief minister’s remark came three days after he said that only Miya Muslims were being served notices under the “special revision” of electoral rolls in the state.

Several Opposition parties have accused the BJP of conspiring to delete the names of a large number of genuine voters from the state’s electoral rolls amid the exercise and filed police complaints.

On Saturday, Sarma said that there was “nothing to hide”.

“We are giving them trouble,” the chief minister had said, referring to his earlier statements that “Miyas” would face problems in his regime. He added that serving them notices as part of the special revision exercise was a way to “keep them under pressure”.

A day later, the chief minister said that the eviction drives in the state were only targeting Miya Muslims and not Assamese people.

Since the BJP came to power in Assam in 2016, several demolition drives have been conducted in the state, mostly targeting areas populated by Bengali-speaking Muslims.

Sarma claimed earlier this month that the government has reclaimed close to 1.5 lakh bighas of land in the course of the eviction drives.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday set aside an order of a single judge who had directed the Central Board of Film Certification to grant a U/A certificate to the Tamil film Jana Nayagan, starring actor-politician Vijay, Live Law reported.

A U/A certificate allows children below the age of 12 to watch a film under parental guidance.

A bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan sent the matter back to Justice PT Asha for fresh consideration, stating that the principles of natural justice had not been followed, Live Law reported.

Jana Nayagan, which is expected to be Vijay’s final film before his formal entry into politics, has been caught in a legal battle after the film board delayed the certification of the movie. It was supposed to be released on January 9, ahead of Tamil Nadu’s harvest festival, Pongal.

The producers of the movie, KVN Productions had approached the High Court against the delay.

On January 9, a single-judge bench of the High Court ruled in favour of the production house and directed the film certification board to issue the certificate for the movie, Live Law reported.

The producers had argued that although the board had informed them that the film would be granted a U/A certificate after certain modifications, it was not issued even after those changes were made.

They had also questioned the decision of the chairperson of the film board to refer the film to a revising committee after informing that it would be given a U/A certificate.

The film board had told the single judge that the decision to send the film to a revising committee was taken after it received a complaint from a member of the examining committee, who said that his objections had not been considered. The board said that the complaint claimed that some scenes in the film could hurt religious sentiments, and that they portrayed the armed forces in an improper manner.

On January 9, the single-judge bench held that the chairperson’s decision to send the film for review after informing the producers that it would be certified was without jurisdiction.

The single-judge bench had also criticised the film board for entertaining complaints from examining committee members after they had already given their recommendations.

Soon after the order, the two-judge bench agreed to consider the request made by Additional Solicitor General AL Sundaresan for an urgent hearing of the film board’s writ appeal against the order passed by Asha and stayed the order the same day, The Hindu reported.

The two-judge bench had also made remarks against the producers for “creating an urgency” and putting pressure on the judicial system.

On Tuesday, the court said that the allegations made in the complaint by the member of the examining committee were serious, which prompted the chairperson to refer the film for review, Live Law reported.

It added that considering the nature of the allegations, the single judge should have given the film board an opportunity to defend its decision.

The court also noted that the single judge should not have gone into the merits of the case in the absence of any plea challenging the chairperson’s order, the legal news outlet reported.

The court then asked the producers to amend their petition before the writ court and challenge the chairperson’s order sending the movie for review.

The recently-enacted University Grants Commission regulations on promoting equity in higher education institutes have sparked student protests in several cities, and led to a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the rules.

The 2026 University Grants Commission Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations were notified on January 13. The regulations have led to protests by upper caste students, who have argued that the framework could lead to discrimination against them.

The protesters have contended that the rules are biased against students from the general category as they do not provide for measures against “false complaints”.

Here is more on this and other top updates:

• A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging Section 3(c) of the regulations, which defines caste-based discrimination as discrimination against members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, Live Law reported. The petitioner, advocate Vineet Jindal, contended that the provision renders protection against caste discrimination non-inclusionary. He argued that the provision, in its current “exclusionary form”, denies grievance redressal mechanisms and institutional protection to individuals who do not belong to the three categories.
• Commenting on the matter, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that “no one will have the right to misuse anything in the name of discrimination”, PTI reported. “Whether it is the UGC, the Government of India, or the state government, it will be their responsibility,” he said. “I assure you that whatever system or arrangement is made in India will be within the framework of the Constitution. As far as this issue is concerned, it comes under the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, and I want to reassure you that no injustice, oppression or discrimination will be committed against anyone.”

VIDEO | Didwana, Rajasthan: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) on UGC's new regulations row, said, "I want to assure everyone that no one will be subjected to harassment and there will be no discrimination. No one will have the right to misuse anything in… pic.twitter.com/VewgG2Jvrg

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 27, 2026

• Students from upper caste groups on Tuesday called for a protest outside the University Grants Commission headquarters in New Delhi, arguing that the regulations could spark chaos on campuses, PTI reported. Alokit Tripathi, a PhD student from Delhi University, told the news agency that the rules have no safeguards for those wrongly accused of discrimination, and are “draconian” in nature. He also argued that on account of a provision requiring the creation of “Equity Squads”, it would be “akin to living under constant surveillance inside the campus”.
• A group of Lucknow University students also held a protest against the regulations on Tuesday, PTI reported. Protesters at gate number 1 shouted slogans “UGC, rollback”, and demanded that the regulations be withdrawn. A protest by Karni Sena is expected to take place at the city’s Parivartan Chowk at 4 pm, India Today reported.

VIDEO | Lucknow University students hold protest against the new rules notified by the UGC, the Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026.

(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7)#Lucknow pic.twitter.com/bqvHqXxcOe

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 27, 2026

• Shyam Sundar Tripathi, the BJP Kisan Morcha’s vice president from Salon town in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district, resigned from his post, citing discontent about the UGC equity regulations, India Today reported. A day earlier, Bareilly City Magistrate Alankar Agnihotri had also submitted his resignation to protest “anti-Brahmin” government policies, after which the Uttar Pradesh government suspended him on charges of indiscipline.

What the rules mandate

The University Grants Commission’s new equity rules require institutes to set up special committees, helplines and monitoring teams to address complaints, particularly from members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

The UGC had in 2012 first released equity rules for higher education institutes, which required them to set up Equal Opportunity Cells and Anti-Discrimination Officers. However, those rules did not provide for action against institutions that did not comply with them.

In contrast, the 2026 rules require the UGC to set up a monitoring committee to oversee their implementation.

Institutes that do not comply with the regulations can be barred from participating in the commission’s schemes, offering degree programmes and online courses, and can be removed from the list of institutes eligible to receive central grants.

India and the European Union on Tuesday announced that they have finalised a free trade agreement representing 25% of global gross domestic product.

The deal will cut or eliminate tariffs on nearly 97% of European exports to India, AFP quoted the European Union as saying.

The Indian Ministry of Commerce said that New Delhi had gained preferential access to the European market across 97% of the tariff lines, covering 99.5% of the trade value.

The agreement will safeguard sensitive sectors, including dairy, poultry, and certain fruits and vegetables, the Indian government said.

It was unclear when the agreement will take effect. The deal needs to be vetted legally, approved by the 27 member nations of the European Union and ratified by the European Parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on social media that the agreement announced on Tuesday would make accessing the European market easier for India’s farmers and small industries.

While the tariffs on cars will be gradually lowered from 110% to 10%, the duties on wines will progressively be cut from 150% to 20%, according to the European Union. The levies on processed agricultural products such as bread and confectionary, that are currently at 50%, will be eliminated.

The deal would also provide predictable access to 144 sub-sectors in Europe such as information technology, finance and education, Modi said.

To increase mobility between India and the European Union, the agreements has a provision on guaranteed post-study visa of at least nine months, working rights for dependants of intra-corporate transferees and access for practitioners of Indian traditional medicine to work in the European Union’s member states under their home titles.

Modi added that the deal would offer financial and technical support for Indian micro, small and medium enterprises in complying with carbon-related requirements, and provide cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, clean technology and semiconductors.

Addressing the joint press meet with European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.@eucopresident @vonderleyen @EUCouncil @EU_Commission https://t.co/0hh4YX8DHe

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 27, 2026

On Tuesday, at a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, Modi described the agreement as “a historic moment”.

“We are opening a new chapter in our relations on trade, on security, and on people-to-people ties,” he added.

The deal is India’s largest free trade agreement in history, Modi added on social media.

Von der Leyen said that Europe and India are “making history” by concluding the “mother of all deals”.

“We have created a free trade zone of two billion people, with both sides set to benefit,” von der Leyen said on social media. “We will grow our strategic relationship to be even stronger.”

The deal was finalised during the Delhi visit of the two European Union leaders for India’s Republic Day parade.

The talks had begun in 2007 and had faced setbacks over differences on matters such as environmental regulations and access to the Indian market for European agricultural and dairy products.

The talks restarted in 2022.

The historic agreement with EU, which is India’s largest Free Trade Agreement in history, has substantial benefits for the 1.4 billion people of India. It will:

Make access to European markets easier for our farmers and small industries.

Create new opportunities in… pic.twitter.com/q2yZiIMnlC

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 27, 2026

India and the European Union represent one-fifth of global trade. The European Union is New Delhi’s second-largest trading partner, accounting for 11.5% of India’s goods trade.

In 2024, the bilateral trade of goods was worth more than 120 billion euros, or Rs 13 lakh crore. The exports by India were worth about 71.4 billion euros, or Rs 7.7 lakh crore that year.

The bilateral trade has doubled in the last decade, with imports by the European Union growing in proportion.

The European Union’s key exports to India include transport equipment, machinery and appliances, and chemicals. Chemicals and appliances are also among India's major exports to the EU, besides fuels.

While negotiations on a trade deal with the United States have not concluded, India has in the past seven months signed agreements of varying nature with the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Strategic partnership

India and the European Union on Tuesday also announced elevating the relationship to a security and defence partnership.

The partnership will be a “platform for [stronger] cooperation on the strategic issues that matter most – from defence industry to maritime security”, von der Leyen said on social media.

These stories bear no resemblance to the plight being faced by Hindus in Bangladesh (“Assam’s nowhere people: 24 hours to leave India, tossed back and forth across Bangladesh border”). Focus on those stories and their pains to create international awareness. – Subrata Dutta

***

Why are you trying to generate sympathy for illegal migrants usurping the resources of India? – Subhash Singh

Double standards in article about lynchings in India

The article rightly condemns mob violence but applies an uneven and misleading lens (“Violence against Hindus in Bangladesh should spark outrage – as should mob lynchings in India”). In India, lynching is a punishable offence under Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and such acts are not sanctioned by the state or Hindu religion. Courts have taken cognisance of lynching cases, and arrests and convictions have occurred.

The article repeatedly links mob violence in India to Hindu majoritarianism and Hindutva while treating violence against Hindus in Bangladesh as the actions of mobs rather than a reflection of Islam or Muslim society. This double standard generalises Hindu identity while isolating Muslim perpetrators elsewhere.

Mob violence in India has affected Hindus, Muslims, Dalits, migrants and Christians, often driven by misinformation, local crime suspicion or mob psychology rather than religious ideology alone. Presenting Hindus as the dominant causal factor is an oversimplification unsupported by comprehensive data.

Condemning violence is necessary, but attributing criminal acts to a religious community distorts facts and deepens communal division instead of addressing the real issue: law enforcement failure and mob criminality. – Manoj Kumar

Shelters won’t help stray dogs

This is such an important article and one I dearly hope is listened to by those that decide on policy in India. My time in India and many other countries across the globe, has shown time and time again that the resources needed to have a good standard of shelter care for dogs' long term, costs significantly more than animal birth control approaches.

Unfortunately, many shelters are already overcrowded, and adoptions rates are falling with cost-of-living challenges. This approach to removing dogs from the street feels very similar to the knee-jerk reaction of banning certain breeds in the UK: it simply does not address the core issues, but political parties are able to say they have done something swift to tackle the issues.

This is not an India-specific issue as there are shelters all over the world that do not have the resources to maintain the dogs in their care to a standard that most would be comfortable with.

There are, of course, exceptions, and I have visited shelters in India that were fantastic at caring for the dogs, but I do not believe that these shelters would be the norm as new shelters are built and the numbers of dogs’ increase. I truly hope people like Elly Hiby and all those working to educate decision makers are listened to. – Steve Goward

Article on stray dogs has ‘vested interests’

The author is peddling a false narrative (“From scavengers to territorial animals: Can India’s stray dogs co-exist with humans for much longer?”). Why is Scroll publishing this article with vested interests? As journalists, you should look into the article, the methodology and sample size of the studies carried out. – Abhiroop Banerjee

Stray dogs in Bengaluru locality

I have been a dog lover for many years and firmly believe that animals should be looked after with compassion. But the stray dog situation in North Bengaluru in Jakkur has me worried and sleepless – literally.

A pack of eight stray dogs roams outside the building at night, making it challenging to catch a late-night flights or early-morning trains. The dogs howl loudly through the night, making it impossible to sleep. Request for sterilising and vaccinating the dogs have not been met with success, and two puppies, born after we moved to this area, are now grown dogs adding to the sound and the threat.

Recently, these dogs surrounded my elderly parents as we were trying to get out of the car and we needed help from nearby shop owners to enter the building. Those living in a gated societies may not face these problems, for residents of individual apartments, the pack of dogs roaming outside has begun to create fear. There must be an administrative solution to this issue, one that bears the safety of citizens while also being considerate of the animals. I request the local corporation to take appropriate action. – Rashmi Mehta

‘Autobiography’ of a 94-year-old

It was so heartwarming to read this excerpt, especially as a Malayali brought up in Maharashtra (“Fiction: At ninety-four, a retired engineer writes his third and, as he insists, final autobiography”). Marathi is very close to my heart and this is an evocative translation. I would love to read its Marathi version as well. – Anju Joy

***

This was a touching and well-written article, despite the author’s age of almost 94. I, too, am almost 94. Congratulations to Rajendra for his article. – John Samuel

***

This was a great and interesting article. l would love to read the full “autobiography”. – A Sasikanth Satakarni

Kuki-Zo organisations in Manipur on Monday criticised the Union government for its decision to award the Shaurya Chakra to a Central Reserve Police Force officer whom they have accused of being involved in the “extrajudicial killing” of ten men from the community.

The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum demanded that the award to Assistant Commandant Vipin Wilson from the CRPF’s 20th battalion be revoked.

President Droupadi Murmu approved gallantry awards to 70 personnel from the armed forces on January 25. Wilson was among 13 personnel who were named as the recipients of the Shaurya Chakra, the country’s third-highest peacetime gallantry award.

The CRPF on Sunday night said that Wilson had on November 11, 2024, led a team of personnel “to foil a camp attack by insurgents in Manipur, neutralising 10 of them”.

The gunfight had taken place at a CRPF post in the Borobekra area of Manipur’s Jiribam district

“For his unparalleled bravery, he is conferred with the Shaurya Chakra this Republic Day [on Monday],” the CRPF said.

Saluting the indomitable spirit of AC Vipin Wilson.

​On 11 Nov 2024, he led a CRPF QAT to foil a camp attack by insurgents in Manipur, neutralizing 10 of them.
​For his unparalleled bravery, he is conferred with the Shaurya Chakra this #RepublicDay.

​DG Shri @gpsinghips & all… pic.twitter.com/XrHeH616I0

— 🇮🇳CRPF🇮🇳 (@crpfindia) January 25, 2026

At the time of the attack, the Manipur Police had claimed that those killed in the gunfight were suspected Kuki militants. However, Kuki-Zo organisations had claimed that they were village volunteers.

The term “village volunteers” has been used for armed civilians guarding villages since the ethnic clashes broke out between the Kuki-Zo-Hmars and Meiteis communities in May 2023. At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced due to the violence.

On Monday, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum said that it was “appalled” by the Union government’s decision to award the Shaurya Chakra to the assistant commandant, saying that the conferment was a “continuation of the discrimination and injustice” meted out to the Kuki-Zo community.

The forum said that there was no cause for the 10 village volunteers to have attacked a CRPF post, as alleged by the authorities. “The men were a ragtag bunch of mostly daily-wage workers who volunteered to protect their people – not trained ‘militants’ as alleged by the police,” it said.

The statement said that the autopsy reports had also revealed that the men were shot from behind, “contradicting the official narrative that the CRPF post was attacked”. It questioned the conferring of the award to Wilson, who, it claimed, had decided to “fire on men who were only trying to protect their community”.

The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust also denounced the award, alleging that the honour was not an act of national pride but a “state endorsement” of an “extrajudicial killing”.

“Credible evidence, including forensic reports and eyewitness testimonies, confirms that the victims were unarmed or minimally armed civilians performing community defence duties during a period of ethnic violence,” the organisation.

“The state narrative labelling them as militants is a fabrication designed to justify a one-sided, disproportionate use of lethal force,” it said, adding: “This was not an encounter – it was an execution.”

The organisation added that the conferment of the award to Wilson was a “profound betrayal of constitutional values and demonstrates contempt for the lives of the Kuki-Zo people”.

Along with the revocation of the award, the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust called for the establishment of an independent investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court to look into the killing.

The police in Rajasthan’s Nagaur district on Sunday seized a large cache of explosive material, suspected to be meant for legal and illegal mining, from a farm ahead of Republic Day, PTI reported.

The authorities acted on a tip-off and carried out a raid late on Saturday in Harsaur village, where they recovered 9,550 kg of ammonium nitrate packed in 187 sacks, the news agency quoted Nagaur Superintendent of Police Mridul Kachhawa as saying.

The superintendent of police was quoted as saying by The Indian Express that this was “perhaps the biggest such seizure of its kind in Rajasthan”.

A man named Suleman Khan was arrested in connection with the haul. He has three previous criminal cases against him, out of which he has been acquitted in one, the police said.

Apart from ammonium nitrate, the police also seized detonators, detonating wires and other material that is “normally used in mining-related blasting”, The Indian Express quoted the police as saying.

The police filed a case under the Explosive Substances Act and under provisions pertaining to organised crime.

“We will establish the forward and backward linkages of the explosives,” the newspaper quoted Kachhawa as saying. “In the preliminary questioning, the facts which have come to light are that he supplied the explosives for legal and illegal mining.”

Central agencies have been notified about the seizure, and are likely to question Khan as part of a wider investigation, PTI quoted the police as saying.

A Kuki-based civil society organisation has called shutdown in parts of Manipur’s Kangpokpi district after an arson attack on K Songlung (II) village in the Sadar Hills area on Monday, India Today NE reported.

The shutdown call was issued by the Committee on Tribal Unity after several houses and farmhouses were set on fire by suspected militants on Sunday afternoon, triggering tension in the Kuki-dominated hill district, PTI reported.

The extent of the damage has yet to be officially assessed. Security personnel, including the Assam Rifles, have been deployed in the area, the news agency reported.

The Zeliangrong United Front claimed responsibility for the attack, alleging that the houses and farmhouses were being used for illegal poppy cultivation, PTI reported.

The front is a militant outfit active in the state’s Tamenglong, Noney and Kangpokpi districts. The group claims to be fighting for the rights and land of the Zeliangrong Naga people.

Manipur has been under President’s Rule since February 2025, when Bharatiya Janata Party leader N Biren Singh resigned as the chief minister.

At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced in the state since the ethnic clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in May 2023. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024 and 2025.

While efforts have been underway in recent days to restore an elected government in the state, Kuki militant groups and MLAs have said they will participate in the process only after getting a political commitment for a Union Territory in the Kuki-Zo-majority areas of the state.

After the arson attack, the Zeliangrong United Front stated that it had “intensified its decisive campaign against illegal poppy cultivation, narcotics trafficking and encroachment by illegal immigrants within the ancestral, customary and historical territory of the Zeliangrong Inpui Naga people”, PTI reported.

The armed outfit said that it had previously given “repeated public alerts and sufficient time for peaceful compliance”. It added that enforcement action was carried out at 12.15 pm during which farmhouses, farms and other essential materials used for illegal poppy cultivation were burnt, the news agency reported.

The Kuki civil society organisation Committee on Tribal Unity rejected the claim that the homes that were torched were used for illegal cultivation and condemned the incident.

The committee alleged that several Kuki-Zo villages along the fringes of Kangpokpi district, including Lhangjol, Loibol Kholen, Kharam Vaiphei and K Songlung (II), have faced repeated intimidation in recent months under the pretext of monitoring poppy cultivation, the India Today NE reported.

The organisation demanded that the state government apprehend those responsible within 24 hours, warning of “preemptive action” if no arrests were made.

Meanwhile, Congress Kuki leader Lamtinthang Haokip said in a social media post that while the rest of the country was celebrating India’s 77th Republic Day, “the tribal Kuki village, K Songlung, under Kangpokpi District has been turned into ashes by [Zeliangrong United Front (Kamson faction) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah faction)]”.

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah faction) is an insurgent group that has been fighting for a sovereign Naga homeland for decades.

“The failure of the BJP government in stopping the ethnic violence since May 3, 2023 has further the consequences,” Haokip said. “A sinister design of the current dispensation.”

While the rest of India is celebrating the 77th Republic Day, a tribal #Kuki village, K. Songlung, under Kangpokpi District has been turned into ashes by ZUF/ZTF (K).

The failure of the @BJP4India Govt in stopping the ethnic violence since 3rd May, 2023 has further the… pic.twitter.com/uI1AFIH0A7

— Dr. Lamtinthang Haokip (@DrLamtinthangHk) January 26, 2026

The temple committees of the shrines along the Chardham route in Uttarakhand have proposed a ban on the entry of “non-Hindus” into the sites, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.

The Chardham temples comprise Bardinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.

The development comes days after the Ganga Sabha, which administers the Har-ki-Pauri ghat in Haridwar, on January 16 installed hoardings and banners prohibiting the entry of non-Hindus at the religious site.

On Monday, Suresh Semwal, chairperson of the Shri Gangotri Temple Committee, was quoted as saying by The Hindu that during a meeting held a day earlier, it was unanimously decided that non-Hindus would not be allowed inside the premises.

“Non-Hindus will also not be allowed to enter Mukhba, the winter abode of the goddess,” the newspaper quoted Semwal as saying.

Hemant Dwivedi, chairperson of the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee, also said that a similar ban will be discussed during a meeting scheduled for next month. He added that the proposed ban will be implemented from the Chardham Yatra this year.

“The Chardham shrines are not tourist spots and those who have no faith in Sanatan Dharma must not enter our sacred places,” The Hindu quoted Dwivedi.

Sanatan Dharma is a term some use as a synonym for Hinduism.

He also asked why those who have no faith in Hindu deities wanted to visit the temples.

Noting that a resolution on the ban will be passed during the next meeting, the chairperson told The Indian Express that the matter will be discussed with the administration and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

However, the newspaper also quoted an unidentified office-bearer on the board of the Badrinath-Kedarnath temple as saying that the matter had not come up so far. The member added that the statement was made without consulting the board or other stakeholders.

“This is a matter we need to discuss with stakeholders, including the traders and labourers,” The Indian Express quoted the member as saying. “Most of these groups are non-Hindus; how can we ask them to leave?”

He said that only those who adhere to the practices of the religion enter the temple currently. “Besides, those who accompany government officers and dignitaries are also non-Hindus,” the member said.

He also said that Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists will not be banned, adding that Dwivedi should “have said that non-Sanatanis are to be excluded”.

In response to the demands, the chief minister said that the priests and members of the temple committees handle the affairs of the Chardham shrines and therefore their wishes must be taken into account, The Hindu reported.

“These religious sites are our ancient places of worship and those who run and manage these shrines…will have their opinions and views on the management of the shrines,” the newspaper quoted Dhami as saying. “These places hold great historical and religious significance, and certain laws were enacted regarding them in the past.”

The chief minister added that the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state was reviewing “those laws and will proceed based on that”.

On the other hand, former chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat said that the BJP was resorting to communal polarisation, adding that these prohibitions had nothing to do with Hindu pilgrimage, The Indian Express reported.

“In Har-Ki-Pauri, municipal bylaws have restricted the entry of non-Hindus, and people have been following this since then,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “There is a general sentiment that those from other religions keep away from these places.”

He added: “Those who would earlier gatekeep their religious places have started opening them to all, while Hinduism, which is known for being open to all, is closing its doors”.

Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana was quoted as saying by The Indian Express that this was being done to divert public attention from the state’s real problems.

“They have propped up hoardings at Har-Ki-Pauri in Haridwar. International tourists visit these places,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. How will you bar these people? Anyone can enter any public space under the Constitution.”

The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi on Monday stated that it has formed a fact-finding committee after a row erupted online about the speakers and content of a conference on caste and race organised by the college’s Department of Humanities and Social Sciences earlier this month.

The institute said that it has also sought an explanation from the faculty who organised the conference.

The event, titled “Celebrating 25 Years of Durban: Indian Contributions to Combatting Caste and Racism” as part of the Critical Philosophy of Caste and Race Conference, was held between January 16 and 18 on the campus.

The conference was organised by Divya Dwivedi, a professor at the institute, and Sowjanya Tamalapakula, an associate professor of Woxsen University in Hyderabad. It was supported by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

A concept note on the conference said that the event focused on the “histories and futures of the arduous and brilliant efforts of the oppressed groups”, and aspires towards comprehensive documentation, understanding and theorisation of descent-based discrimination.

It also looked at increased ethical sensitivity to the harms such discrimination inflicts on large sections of society, said the note, adding that it was meant to engage in advocacy for social equality in law, policy, and the institutional and social everyday life

The three-day conference featured keynote lectures and panel sessions by scholars from Indian and foreign universities. One of the papers presented was by an independent researcher, Aarushi Punia, titled “What’s Common Between Dalits and Palestinians?”

Speakers included activists such as Ruth Manorama and Thenmozhi Soundararajan, historian Shailaja Paik and Tamil writer P Sivakami.

The conference was met with criticism on social media, with several posts describing it as “woke nonsense” and asking why a “technological institute” was organising such an event when it “should be holding discussions about AI [Artificial Intelligence]”, The Hindu reported.

Users also objected to the allegedly “one-sided narrative on caste”.

Some criticised Punia’s presentation.

In a statement on Monday, IIT-Delhi said that serious concerns had been raised about the choice of speakers and content at the conference.

“The institute has sought an explanation from the concerned faculty, and a fact‑finding committee with independent members has also been set up to investigate concerns raised about the conference,” it said on social media. “Appropriate actions will be initiated in accordance with institutional protocols, based on the committee’s findings.”

"Critical Philosophy of Caste and Race" conference (Jan 16-18):

Serious concerns have been raised over the choice of speakers and content of the conference.

The Institute has sought an explanation from the concerned faculty, and a fact-finding committee with independent…

— IIT Delhi (@iitdelhi) January 25, 2026

The statement added that the institute “remains committed to national goals, academic integrity, and established institutional guidelines”.

On Tuesday, The Indian Express quoted Dwivedi as saying that the conference was academic in its aim and scope, adding that it was held “to generate critical thinking on social inequalities towards an egalitarian and sustainable world, and it builds on existing academic research and publications including mine which can be looked up”.

The professor added: “The conference is devoted to promoting the constitutional values of equality, liberty, dignity and fraternity through scholarly discussion of the past and present Indian contributions towards combating social inequalities and social injustice.”

An unidentified faculty member of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences also told the newspaper that the conference was an academic one that had been taking place for years.

“Just a few weeks ago, there was a conference on Hindutva on campus and no one raised any questions against such conferences,” the newspaper quoted the member as saying.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday suspended Bareilly City Magistrate Alankar Agnihotri on charges of indiscipline hours after he submitted his resignation in protest against “anti-Brahmin” government policies, especially the new University Grants Commission rules, PTI reported.

The 2026 University Grants Commission Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, published on January 13, mandates the setting up of special committees, helplines and monitoring teams to address complaints, particularly from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes students.

The regulations have led to a controversy, with several questioning its definition of “caste-based discrimination” and alleging bias against students from the “general category” by not providing for measures against “false complaints”.

The new regulations, which updated its 2012 rules on the same subject, define “caste-based discrimination” as discrimination “only on the basis of caste or tribe” against members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

It also removes a provision for punishments for false complaints, which was present in a draft circulated in 2025.

Agnihotri, a 2019-batch Provincial Civil Service officer, had submitted his resignation via e-mail to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Bareilly District Magistrate Avinash Singh earlier on Monday, reported PTI.

In a statement, the suspended city magistrate had described the new University Grants Commission rules as a “black law”, claiming that they were harming the academic atmosphere in colleges and universities.

He demanded their immediate withdrawal.

His statement urged elected Brahmin representatives in the Centre and the state governments to resign from their posts and stand with the community.

Speaking to reporters in Bareilly, Agnihotri also said that the new University Grants Commission rules would “increase harassment” of Brahmins, The Print reported.

He added that the regulations portrayed the general category as “self-proclaimed criminals” and said that the provisions made in the name of equality were unfair and discriminatory.

“Those who consider themselves leaders of Brahmins are also staying silent, just like corporate employees,” The Print quoted Agnihotri as saying. “I appeal to them that if their conscience is still alive, they should stand with the people. When the general category is protesting, don’t you feel any shame in not standing with them?”

Later on Monday, the state government issued an order stating that Agnihotri had been found prima facie guilty of indiscipline and was placed under suspension with immediate effect, PTI reported.

Departmental disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against him, it added.

A separate chargesheet would be issued as part of the departmental action, the order said, adding that Agnihotri would remain attached to the Shamli district magistrate’s office during the pendency of the inquiry.

On Tuesday, ANI quoted the Bareilly district magistrate as rejecting the allegations raised by Agnihotri, adding that the claims were a “result of misrepresentation”.

Singh added that differences of opinion were part of a democratic system, but it was not appropriate to turn “dialogue into sensational allegations”, the news agency reported.

The statement added that the district administration had adopted restraint, balance and a positive approach throughout the incident and would continue to do so.

Opposition against new UGC rules intensifies

On Monday, opposition against the new University Grants Commission rules intensified, The Hindu reported.

A writ petition challenging the rules was filed in the Supreme Court by a post-doctoral researcher from Banaras Hindu University in Uttar Pradesh.

Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also called for the regulations to be “withdrawn or amended as necessary”.

The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP asked whether the provisions should not be “inclusive and ensure equal protection for everyone”.

She added: “Then why is this discrimination in the implementation of the law? What happens in case of false accusations? How will guilt be determined? How should discrimination be defined – through words, actions, or perceptions?”

Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party MLC Devendra Pratap Singh wrote to the University Grants Commission, saying it should be concerned with protecting discrimination against Dalits and backward class students, and not with “making general category students feel unsafe”, the newspaper reported.

“The framed regulations could widen the caste-centric division and disturb the social balance,” The Hindu quoted him as writing in the letter. He added that equity was necessary, but it should not marginalise any section of students.

A student recently asked me for my opinion on the traditional guru-shishya system, in which teachers transmit knowledge to students (usually referred to as disciples), who often even live with them and are totally dedicated to them. In this system, the word of guru is final. Recalling a discussion we had in class, he wanted to know what relevance it might have now. Is it positive or entirely negative? He also inquired about its significance in the context of learning music.

Pondering over his question, I recalled an article written five years ago by musician TM Krishna. Krishna had argued that the guru-shishya tradition – or rather, the institution it represents – ought to be dismantled altogether.

The guru-disciple relationship, he said, is founded on a permanent imbalance of power. What is striking is that this imbalance is not merely tolerated: it is celebrated. Within this structure, the disciple is expected not only to submit to the guru’s authority but to surrender herself entirely to him. The flaw lies in the very architecture of the institution. Questioning the guru is treated as a transgression. Dissent does not even enter the realm of possibility.

In music, as in certain other artistic fields, there is no shortage of stories recounting the severe trials imposed by gurus before they agree to accept someone as a student. These trials are rarely related to knowledge or aptitude. Instead, the aspirant is often required to perform domestic labour for weeks on end – washing the guru’s utensils, cleaning the house, running errands. Only once loyalty and devotion have been sufficiently demonstrated does the guru agree to impart instruction.

Divine attributes

The guru is frequently imagined as possessing divine attributes. The philosopher Aurobindo suggests that when one surrenders before the guru, one is not surrendering to the human being but to the divine element within him. But who certifies the presence of this divine element? By what signs is it to be recognised?

Krishna’s article was written in the context of allegations of sexual abuse made by disciples against one of the the renowned Gundecha brothers in Hindustani classical music. He observed that whispers about such conduct have circulated for years within the worlds of music and dance, yet very few find the courage to speak openly.

The cost of going up against powerful gurus can be prohibitively high. Gurus may be rivals in professional matters, but when it comes to preserving the authority of the guru as an institution, they can close ranks. An unwritten pact of silence operates here – one that was clearly visible in the near-total silence of star musicians during the Gundecha controversy.

In the guru–shishya tradition, the guru is beyond question. His decisions cannot be challenged. Drawing inspiration from Krishna’s essay, an officer of the Indian armed forces wrote an article in which he talked about an incident from his training days.

During a session, instead of responding to a trainee’s question, the instructor summoned him to the front and said, “You want an answer? Here is your answer”, delivering a sharp slap across his face. The trainee returned to his seat clenching his teeth, his eyes filling with tears of humiliation. The entire class remained silent, because questioning the guru was unthinkable. There was no question of disciplinary action against the officer.

The writer later reflected that by remaining silent in the face of such violence, he too had been complicit in wrongdoing.

Absolute authority

Krishna rightly notes that while individual experiences of this tradition may vary, our attention must be directed towards the institution itself. Within the guru-shishya system, the guru’s authority is absolute. He is under no obligation to explain why he accepts one person as a disciple and rejects another. The moment at which a disciple is deemed worthy of initiation is determined entirely by the guru’s will.

This institution cannot function without the guru’s unchecked authority. Since the question is being raised in the Indian context, it is impossible to ignore its deep entanglement with the caste system. Who is entitled to be a guru? Whom does he consider worthy of discipleship? Hindu mythic memory preserves two particularly instructive stories.

One is that of Dronacharya, who demanded that Ekalavya cut off his thumb as guru-dakshina, a token of gratitude to the teacher, even though he had never taught him.

The other is the story of Parashurama, from whom Karna received instruction after concealing his caste. When his caste was revealed, Karna was cursed to forget the knowledge he had acquired at the moment he would need it most.

In both stories, the disciple’s caste and lineage become insurmountable obstacles to their legitimate acceptance.

Ironically, India’s highest sports award bears the name of Dronacharya and hardly anyone has ever objected to this. This silence itself testifies to how deeply caste is embedded in our cultural unconscious. If we examine calls today for reviving the guru-shishya tradition, it becomes evident that this demand is largely an expression of the desire of so-called upper castes to reassert control over education.

Such demands are unlikely to come from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities, for it was precisely the guru-shishya system that historically barred them from educational spaces. A revival of this tradition would once again confine cultural capital to upper-caste groups. It is not difficult to imagine which gurus from which castes would be deemed worthy of producing disciples.

Equal access

Modern education, by contrast, rests on the principle of equality. No one is barred from entry, at least theoretically. Indeed, special measures are taken to ensure access for those who were historically excluded from educational institutions. Admission does not depend on the discretion of an individual; it is governed by impersonal procedures.

In the guru-shishya tradition, however, the guru’s will is supreme. Were such a system to be implemented today, there would be no need to speculate about which sections of the population would be excluded from education.

Equality in modern education is not limited to access alone. One of its broader aims is to establish the principle of equality within society itself. With the advent of modernity, the idea of universal access to education has gained steady acceptance. Knowledge is understood as a right, and it is the responsibility of the state to ensure that this right is realised.

Alongside this is the recognition that no domain of knowledge or skill belongs exclusively to any one community. Every field must remain open to all. Military education, for example, is not meant for a particular caste or for the defence of a royal lineage; it exists to protect society as a whole and is therefore open to everyone.

In today’s educational system, curricula are shaped through collective deliberation rather than by the will of a single authority. A student is expected to work not with one teacher alone but with many. There are numerous ways of thinking and analysing, many modes of knowledge. Students cannot remain bound to a single individual; they must retain the freedom to choose. Their loyalty is not to a particular guru but to their field of inquiry.

Preserving dominance

Moreover, no field of knowledge exists in isolation; a wider intellectual horizon is essential. Such breadth cannot be achieved merely by being the disciple of one guru. Yet, as Aurobindo suggests, the Indian tradition insists that a disciple’s loyalty must be directed to one guru alone.

The purpose of modern education is not to preserve the status quo but to transform it – and such transformation does not move in a single direction. The guru–shishya tradition, by contrast, functions to preserve social dominance rather than to unsettle it.

Modern education is founded on the freedom to question. The guru-shishya tradition does not permit this freedom. Within it, the disciple is expected to renounce her ego, efface herself entirely, and accept the guru’s word as final.

The aim of modern education, however, is to cultivate an independent voice and autonomy. This often requires rejecting what is widely accepted.

A central objective of education is to expand the space for democratic thought and democratic feeling. Does the guru-shishya tradition help achieve this aim?

The reason the guru-shishya tradition is being celebrated so insistently in India today is that those in power no longer desire independent, critical minds. They seek obedient subjects, individuals trained to surrender before authority. The task of education is to warn against this tendency and to nurture a critical outlook. In this long walk, the guru-shishya tradition is not a support but an obstacle.

Apoorvanand teaches Hindi in Delhi University.

On January 24, a magistrate court in Kunamangalam, Kerala, postponed its ruling on a bail plea filed by Shimjitha Musthafa, a resident of Kozhikode who has been arrested on charges of abetting suicide of a man.

Kerala police had arrested Musthafa after a series of incidents that began on January 16. On that day, Musthafa uploaded a video on social media of herself on a bus – also in the video was a man, U Deepak, who Musthafa claimed had touched her inappropriately. She told a Malayalam news channel that she had also noticed the man acting inappropriately with another woman and then decided to film him.

The video went viral, and quickly gained millions of views. On January 18, Deepak died by suicide – three days later, police arrested Mustafa on charges of abetment of suicide, after which she was remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody.

Opposing her plea for bail, police argued that if she was released, she might “commit similar offences and encourage others including women to engage in similar acts, potentially leading to more suicides”.

For now, Mustafa remains in judicial custody, awaiting the next hearing of her bail plea on January 27.

Meanwhile, the tide of social media commentary has turned almost entirely against her. Commentators and even journalists have directed a barrage of criticism against her, accusing her of faking the harassment for attention, and to gain clout on social media.

Journalist Barkha Dutt organised a debate on her channel, Mojo Story, in which she described Musthafa’s behaviour as “follower farming”.

In this fraught conversation, some women have sought to argue that such criticism of Musthafa is unfounded, at best, and dangerous at worst, since, they say, it can skew public opinion severely and harm Musthafa’s chances of obtaining a fair trial.

Scroll spoke to women from the legal, activist and feminist circles to more precisely understand what they felt were the main aspects of the matter that were being overlooked as anger against Musthafa continued to build online.

1. It is not unusual for women to film alleged harassers in public spaces.

In the last few years, several women, some in Kerala, have shot videos of men harassing them on public transport and spaces, as a way of protecting themselves. This included an instance in November in Thiruvananthapuram, in which a woman passenger in a bus filmed a man who allegedly harassed her, then confronted and slapped him.

In 2023, a woman in a bus in Kochi filmed a man allegedly acting inappropriately – the woman also filed a complaint, after which the man was arrested. A year later, out on bail, he was filmed allegedly indulging in similar behaviour in another bus.

Sandhya Raju, an advocate from the Centre for Constitutional Rights Research and Advocacy, based in Ernakulam, explained that there was no law that specifically prohibited women from taking videos in public spaces and that women should not be deterred from doing so. “There are laws that prohibit invasion of privacy, but this happened in a public bus, so there is no law prohibiting that,” she said.

Raju argued that criticisms about the act of filming itself were an attempt to curb women’s power to respond to such incidents. “Some power comes with a phone, women have access to social media and can now demand justice,” she said. “All this outrage goes to show that society doesn’t want women to use phones for their safety.”

2. Filming is only the latest form of self-defence women resort to

Women in Kerala had long endured frequent molestation and harassment in public transport, activists and others explained.

Mrudula Bhavani, a journalist with Keraleeyam Masika, said that she had faced such treatment from men in public spaces since she was a teenager. “It is rampant in Kerala,” she said. “We can say we are a progressive state, but when it comes to gender, we are really regressive.”

While the impulse to film such incidents is relatively new, earlier women resorted to other means to protect themselves. “Women have always carried safety pins and other similar items on buses to stop men from touching them,” Raju said. “This is not new to women at all.”

Sarayu Pani, a writer, said that some women who film such incidents may do so as a way to draw wider attention to the problem. “For many women, posting about these experiences could be a way of healing, to find other women who have been through something similar and feel solidarity,” she said.

Some even see it as a way to more widely discourage such behaviour. “It is also the hope that somebody somewhere is watching the video and thinking that they never want to be the perpetrator in the video,” Pani said.

3. Musthafa’s body language and demeanour in the videos are irrelevant

Raju said she was surprised by how much the public was scrutinising Musthafa’s body language and appearance. “People are saying she was standing close to the man, that she was calm or smiling and did not ‘look’ like she was being molested,” she said. “People are analysing her at a microscopic level.

But as Bhavani noted, women have vastly different reactions to such incidents: some may respond calmly, some may scream, some may go into shock. “There is no uniform way in which women react,” she said. It was not for the public to decide what reaction is appropriate, she argued.

Further, some noted, now that the incident is the subject of a criminal investigation, only police have the resources and the authority to rigorously analyse the content of the video and the incident itself.

This pertained not just to Musthafa’s actions, but Deepak’s also, in the video and after. “The entire scenario cannot be inferred based on a clip, including the expressions of both people,” Raju said.

4. The fact that Mustafa did not go to the police before posting the video is not an indication of wrongdoing

Many commentators have argued that Musthafa was obligated to report the matter to the police rather than post publicly about it – they claim that the fact that she did not do so is proof of her malafide intentions.

But many women reject this argument, noting that women faced immense difficulties in navigating the criminal justice system. “We know that the police often even urges victims of brutal sexual assault to withdraw their complaints, so why would they register a complaint like this?” Raju said.

One study that focused on Delhi and Mumbai found that under half of all crimes were reported to the police, but that the proportion was even smaller when it came to sexual harassment – it noted, “only 1 in 13 cases in Delhi and 1 in 9 in Mumbai were reported to the police”. Across crimes, the most common reason for not reporting crimes was that victims “did not want to get stuck in police/court matters”.

“If you go to a police station, any Indian police station, it is very, very unlikely you will find someone who will take this kind of complaint seriously,” said Pani. “That is why women film themselves, because often, they don’t have access to any actual justice or fairness when they complain.”

Rekha Raj echoed this argument. She recounted that during the MeToo movement in Kerala, “we raised a case of sexual harassment involving someone I knew. At that point, for many people the only way to get justice was to name and shame, because going to the police was not an option.”

But she added that she believed “there is no black and white way of looking at this incident. While I’m not against people taking videos, we can discuss whether or not this is the right way to handle the issue. Society must be ready to have that conversation. But the state cannot punish people for it.”

5. Deferring Musthafa’s bail plea was a violation of her rights

Many women argued that even if police escalated the situation by filing a case, courts should have responded in a balanced manner. “Refusing her bail is atrocious,” Raju said.

She noted that there were no strong grounds for keeping Musthafa under arrest because she was not a flight risk. Further, she argued, she had no known connections to Deepak or his family, and thus was not in a position to influence any witnesses.

“At the most they should have interrogated her,” Raju said. “They have seized her phone and have all the evidence they need. They are treating her like she’s a hardened criminal or terrorist and have only arrested her because of the public outrage.”

For now, public opinion largely seems to be against Musthafa. Men in Kerala have taken to social media to post images and videos of themselves wearing some form of protective gear, including cardboard boxes, before they board buses, to “protect themselves” from women filing “false complaints” against them.

Pani noted that such reactions pointed to a fundamental misunderstanding of the underlying problem of women’s safety, and were signs of a society fractured along the lines of gender. “What reaction we’re seeing today is not one of a responsible society,” she said. “It is a response of a patriarchal society that is very, very angry that women are breaking out of their assigned role here.”

A review committee formed by the Bangladesh government said it found “egregious anomalies” in an electricity supply agreement with Indian conglomerate Adani Group, AFP reported on Monday.

At a press conference on Sunday, members of the National Review Committee on Power Purchase Agreements recommended that Bangladesh move an international arbitration tribunal in Singapore to annul the contract, Dhaka Tribune reported.

The committee, formed in September 2024, has been investigating contracts signed during the now-ousted government of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in August 2024 after several weeks of widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government.

She had been in power for 16 years.

Relations between Bangladesh and India have been strained since Hasina’s ouster.

Adani Power, a subsidiary of Adani Group, exports electricity to Bangladesh from its 1,600-megawatt plant in Jharkhand’s Godda under an agreement signed in 2017 during the Awami League government. The plant comprises two units with a capacity of 800 megawatts each.

The plant supplies between seven and 10% of Bangladesh’s baseload power demand of 13 gigawatts for its 170 million population.

On Monday, the National Review Committee on Power Purchase Agreements said that the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board was paying “4-5 cents more” per unit for electricity from Adani Power compared to power imported from other Indian sources, Dhaka Tribune reported.

This means that the price being paid is roughly 50% higher than what it should be, AFP quoted the committee saying in its report.

The committee members, during the press conference, also claimed that it had uncovered details about alleged illegal transactions worth several million US dollars involving seven to eight persons linked to the agreement with Adani Power, Dhaka Tribune reported.

This has been forwarded to the Anti-Corruption Commission for further investigation, the members added.

In the report, the committee noted that Bangladesh Power Development Board suffered losses up to $4.13 billion in 2024-’25.

Dhaka pays Adani Power $1 billion annually under the 25-year contract, AFP reported.

The report said it was “essential” for agreement to be examined.

It said that these “wrong decisions are not mistakes”, adding that it “suggested a systematic collusion between businesses, politicians and bureaucrats to award overpriced and unnecessary contracts in order to deliberately create huge excess profits that are then shared between these parties”.

Responding to the allegations, Adani Power said it had not seen the report but added that it supplied “amongst the most competitively priced” power, AFP reported.

The Indian conglomerate also demanded that Dhaka pay what it is owed for the energy it had supplied.

“We have continued to honour our supply commitment despite large receivables, when many other generators have cut back or even stopped supplies,” the news agency quoted the spokesperson as saying. “We urge Bangladesh government to liquidate our dues at the earliest as this is impacting our operations.”

Adani Group’s power exports to Bangladesh

Under the agreement between the Adani Group and the Bangladeshi government, the plant in Godda supplies 7% to 10% of Bangladesh’s base load, or the minimum amount of electricity needed to meet a particular region’s demand.

Opposition parties in India have questioned whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi was directly involved in the deal between the Adani Group and the Bangladeshi government.

In Bangladesh too, Adani Power’s electricity exports have long been at the centre of controversy, with experts contending that it entails Dhaka buying power at exorbitantly high prices.

On August 5, 2024, Hasina resigned as Bangladesh’s prime minister and fled to India amid protests seeking her ouster. Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus had taken over as the head of the interim government three days later.

In September 2024, The Indian Express reported that Bangladesh’s interim government headed by Yunus was planning to examine the terms under which Indian businesses, including the Adani Group, operated there.

Across India, farmers battling climate change, erratic rainfall, rising input costs, labour shortages and unstable markets now face another persistent threat: the rugose spiralling whitefly. An invasive sap-sucking insect, rugose spiralling whitefly (Aleurodicus rugioperculatus) attacks coconut, banana, palm and other crops, coating leaves with sticky honeydew that causes black sooty mold. This blocks photosynthesis, weakens plants and sharply reduces yields.

Since when rugose spiralling whitefly was first identified in Florida, US, where it was once a major concern, the pest has been brought under control and deregulated in the country – which means it is considered to no longer pose a significant risk, so shipments won’t be checked for it at ports.

In India, however, rugose spiralling whitefly continues to spread unchecked, driving severe yield losses and rising debt.

Coconut economy

Coconut is central to South India’s economy. In 2023-’24, coconut was cultivated across nearly two million hectares in four southern states alone. Kerala led with 7.65 lakh hectares, followed by Karnataka with 5.64 lakh ha, Tamil Nadu with 4.93 lakh ha and Andhra Pradesh with 1.07 lakh ha. Together, these states account for over 80% of India’s total coconut-growing area, according to Coconut Development Board data.

As extreme rainfall, drought cycles and heatwaves made paddy, sugarcane and banana risky, coconut became a drought-resilient refuge. India expanded coconut cultivation by 19% since 2000 and production by 69%. However, since 2016, the output has fallen over 10% and productivity has reduced by 14% according to Coconut Development Board data.

Farmers state that RSW is one of the reasons for the decline in output. They say that a ‘whitefly attack’ is no longer an occasional pest incident, but a year-round fear.

What Florida did

Scientists traced RSW’s origin to the Caribbean and Central America. Florida’s climate initially enabled rapid spread, prompting close monitoring, but it did not originate in Florida.

In an email interaction with this correspondent, the United States Department of Agriculture noted that rugose spiralling whitefly is non-quarantined for the continental United States and quarantined for Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

“In 2023, the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Plant Protection and Quarantine deregulated the insect through the Deregulation Evaluation of Established Pests review process. Pests deregulated under this process no longer require action at ports of entry if they are intercepted in imported shipments,” the response noted.

“The most effective long-term approach to managing rugose spiraling whitefly is biological control. This method has already proven successful in many areas, where the pest is no longer considered a persistent problem,” the official response added. The most commonly found parasitoid species that worked in whitefly control were Encarsia guadeloupae Viggiani and Encarsia noyesi.

The US effectively managed the challenge within four years, unlike India, where a decade of interventions has failed to provide field-level relief.

India’s first detection

Rugose spiralling whitefly was officially recorded in India only in 2016 at Pollachi, Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. But farmers insist the pest appeared years earlier. AE Srinivasan, 68, a BSc Agriculture graduate and coconut farmer for nearly four decades, says, “I first saw whitefly symptoms in the early 2010s, long before 2016. Hybrid varieties suffer more. The leaves turn black, the tree weakens, and the yields collapse.”

He says that during the initial years, the pest was not treated as a serious threat. “At first, nobody saw this as a major pest or a large-scale problem. It was treated like a routine insect issue. There was no urgency or warning. By the time the government acknowledged it properly, it had already spread everywhere. Each state reacted slowly, and now it has become permanent.”

Srinivasan once harvested 200-300 nuts per hybrid tree annually, but now he gets 100-120. Traditional tall varieties that produced 90-120 nuts have dropped to 50-70. He says quality has also fallen. “Tender coconut loses shape, taste and water content. Customers avoid fruits that look affected. Government recommendations such as the usage of yellow sticky traps, neem spray, water jetting, and Encarsia release, are not working. I’ve used these for 10 years and there are no results. Nothing works in the field.”

To keep the trees alive, he supplements them with calcium nitrate, magnesium sulphate, NPK, silicon fertilisers, neem cake and organic manure.

Additional stress for farmers

Patteeswaran A, 60, from Anaimalai near Pollachi, shifted to coconut cultivation after climate extremes wiped out the crops his family grew for generations. “For decades we farmed 20 acres of paddy, sugarcane and banana. But failed monsoons, sudden droughts, cloudbursts and years of water scarcity made all of them impossible,” he says. Forced by these climate impacts, he started cultivating hybrid coconut in 16.5 acres of land.

The whitefly issue, once mild, has now exploded. “In the monsoon, the sooty mold washes off and the trees breathe again. But in summer, whiteflies multiply uncontrollably. Yields crash and the financial loss is brutal.” What frustrates him most is the lack of support. “We left water-hungry crops because climate change gave us no choice. Now even coconut is collapsing. How are farmers supposed to survive?”

Despite living just 14 kilometres away from Tamil Nadu Agriculture University’s Coconut Research Station, he says no practical help has reached him. “Encarsia cards, sticky traps, water jetting… I followed all of it for seven years. Nothing worked… Sticky traps, neem oil, water sprays, rice-starch, nothing reduces the infestation,” he says.

He continues, “How long will we wait for a real solution? Every year our income shrinks.”

Across Tamil Nadu’s coconut belt, farmers also say that monocrotophos, a dangerous insecticide that is severely restricted, continues to circulate through illegal or informal markets, as repeated whitefly infestations leave them with few effective options. Monocrotophos is a highly toxic insecticide that disrupts the nervous system by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, posing severe risks to humans, wildlife and beneficial insects.

It is banned or severely restricted in many countries, including the US and Australia, and its use in India is restricted due to risks of acute poisoning and ecological damage. Despite knowing the health hazards, some growers turn to it out of economic desperation, as recommended biocontrol measures fail at the field level.

Shrinking income

In the Eruthenpathy Panchayat of Kerala’s Palakkad district, the situation mirrors Tamil Nadu. For Saritha Muruganandam, who has worked on her family’s 10.5-acre coconut farm since childhood, the whitefly invasion has unfolded in complete administrative silence.

“For more than ten years of infestation, not a single agriculture official has visited our field. In Tamil Nadu, at least farmers get subsidy-based sticky traps or advisories. Here, we get nothing.”

With no guidance, Saritha and six neighbouring farmers turned to private pesticide agents claiming to have a whitefly solution. “We paid Rs 4,400 per acre. They injected chemicals at the root zone and promised quick relief. Nothing changed. Later we learned it was a fake pesticide racket. We lost money, and the pest kept spreading.”

Another farmer, M. Kannappan, says he has never seen an agriculture official in his field. “I didn’t go to school; farming is all I know. Each palm once gave 90-110 nuts. After whitefly, it dropped to 45-55. Half our income is gone.”

Across Palakkad, severe infestation, collapsing yields and no meaningful state or central support despite a decade of damage, worries farmers.

National challenge

This correspondent contacted the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University officials and the Aliyar Coconut Research Station for updates on whitefly control measures. Official responses were not received at the time of publishing this article.

Vinayak Hegde, Head of Crop Protection at ICAR-CPCRI (Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute), Kasaragod, Kerala, spoke to Mongabay-India. “We first confirmed Rugose Spiralling Whitefly in Pollachi in 2016 after farmers reported unusually heavy infestation,” he says, adding that the pest may have entered India through imported plant samplings from Florida or nearby regions.

India’s initial response, he explains, followed Florida’s early strategies which include water jetting, yellow sticky traps, neem oil sprays, releasing the parasitoid Encarsia, and conserving natural predators. “These are entirely biocontrol measures. They work very well in the lab and in controlled conditions. But in India’s field conditions, RSW is extremely difficult to control.”

Climate change, he says, has intensified the crisis. “Over 20 years, rising temperatures have accelerated whitefly reproduction. We have recorded faster spread and higher population build-up.”

He also stresses that India’s plantation landscape is fundamentally different from the US “Florida grows coconut sparsely as ornamental plants. Here, it is a livelihood. We grow 70 trees per acre. Such dense plantations make control far more challenging. We cannot compare India with Florida.”

Regarding the deployment of the parasitoids Encarsia to tackle the invasion of the whitefly, Hegde says that it can only be used as part of a coordinated, integrated management approach. He explained that Encarsia performs well under laboratory conditions and can also work in the field, but its effectiveness depends on simultaneous release by all farmers in a given area.

Coordination, he adds, is the biggest barrier. “For whitefly control to work, every farmer in a region must adopt the same method at the same time. If even a few don’t, the pest returns. Achieving this synchronisation in India is extremely difficult.”

He also added that factors such as temperature, pest population density and the ability of Encarsia to establish and multiply in open field conditions significantly influence outcomes. “The lack of synchronised adoption across farming communities is one of the main reasons why Encarsia-based control has not delivered consistent field-level results in India so far.”

Srinivasan and a farming expert from a Chennai-based environmental NGO (on condition of anonymity due to institutional constraints) recommend that India urgently needs a national invasive pest alert system, district-level surveillance teams, mass production and accessible supply of biocontrol agents, climate-linked pest forecasting models, community-based synchronised integrated pest management implementation, and stronger regulation to prevent fake pesticide markets. The same pest behaves very differently in two ecological and governance contexts.

According to Hegde however, rugose spiralling whitefly is now a national-scale problem, spreading from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to other states and now affecting banana, cocoa and more crops. “We have not recommended any insecticide so far. We are studying whether selective chemical options might help but need more evidence,” he says.

This article was first published on Mongabay.

Editor’s Note: The Republic is being re-engineered. Help us bear witness

Eleven security personnel were injured after six improvised explosive devices allegedly planted by Maoists exploded during an anti-Maoist operation in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. The explosions took place on Sunday in the forested area of Karregutta Hills

Of the injured personnel, 10 were from the District Reserve Guard, a unit of the Chhattisgarh Police, while one was from the Central Reserve Police Force’s Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or the CoBRA unit.

The Union government has vowed to end Maoist activity by March 31, 2026. Read more.

The police in Rajasthan's Nagaur district seized nearly 10,000 kilograms of ammonium nitrate in a raid on a farm ahead of Republic Day. The seizure, which took place in the Harsaur village, was perhaps the biggest of its kind in Rajasthan, the police said.

A man named Suleman Khan was arrested in connection with the haul. Nagaur Superintendent of Police Mridul Kachhawa said that Khan has three previous criminal cases against him, of which he has been acquitted in one.

Apart from ammonium nitrate, the police also seized detonators, detonating wires and other material that is “normally used in mining-related blasting”, the police said. Preliminary questioning suggests that Khan supplied the explosives for mining, Kachhawas said. Read more.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that eviction drives in the state were only targeting Miya Muslims and not Assamese people. He blamed the media for allegedly spreading rumours.

No eviction would take place in the Guwahati hills until the Assembly polls, added Sarma.

“Miya” is a derogatory term for Bengali-speaking Muslims. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam has often labelled the community as “infiltrators” who are allegedly taking over resources, jobs and land of the indigenous people.

Elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly are due in the first half of the year. Read more.

A case has been filed against three persons for allegedly vandalising the shrine of 18th century philosopher and Sufi poet Baba Bulleh Shah in Uttarakhand’s Mussoorie. The persons are allegedly linked to a Hindutva group.

The shrine, located within the premises of Wynberg-Allen school in the town, was vandalised on Saturday. The vandals used hammers and iron rods.

Sharing a video of the shrine being vandalised, Pinky Chaudhary, the chief of the Hindu Raksha Dal, said on social media on Saturday that he “salutes” the Hindutva group’s Uttarakhand unit.

Hindutva organisations had objected to the expansion of the shrine, alleging that it was illegal and built on government land. The Baba Bulleh Shah Committee denied the allegation that the structure had been built on government land. Read more.

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Seventy-one fugitives wanted by the Indian government were located in a foreign country in 2024-’25, a report by the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions showed.

This figure was the highest in the last 12 years, The Hindu reported. The number of fugitives traced over the previous decade to foreign countries ranged between 15 in 2013 and 42 in 2015, before rising to 71 in 2024-’25.

In its 2024-’25 annual report, the ministry’s Department of Personnel and Training also said that 27 fugitives returned to India in the last financial year. At least 203 fugitives wanted by other countries were detected or located in India during the same period, it added.

Providing details about the working of the CBI, which also acts as the National Central Bureau, the report said that 74 Letters Rogatory were sent abroad between April 2024 to March 2025. Letters Rogatory is a judicial request to authorities in other countries seeking cooperation in an investigation being conducted by Indian agencies.

The National Central Bureau is the nodal point for the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, in India.

Fifty-four of the 74 Letters Rogatory sent to authorities abroad from April 2024 to March 2025 pertained to Central Bureau of Investigation cases, while 20 of them to state law enforcement and other central agencies, the report said.

The department added that Indian law enforcement agencies, including the CBI, had confirmed that 47 Letters Rogatory were fully executed during the period and 29 were disposed of as closed or withdrawn on partial execution.

At least 533 Letters Rogatory were pending with other countries as on March 31, 2025, it said, adding that 276 out of this pertained to CBI cases and 257 to state police and other central law enforcement agencies.

The report also noted that 32 Letters Rogatory and treaty-based requests were received from several countries requesting to provide assistance in the investigation of criminal matters.

The department added that the Interpol issued 126 red notices – a request to law enforcement agencies globally to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action – to the National Central Bureau.

It added 89 blue notices seeking information about a person’s identity, location or activities, 24 yellow notices or a global police alert for a missing person and seven black notices or requests about unidentified bodies were issued during the period.

One green notice, which is a warning issued by Interpol to alert member countries about persons who are considered a potential threat to public safety, was also issued, the report said.

It added that the CBI processed and gave comments on more than 22,200 applications for renunciation of Indian citizenship on the Ministry of Home Affairs portal.

Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya on Monday said that 467 of the 1.7 lakh declared “illegal” foreigners have been repatriated to their respective countries from the state to date, PTI reported.

At the state’s official Republic Day celebrations in Guwahati, Acharya said that the government had referred close to 4.35 lakh cases of suspected nationality to the foreigners tribunals till October 31 last year since their inception.

Of these, over 3.5 lakh cases had been disposed of, the governor said, adding that this has resulted in nearly 1.7 lakh persons being declared as undocumented immigrants from the specified territory.

The foreigners tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate on matters of citizenship based on lineage and a 1971 cut-off date. They rely primarily on documents submitted by persons to establish their family’s residency in Assam or India before 1971.

Those declared foreigners by the tribunals have the option to appeal the decision before the Gauhati High Court or the Supreme Court. Additionally, as the formal process entails undocumented migrants being handed over to the authorities of the other country after verifying their citizenship, a large number of individuals have not been deported despite being declared foreigners.

Foreigners’ tribunals have been accused of arbitrariness and bias, and declaring persons foreigners on the basis of minor spelling mistakes, a lack of documents or lapses in memory.

On Monday, the governor said that 14 border outposts and 14 patrol posts were operational as of date in coordination with the Border Security Force and local police, along the India-Bangladesh border in Assam’s Cachar, Sribhumi, Dhubri and South Salmara districts, PTI reported.

“This security arrangement has strengthened Assam's second line of defence against illegal infiltration and trans-border crimes,” the news agency quoted Acharya as saying.

Since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the police in several states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asked them to prove that they are Indian citizens.

Several persons have been forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that eviction drives in the state were only targeting Miya Muslims and not Assamese people, reported PTI.

No eviction would take place in the Guwahati hills until the Assembly polls, added Sarma, blaming the media for allegedly spreading rumours.

“Miya” is a derogatory term for Bengali-speaking Muslims. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam has often labelled the community as “infiltrators” who are allegedly taking over resources, jobs and land of the indigenous people.

Elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly are due in the first half of the year.

“The BJP has been in power in the state for 10 years now,” Sarma was quoted as saying. “Where has eviction been carried out in Guwahati hills.”

He added that eviction notices would be issued to Muslim migrants found to be residing in the hills.

Since the BJP came to power in Assam in 2016, multiple demolition drives have been conducted in the state, mostly targeting areas populated by Bengali-speaking Muslims.

On January 5, Sarma claimed that the government has reclaimed close to 1.5 lakh bighas of land in the course of the eviction drives, Northeast Now reported.

The chief minister’s remark on Sunday came a day after he said that only Miya Muslims were being served notices under the special revision of electoral rolls in the state.

Unlike in 12 states and Union Territories, the Election Commission is not conducting a special intensive revision exercise in Assam. Instead, on November 17, it had directed the state chief electoral officer to conduct a “special revision” of electoral rolls.

Several Opposition parties have accused the BJP of conspiring to delete the names of a large number of genuine voters from the state’s electoral rolls amid the exercise and filed police complaints.

On Saturday, Sarma said that there was “nothing to hide”.

“We are giving them trouble,” the chief minister had said, referring to his earlier statements that “Miyas” would face problems in his regime. He added that serving them notices as part of the special revision exercise was a way to “keep them under pressure”.

On Sunday, the chief minister also accused the Congress of pandering to the Muslim community.

“The Congress has said that it has received 750 applications from prospective candidates seeking party ticket,” PTI quoted Sarma as saying. “What they did not say is that 600 of these applicants are ‘Miyas’. Only about 120-130 applicants are Hindus.”

Sarma added that the Congress has “become a threat to our religion, culture, and the more convincingly we defeat them, the more we can save our state and [community].”

He also said that details regarding alleged links between Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and Pakistan would be made public soon.

“I want to reveal it by January 31. But since there is the Union Budget on February 1, there might be a delay by a day or two,” he was quoted as saying.

The BJP has repeatedly claimed Gogoi’s wife has connections with Pakistan and its intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Bhima Madvi was last seen by his family being taken away by security personnel from their village, Rekhapalli, on December 4. Three days later, his cousin Sukram Madvi found him lying lifeless on a cot inside the security camp at Wattewagu.

The police claim Bhima, 46, died by suicide. But his family suspects he was beaten to death by the security forces.

Separated by about three km of forests, Rekhapalli and Wattewagu lie in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, in a block called Usur. Until a few years ago, Usur was largely under the sway of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the banned group that has been waging an insurgency in the forests of central and eastern India for decades.

The Maoists ran a parallel state in the villages of Usur, governing every aspect of life through a network of organisations and committees.

Since 2024, however, the state has aggressively expanded its presence in the area by establishing a grid of security camps, most of them manned by the paramilitary soldiers of the Central Reserve Police Force.

Of the 52 new security camps that came up in 2025 in Bastar, the region in southern Chhattisgarh of which Bijapur is a part, 22 were established in Bijapur. Seven of those came up in the Usur block alone.

Rekhapalli is now surrounded by two camps. The first came up in Kondapalli, three km away, across the Talperu river. It was followed a month later by the camp in Wattewagu, which according to local residents, houses the COBRA – Commando Battalion for Resolute Action - an elite anti-Naxal force within the CRPF.

In CRPF’s parlance, both the camps are called “forward operating bases” – set up with the purpose of “breaching the enemy’s core areas by sustained operations”.

The establishment of these camps, said residents of Rekhapalli and other villages within their operational radius, has forced the Maoists to retreat. With Maoist armed cadres no longer visiting the area, village-level Maoist organisations have ceased to function, and many lower-level Maoist functionaries have surrendered to the police, local residents said.

Effectively, as a young man put it, entire villages have come under a new kind of “command”.

As a result, security forces now frequently patrol the area.

It was during one such patrol – not the first – that CRPF personnel from the Wattewagu camp took away Bhima.

For the residents of Rekhapalli, his detention and death have underscored the radical change sweeping through the area – one that they say, has left their lives more unpredictable than before.

A contested death

A week after Bhima’s death, I travelled to Rekhapalli. It took me a four-hour bike ride from the district headquarters, via Awapalli town, cutting through thick teak forests and crossing half a dozen shallow water streams, to reach the village. Lying on the banks of Talperu river, it is a large village with 105 houses, spread across three hamlets.

Bhima lived with his mother, his wife, and four children in one of these hamlets, in a small two-room house enclosed within a large open space. Two tall palm trees swayed above, while hens, cocks and goats ran around the house.

On the morning of December 4, security forces showed up at the house, asking for Bhima.

“They entered the house with their shoes, threw open our granary, rumbled through the grain stock, threw out our belongings,” recounted Dewe Madvi, Bhima’s 75 year-old mother.

Bhima was not at home. His neighbour, Mangu Madkam, said the security forces beat him up, asking about Bhima’s whereabouts.

Claiming they had spotted a bullet shell lying near it, they also asked him to open a blue drum, Mangu said. They suspected the drum contained weapons and explosives.

Mangu said he refused to do their bidding. “What if they planted the explosives themselves and fixed a case against me,” he reasoned. He claimed that he had already spent a year and half in prison when the police booked him in a false case a few years ago. He was not willing to risk it again, he said, holding his two children close to him.

After about an hour, Bhima was found at his cousin Sukram’s house, where they had gathered to meet visiting relatives.

Mangu said the security personnel dragged him along with Bhima and another villager to separate spots in the forest. He was beaten up and asked to reveal where the Maoists had hidden their explosives – information that he said he did not have.

About two and half hours later, he and the other man were allowed to return home with their bruises. But Bhima was taken away. “That was the last we saw of him,” said Bhima’s wife, Pande Madvi, her voice choked with sobs.

When Sukram tried to intervene to stop Bhima being taken away, the officer leading the security patrol took Sukram’s phone and dialled his own number from it, asking him to contact him later. Sukram saved the number as “Cobra Sahab”.

The family called the officer several times over the next two days, requesting him to release Bhima. The officer asked the family to come to the Kondapalli market on December 6, but when they went there, no one showed up, Sukram said.

Instead, the next day, he was summoned to the Wattewagu camp. There, he found Bhima dead.

In a letter she wrote to the governor of Chhattisgarh, Bhima’s wife has asked for “a high level judicial probe” into her husband’s death. She suspects that Bhima was beaten to death by CRPF personnel.

Asked for comment, the CRPF officer heading the Wattewagu camp said that he had already given a written statement to the magistrate. He refused to respond to further questions, or even disclose his name, before disconnecting the phone call.

The police superintendent of Bijapur district, Dr Jitendra Yadav, told Scroll that Bhima had died by strangling himself with his own towel. He suspected it could be because Bhima had helped the police identify spots where the Maoists had hidden their weapons and therefore, feared reprisals from the insurgents. He confirmed that a magisterial enquiry into Bhima’s death was underway.

The superintendent also claimed that Bhima was “a lower-rung sangham sadasya” – member of Maoist village committees – who had turned over and “helped the police in many ways in the past”.

Sukram denied the allegation. “Bhima lived in the village, he never went out,” he said.

A slew of surrenders

Three months before Bhima died, seven people in Rekpalli had surrendered to the police, admitting that they were members of a village committee that had actively supported the Maoists.

The decision to surrender was taken collectively in a public meeting held in Rekhapalli, said Unga Sodi, the village chief.

The seven included six men and one woman. The village residents felt it was best that they surrender to the police to prevent harassment of others by the security forces who would come looking for Maoists in Rekhapalli.

But were the seven people Maoist cadres, I asked. Armed cadres do not live in the villages, responded Sodi Bami, one of the seven members of the now-defunct village committee. He explained that when armed cadres visited, he and the other members of the village committee would support them by arranging food for them, keeping vigil and organising meetings. The committee members never acted on their own, he said. They relied on the armed cadres and leaders to provide them direction.

With the armed cadres no longer visiting Rekhapalli, Bami added, the committee no longer had a role to play in village affairs.

Bami also recounted how they surrendered to the police. Thinking it was safer to surrender in neighbouring Telangana, four of them travelled to Bhadrachalam on October 12. But Telangana Police handed them over to Chhattisgarh Police. The three others who followed them were intercepted even before they reached Telangana.

The woman member was sent back home the next day with a letter testifying that she had surrendered at the Pamed police station. But the six men were subjected to a week of questioning, Bami said. Later, they were sent to Bijapur district headquarters where they were given vocational training for a month before being allowed to return home. They were neither given a training certificate nor a surrender document, he added.

Back in the village, the group hoped that their brush with the police was over and they could return to a quiet life. But in November, the security forces showed up in the village asking for those who had surrendered. They also asked for Bhima Madvi, said Mangu Madkam. Bhima was not around – he had gone to another village to attend a relative’s funeral.

The village residents said they had no idea why the security forces were interested in Bhima. In November 2024, too, they had detained Bhima along with several others for the village, subjecting them to a week of questioning before they were released, Rekhapalli residents recounted.

Explaining why the security forces were frequently visiting Rekhapalli, Bijapur police superintendent Yadav said that intense surveillance was necessary in villages that had been under the shadow of the Maoists for about four decades. It was important to keep tabs on those who had surrendered, he said, since according to the police’s intelligence network, these areas are still being visited by the Maoists.

But doesn’t this put those who have surrendered at risk, I asked Yadav. In 2025, the Maoists had killed 27 civilians in Bijapur, including contractors and villagers, while 33 civilians were killed in 2024. It was not clear how many of these were linked to the surrenders.

Those who have surrendered are cautioned against immediately returning to their villages, the police superintendent said. Instead, they are advised to look for work in nearby towns until the police can free the area of Maoist presence, he said, adding that the state was making steady progress towards that goal. Bijapur district, with roughly 600 villages, now had 108 security camps to support anti-Maoist operations. “We have so far penetrated 170 villages of Bijapur, which was unthinkable a few years ago,” Yadav said.

The same question was put to the residents of Rekhapalli and nearby villages – was it not risky for those who had surrendered to return home? The response was categorical: those who have surrendered with the consent of the villagers are not harmed.

“Only those who surrender secretly, face a threat,” said Nagesh Punnem, the sarpanch of Nela Kanker panchayat that includes Rekhapalli and three other villages.

He cited the example of two people in Nela Kanker who had been killed by the Maoists in October 2025 because they had surrendered secretly and were suspected of being police informers.

Thirty-three others from the Nela Kanker panchayat who had surrendered to the police in the last two years – with the consent of the villagers – had come back to live a regular life without facing any trouble from the Maoist party, Punnem said.

But they faced harassment from the security forces, said several of those who had turned themselves in. Well after they had surrendered, they continued to be summoned to the police station to mark their presence every week. And the security forces continued to periodically come to their villages to check on them.

Beatings followed by treatment

There was a reason why security patrols were not welcome, local residents explained.

In Komatpalli, a village near Rekhapalli, residents recounted what they had experienced on December 4, the day Bhima was picked up. That day, security personnel from Wattewagu camp also visited their village, said Laxman Madvi, a resident of Komatpalli. He alleged that the security forces beat up several villagers and took two men away.

The next morning, when villagers went to the camp to request for the release of the two men, the camp authorities asked them to take those injured in the beatings the previous day to the Kondapalli field hospital for treatment. The hospital exists inside the CRPF camp at Kondapalli.

Some of the injured people had to be carried on cots to Kondapalli since they were unable to walk, Ladman Madvix said. They were administered injections, but no written medical records were shared with them.

“Maar kar ilaj bhi karte hain” – they first beat us up and then treat us – laughed the villagers.

This was not the first time that security forces had beaten them up, said a panchayat member who requested anonymity.

In October, when Komatpalli had celebrated Nuka Pandum, a pre-harvest festival, security forces had surrounded the village and beaten up nearly 30 men, including the village gayta and pujari – healer and priest – who were conducting the rituals, said several residents.

Scroll attempted to seek a response about these allegations from the officer heading the Wattewagu camp but he disconnected our phone call.

According to residents of Komatpalli, in November alone, security personnel had patrolled their village and its forests and farms three times. Each time someone was beaten up, they alleged. “We don’t run away, but they stop and question us on the movement of the Maoists. If we say we do not know, they beat us up,” said the panchayat member.

Frequent CRPF patrols were making it difficult for them to work in their fields without fear, the village residents said. This had disrupted the busy agricultural season when Adivasi farmers harvest and thresh grain.

Earlier in the year, they had suffered an economic setback during the tendu patta season. The collection of tendu leaves, which are used to roll country cigarettes called beedis, is a major source of income for the Adivasis of southern Chhattisgarh. In 2025, the state government banned private contractors from the trade and tasked the forest department with directly purchasing the tendu patta from the collectors and depositing the money in their accounts. But since most people in Bijapur’s Usur block do not have bank accounts, they were unable to participate in the trade.

Uncertain futures

Tumirguda, home to about 35 families, is one of the three hamlets of Rekhapalli.

Ramesh Madvi, a resident of Tumirguda, said that 14 men from the hamlet were currently in prison, facing a slew of Maoist-related cases. Their families were under severe financial strain, unable to bear the legal costs to fight the cases that continue to drag on.

In Bhima Madvi’s house, there were other worries.

While his three daughters lived in the village, his son was enrolled in Class Five in a government residential school in the Usur block headquarters. He had rushed back home hearing the news of his father’s death.

Sukram, Bhima’s cousin, who is a college graduate, expressed concern about his nephew’s future. “I do hope he is able to resume his studies later,” he said.

All photographs by Malini Subramaniam.

Eleven security personnel were injured after six improvised explosive devices allegedly planted by Maoists exploded during an anti-Maoist operation in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Sunday, reported The Indian Express.

The explosions took place in the forested area of Karregutta Hills, according to PTI.

Of the injured personnel, 10 were from the District Reserve Guard, a unit of the Chhattisgarh Police, while one was from the Central Reserve Police Force’s Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or the CoBRA unit.

The injured CoBRA unit officer was identified as Rudresh Singh, a sub-inspector with the 210th battalion, the official quoted as saying.

The Union government has vowed to end Maoism by March 31, 2026.

In 2025, the number of “most affected” districts came down from six to three. These are Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh.

On December 16, the Union government told Parliament that 2,167 “Left-wing extremists” had surrendered and 335 had been killed in the first 11 months of 2025. More than 940 had been arrested.

Overall, more than 1,800 such persons had been killed and over 16,000 had been arrested between 2014 and December 1, 2025. More than 9,580 had surrendered during the period.

Also read: As Maoists retreat, why many fear security forces in Chhattisgarh villages

United States Senator Ted Cruz told donors of the Republican party in the past year that he had been “battling” the White House to secure a trade agreement with India, but White House economic adviser Peter Navarro, US Vice President JD Vance and, “sometimes”, President Donald Trump were resisting the deal, according to audio recordings obtained by Axios.

Without a trade deal with Washington, Indian goods are facing a combined US tariff rate of 50%. A 25% so-called reciprocal duty was imposed on August 7, followed by an additional 25% punitive levy on August 27.

The punitive tariffs were introduced as part of Trump’s pressure campaign against countries purchasing discounted oil from Russia amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

The audio recordings, around 10 minutes in length, were reportedly provided to Axios by an unidentified Republican member and were recorded in early and mid-2025 during closed-door meetings with donors.

In the recordings, Cruz, who is also a member of the Republican party, reportedly also criticised the Trump administration’s tariff-driven trade policy.

Trump has been using punitive tariffs as a trade policy since the beginning of his second term in office in January 2025.

Cruz told donors that the tariffs could “decimate the economy and lead to his [Trump’s] impeachment”, Axios reported.

He also said that after Trump announced a policy imposing a 10% baseline reciprocal levies on imports from nearly all countries in April 2025, he and a small group of Republican senators held a “lengthy call” with the president, urging him to reconsider the tariff-driven trade policy, according to the American news website.

The call, which stretched past midnight, “did not go well”, Cruz said, adding that Trump was “yelling” and “cursing” during the conversation.

Bihar’s former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav was on Sunday appointed as the national working president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The RJD did not previously have the post of a national working president.

The appointment was announced during the inaugural session of the RJD’s national executive meeting, where party president Lalu Prasad Yadav handed over the appointment letter to his son in the presence of senior leaders. Bihar’s former Chief Minister and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wife Rabri Devi was also present at the event.

The party described the appointment as the “dawn of a new era”.

एक नए युग का शुभारंभ!

श्री @yadavtejashwi जी बनाए गए राष्ट्रीय जनता दल के कार्यकारी अध्यक्ष! @yadavtejashwi pic.twitter.com/BLFvzXJsJh

— Rashtriya Janata Dal (@RJDforIndia) January 25, 2026

The organisational reshuffle comes after the RJD’s poor performance in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections.

Leading the Mahagathbandhan alliance with the Congress, the party won 25 of the 143 seats it contested.

However, the RJD emerged as the single largest party in terms of vote share, and Tejashwi Yadav retained his Raghopur seat.

The development also came amid tensions within the Lalu Prasad Yadav family.

In recent months, Tejashwi Yadav’s siblings, including his estranged elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav and sister Rohini Acharya, have made public remarks indicating discord within the family and the party.

In a social media post, Acharya, who is based in Singapore, criticised the appointment, congratulating “the sycophants and the ‘infiltrator gang’ on the coronation of the ‘prince turned puppet in their hands’”.

When asked about Acharya’s remarks, Tej Pratap Yadav said: “Yes, what she says is right.”

However, he said he would not comment on the matters concerning the RJD since he was no longer in the party, PTI reported.

सियासत के शिखर - पुरुष की गौरवशाली पारी का एक तरह से पटाक्षेप , ठकुरसुहाती करने वालों और " गिरोह - ए - घुसपैठ " को उनके हाथों की "कठपुतली बने शहजादा" की ताजपोशी मुबारक ..

— Rohini Acharya (@RohiniAcharya2) January 25, 2026

Tej Pratap Yadav, a former state minister, was expelled by his father from the party in May for six years for “ignoring moral values” in his personal life.

This came after a controversy erupted surrounding a post from Tej Pratap Yadav’s Facebook profile, which featured a photo of him with a woman named Anushka Yadav. The post, which was later deleted, said that she and the former state minister had been in a relationship for 12 years.

Several social media users referred to Tej Pratap Yadav’s marriage to Aishwarya Rai, daughter of former Bihar minister Chandrika Rai, in May 2018. They asked why he had married her if he was in a relationship with another woman at the time.

Tej Pratap Yadav and Aishwarya Rai separated months after getting married and their divorce proceedings are underway in a Patna court.

At the time, Tej Pratap Yadav claimed that his social media profiles had been hacked, and that his photographs had been “wrongly edited to harass and defame me and my family members”. He urged his well-wishers and followers not to “pay heed to rumours”.

In September, Tej Pratap Yadav founded the Janshakti Janata Dal.

Six Opposition parties in Assam on Sunday submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer, alleging that “illegal, arbitrary and unlawful” bulk objections were filed against genuine voters in the state amid the special revision of electoral rolls.

They further said that this could result in the exclusion of large numbers of voters due to alleged “anomalies, discrepancies and unlawful interference” by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The memorandum was submitted by the Congress, the Raijor Dal, the Assam Jatiya Parishad, and the three left parties – the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

Unlike in 12 states and Union Territories, the Election Commission is not conducting a special intensive revision exercise in Assam. Instead, on November 17, it had directed the state chief electoral officer to conduct a special revision of voter rolls ahead of Assembly elections, expected to be held in March-April.

The door-to-door verification took place in the state between November 22 and December 20. The process did not involve document verification, unlike the special intensive revision.

On December 27, the Election Commission said that the names of more than 10 lakh voters were identified to be deleted in Assam after a house-to-house verification process under the ‘special revision’ exercise. The final list will be published on February 10.

Claims and objections to inclusions and deletions in the draft electoral rolls can be filed between December 27 and January 22. These are to be disposed of by February 2 and the final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 10.

In their memorandum on Sunday, the parties alleged that bulk objections had been filed against genuine voters, primarily on the grounds that they were either deceased or had permanently shifted residence.

They claimed that electoral officers in several Assembly constituencies had issued notices to voters in violation of legal provisions, including by providing very short notice periods and failing to mention the grounds on which objections had been raised.

The parties also alleged that a large number of objections were fake and filed without the knowledge of the purported objectors.

According to them, several persons whose names appeared as objectors had publicly stated that they had no knowledge of filing such objections, and that their Election Photo Identity Card numbers and mobile numbers had been misused by unknown persons.

The memorandum also alleged that booth-level officers, acting on instructions from electoral registration officers, were carrying out suo motu deletions of names of genuine voters. It claimed that some booth-level officers had said they were coerced into doing so or that their signatures had been obtained under false pretences.

The parties said that voters who had been affected by eviction drives were being prevented from submitting Form 8 applications to change their place of residence. According to the memorandum, such voters were not being allowed to apply either online or offline, “only with a view to oust them from the final electoral rolls”.

The memorandum also alleged “unlawful and illegal interference” in the special revision exercise at the co-district office in South Kamrup. It named three Bharatiya Janata Party office-bearers, alleging that they had been frequently present inside the office and had influenced officials to issue bulk objection notices during the revision process.

The memorandum also flagged the statement made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday that only Miyas and not Hindus or Assamese Muslims were being served notices under the special revision exercise.

“Miya” is a derogatory term for Bengali-speaking Muslims. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam has often labelled the community as “infiltrators” who are allegedly taking over resources, jobs and land of the indigenous people.

“Such a statement is arbitrary, mala fide and wholly unconstitutional as it betrays a predetermined intent to target a specific community and undermines the neutrality of the electoral process,” the parties said in their letter to the Election Commission.

They asked the chief electoral officer to summarily reject illegal bulk objections without calling voters for hearings, take action against those who filed unlawful objections, and ensure a reasonable time is given for hearings in genuine cases.

They also demanded that officials be restrained from suo motu deletions, that eviction-affected voters be allowed to submit Form 8 applications, and that unauthorised persons, including political party office-bearers, be barred from influencing officials involved in the revision.

The memorandum also called for the registration of a first information report against those allegedly found tampering with the revision process in South Kamrup, among other demands.

On January 9, five Opposition parties in Assam filed a police complaint accusing the ruling BJP of conspiring to delete the names of a large number of genuine voters from the state’s electoral rolls.

Waiting is often described as an inconvenience, a symbol of inefficiency. In the Indian judicial system, though waiting and delays are widespread, they seem invisible: no order is passed, no force is used, no decision is communicated. One simply waits.

An estimated 5.34 crore cases were pending across Indian courts as of September. According to the National Judicial Data Grid, the reasons for the backlog included no available counsel (which accounted for the maximum number of cases delayed), missing witnesses or documents and stays on proceedings by the higher courts.

When the courts decide on constitutional questions such as rights, liberty or equality, waiting is described as a problem of capacity – a logistical explanation.

From a citizen’s point of view, waiting is more than an administrative failure but an experience: like being arrested, stopped at a checkpoint, denied a licence or turned away from a government office. It is one of the ways the state makes its presence felt in everyday life.

The experience of judicial delays carries constitutional weight. The coercive power of the state becomes visible in arrests, notices, seizures, prohibitions. But power is less easy to recognise when it looks passive – and delay rarely looks like authority and power in motion.

Consider the choreography of waiting. You arrive early. You are told to sit. Your turn is not announced, often due to error. When you ask the person behind the desk what is happening, if at all anyone replies, the answers are vague. Time passes without acknowledgement. You learn not to ask too many questions and whom not to annoy. Patience becomes a survival strategy.

Lawyers experience this every day in the courts. The listed time of a hearing has little meaning since the actual hearing may take place hours later or not at all. One waits without complaint because complaining risks consequences. But lawyers are also complicit in normalising this because we translate delay into procedure, as something inevitable. This is how the system works, we tell clients. In doing so, we help launder power into routine.

The constitutional vocabulary of equality, dignity and liberty struggles to capture this experience of inordinate delays because there is no single moment to challenge nor an identifiable violation.

Article 14 of the Constitution, which promises equality before the law, loses meaning if some wait endlessly while others are heard swiftly. Similarly, personal liberty under Article 21 is weakened when bail and appeals arrive too late to matter and the right to seek remedies against the state, under Article 32, is rendered hollow when relief comes after irreparable harm has already occurred.

To recognise waiting as a constitutional experience is to insist that time is a medium of power and therefore of responsibility. This Republic Day, India’s judiciary must recognise that justice delayed is not merely justice denied, but a constitutional failing.

How long is too long

Constitutional law is most comfortable examining visible exercises of power, say, when the state arrests someone, demolishes a building or bans a book. But the judiciary struggles to confront routine inaction like in cases which drag on for years without a hearing or a decision.

The courts have repeatedly acknowledged judicial backlogs and issued directions to correct this. Yet these have rarely translated into treating delays as a violation of rights. The law does recognise that excessive delays can be unfair, what lawyers call the “delay doctrine”, but this is applied in exceptional situations, after the damage has been done. It treats delays as an anomaly rather than a routine way in which power is exercised.

The ordinary, low-grade delays that shape most interactions between citizens and the state – in courts, government offices and regulatory bodies – remain largely invisible. Some wait far longer than others, just as some files move much faster than many others. The Constitution promises equality before the law but this covert inequality produces a hierarchy.

The courts have asked how long is too long. However, delay is experienced differently by the state and the citizen. Institutions wait, with little cost, but for individuals the toll is personal, economic and psychological.

This asymmetry corrodes the rule of law, training citizens to internalise subordination while rewarding those who can bypass queues. Over time, delays change what the law feels like in practice, shifting from a system of rights into a system of endurance.

Delays also lock people into systems, even when those systems fail them. The longer one waits, the higher the psychological cost of walking away. Over time, waiting becomes a form of pressure, keeping people bound to a process that no longer feels responsive.

Unlawful practices, such as illegal demolitions that are reviewed only after homes are already destroyed, or arbitrary licence cancellations that take years to be corrected, continue because cases crawl through files, hearings and appeals so slowly that by the time the law responds, the damage is long forgotten.

Delay thus diffuses accountability: no single official appears responsible, and there is often no timely decision that can be meaningfully challenged. Power is quietly wielded through delay.

Waiting becomes a form of governance through time. Because time feels natural, as hours and days go by, the authority embedded in that passage of time can feel natural. However, the Constitution does not recognise “natural” power: it recognises exercised power.

Unexplained delays suggest that the state does not feel obliged to account for its time and nor does it fully recognise the person who waits as someone entitled to respect and justification.

None of this requires bad faith. Ordinary administrative functioning, without reflection, can produce deeply unequal constitutional experiences.

The Constitution promises a relationship between a citizen and the state grounded in justification, respect and reciprocal obligation. Yet, delays persist within legal systems that are supposed to uphold rights and ensure accountability.

Judicial reform must begin by reframing delay itself as a violation of constitutional guarantees owed to citizens.

The Supreme Court has often spoken about backlogs in terms of efficiency, infrastructure, and disposal rates. But a constitutional perspective demands something more. Delays must be treated as a rights issue, requiring justification and explanation, not merely administrative correction.

Delays can certainly be justified. But unless they are recognised as a slow violation of constitutional values, waiting will continue to be treated as an inconvenience rather than as what it often is: a durable form of governance that operates precisely because it does not announce itself as power.

Paras Sharma is an advocate practising in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

In the 12 years since Scroll was launched, India has been attempting to reconstruct the very foundations on which the Republic has been built.

Since 2014, our rulers have taken the bulldozer to the values of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity envisaged by the Constitution that came into effect on January 26, 1950. Our liberal democracy is being remodelled as an edifice based on the tremulous pillars of majoritarianism.

Indians are being convinced that democracy rests on the brute superiority of numbers – ignoring the fact that our Constitution guarantees equal rights for all and protects minority communities against discrimination.

The process of re-engineering the framework is fuelled by injustice. At Scroll, we have not only tried to explain the malign impulses that motivate these designs, we have reported on the human cost they have extracted.

We have been on the ground to report on the lynchings of Muslims; the arrests of dissident lawyers, professors and poets in the controversial Bhima-Koregaon case; the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act that inserted a religion-based exemption into Indian law; the attacks on Christians and the constraining of choice under the guise of so-called anti-conversion laws; and the abrogation of Constitutional provisions that afforded limited autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir – India’s only Muslim-majority state.

More recently, we have been reporting on the cruel deportations of Bengali-origin Muslims whose citizenship status has been deemed unreliable by the often-arbitrary decisions of foreigners tribunals. We have also written about how the process to “purify” the electoral rolls through a “special intensive revision” could result in the mass disenfranchisement of India’s most vulnerable citizens.

These reporting efforts, as our readers know, do not come cheap. As Scroll marks our 12th anniversary this Republic Day, we ask you to sign up for a subscription and recommend us to others who may be interested in our work.

On our part, we will continue to bear witness, without fear or favour.

At precisely 10.18 am on Thursday, January 26, 1950, India formally completed its transition from a British Dominion to a Sovereign Democratic Republic. In the high-domed Durbar Hall of Government House in New Delhi, the outgoing Governor-General, C Rajagopalachari, read out the proclamation announcing the establishment of the Republic of India.

Shortly thereafter, Rajendra Prasad was sworn in as the first President of India, while Jawaharlal Nehru continued in office as Prime Minister under the new constitutional order.

In his address after taking the oath, Prasad drew attention to the historical weight of the moment, observing that the country was entering “a new phase of our national life” in which authority would henceforth flow from the Constitution and the people. He reminded the nation that independence had now been placed on a firm legal foundation, stating that the Constitution was intended to serve as “the instrument through which the will of the people shall find expression”.

The choice of January 26 was deliberate. The date marked the twentieth anniversary of the Purna Swaraj declaration of 1930, when the Indian National Congress had proclaimed complete independence as its goal. While August 15, 1947, marked the end of colonial rule, January 26, 1950, marked the commencement of self-governance under a Constitution framed by Indians themselves.

The ceremonial transition

Following the swearing-in ceremony, President Rajendra Prasad set out in a ceremonial procession through the streets of the capital. He travelled in a 35-year-old state coach drawn by six Australian horses, escorted by the President’s Bodyguard. The 8-km route from Government House to the Irwin Stadium – now the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium – was lined with large crowds. Citizens filled the pavements, balconies, rooftops, and trees to witness the first public procession of the head of state of the Republic.

Speaking earlier in the day, Prasad had emphasised the collective nature of the new political arrangement, noting that the success of the Republic would depend not only on institutions but also on civic conduct.

“Whatever the Constitution may or may not provide,” he said, “the welfare of the country will depend upon the way in which the people and those in authority conduct themselves.”

At the Irwin Stadium, the celebrations took on an international character. The chief guest was President Sukarno of Indonesia, symbolising India’s engagement with newly independent nations of Asia and its interest in fostering cooperation among countries emerging from colonial rule.

The ceremony included a 31-gun salute, the unfurling of the national tricolour by President Prasad, and a march-past by the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces. The parade was limited in scale, consisting largely of infantry units and mounted regiments, reflecting the character of the early Republic’s armed forces rather than the mechanised displays of later years.

Constitutional mandate

Underlying the day’s public ceremonies was the coming into force of the Constitution of India at midnight. Drafted by the Constituent Assembly, with BR Ambedkar as chairman of the Drafting Committee, the Constitution established India as a sovereign, democratic republic and defined the framework of governance.

In his address, President Prasad underlined that the Constitution was not merely a legal document but a guide for public life. He stated that it sought to secure “justice, liberty, equality and fraternity” for all citizens, and cautioned that these ideals would acquire meaning only through their faithful application in everyday governance.

One of the Constitution’s most significant provisions was the adoption of universal adult franchise. By granting the right to vote to every adult citizen, regardless of literacy, property, gender, or social standing, the new Republic extended democratic participation to nearly 300 million people.

1950 :: First Republic Day Parade of India

(Photo - Homai Vyarawalla ) pic.twitter.com/Rimpb2qAgs

— indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) January 24, 2023

First evening

As evening descended, New Delhi was illuminated to mark the occasion. Public buildings, including the North and South Blocks of the Secretariat, were lit up, and the capital remained crowded well into the night. In his first message to the nation as president, Prasad reiterated that the Republic was founded on responsibility as much as on rights, reminding citizens that “democracy depends upon the capacity of the people to govern themselves”.

January 26, 1950, thus marked the operational beginning of the Republic of India. With the Constitution in force and the first President installed, sovereignty was vested in constitutional institutions and, through them, in the people of India.

Hasnain Naqvi is a former member of the history faculty at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

A man and a woman jumped from the second floor of a pizza shop in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district after they were allegedly accosted by members of a Hindutva organisation on Saturday, PTI quoted police officials as saying.

Both of them sustained serious injuries and are undergoing treatment.

While they were waiting for the food they had ordered at the shop, members of a Hindutva organisation started questioning them about their caste, the police were quoted as saying.

After they said that they were both Hindu, some persons started filming them.

The 21-year-old man then pulled out a window bar and jumped from the second floor, the police said, adding that the 19-year-old woman followed him, according to PTI.

The police arrived at the spot after receiving information about the incident, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Dwivedi was quoted as saying. He said at the time that no complaint had been filed in the matter so far.

“We will take strict action as soon as we receive a complaint,” Dwivedi had said at the time.

On Sunday, Shahjahanpur Police said that a first information report had been registered based on a complaint it had received. The investigation was underway, it added.

Bangladesh’s interim government on Sunday expressed shock about former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina being allowed to virtually address a press conference in Delhi, saying that the event set a “dangerous precedent” for the future of the country’s bilateral ties with India.

In a statement, Dhaka said that Hasina had “openly called for the removal” of the interim government and issued “blatant incitements to her party loyalists and general public to carry out acts of terror” to derail the upcoming national elections in Bangladesh.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has not commented yet on Dhaka’s statement.

In her first address to the media since her ouster in August 2024, Hasina on Friday accused Muhammad Yunus, the head of the country’s interim government, of being a “murderous fascist”. She also called for a United Nations investigation into the unrest and political developments in Bangladesh since her government collapsed.

The former prime minister’s comments were made in an audio speech played during a press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in Delhi. The speech came ahead of the general elections scheduled for February 12, the first since she was ousted.

Hasina had fled to India in August 2024 after several weeks of widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government. She had been in power for 16 years.

After her ouster, Nobel laureate economist Yunus took over as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government.

On Sunday, the Bangladeshi foreign ministry said that it was “deeply aggrieved” that while India had not acted on Dhaka’s request to extradite Hasina, the former prime minister had been “allowed to make such inciteful pronouncements from its own soil”.

“This clearly endangers Bangladesh’s democratic transition and peace and security,” the ministry claimed.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal in November sentenced Hasina to death for crimes against humanity in connection with the deadly crackdown on the protesters in 2024.

In December, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that it was for Hasina to decide whether she wanted to return to Bangladesh.

The Indian government allowing the press event to take place in the national capital and letting “mass murderer Hasina to openly deliver her hate speech” was against the norms of bilateral relations, including the principles of respect for sovereignty and non-interference, Dhaka alleged.

This constituted “a clear affront” to the people and the government of Bangladesh, it added.

“It sets a dangerous precedent vis-à-vis the future of Bangladesh-India relations and may seriously impair the ability of the future elected polity in Bangladesh to engage, shape and nurture mutually beneficial bilateral relations,” the statement added.

The Bangladeshi foreign ministry said that the “unabashed incitements” by the Awami League leadership demonstrated why the Yunus government had banned it. It added that it would hold Hasina’s party responsible for “violence and terror” in the run-up to and during the polls.

In May, the interim government banned all activities of the Awami League, including its online platforms, under the country’s anti-terrorism act.

Hasina had in October described the ban as unjust and said that it could undermine the legitimacy of the elections. She also warned that millions of her supporters would boycott the polls unless her party is allowed to participate.

Hasina’s speech

On Friday, Hasina said that the UN should “conduct a new and truly impartial investigation into the events of the past year”. Only the “purification of truth” would allow Bangladesh to reconcile and move forward, she said.

Hasina alleged that Bangladesh had entered “an age of terror”, claiming that press freedom had been “extinguished”, religious minorities faced continued persecution, and law and order had collapsed.

She also called on Dhaka to “stop intimidating” journalists, Opposition parties and members of her Awami League, and “restore trust in the judicial system”.

Hasina claimed that the unrest in 2024 had been “meticulously engineered by Yunus and his accomplices” to oust her. After the collapse of her government, the frenzy of militant extremism has caused fear across the nation, Hasina alleged.

The former prime minister claimed that there had been a “treacherous plot” to give away Bangladeshi territory and resources to foreign interests, alleging that Yunus had betrayed the nation.

Also read: For Hindutva groups, Bangladesh is the new Pakistan

A case has been filed against three persons for allegedly vandalising the shrine of 18th century philosopher and Sufi poet Baba Bulleh Shah in Uttarakhand’s Mussoorie, ANI reported on Sunday. The persons are allegedly linked to a Hindutva group.

The shrine, located within the premises of the Wynberg-Allen in the town, was vandalised on Saturday, the news agency reported. The vandals used hammers and iron rods.

Religious books kept inside the structure were also damaged, ANI quoted the first information report as having alleged.

The three persons accused in the matter have been identified as Hariom, Shivayun and Shraddha, ANI reported. Twenty-five to thirty unidentified persons have also been accused in the matter.

They have been booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita pertaining to acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between groups, disturbing public tranquillity, and injuring or defiling places of worship with intent to insult the religion.

No person has been arrested so far and the matter is being investigated.

In Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Sufi poet Baba Bulleh Shah's shrine was vandalised by fringe elements associated with Hindu Raksha Dal. These goons were seen chanting Religious slogans while vandalising the interiors of the Shrine. pic.twitter.com/l46usWTbcJ

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) January 25, 2026

Sharing a video of the shrine being vandalised, Pinky Chaudhary, the chief of the Hindu Raksha Dal, said on social media on Saturday that he “salutes” the Hindutva group’s Uttarakhand unit.

“My Hindu Raksha Dal team today sent Bulleh Shah, who was in Devbhoomi for 70 years, back to Pakistan,” he said.

Devbhoomi was a reference to Uttarakhand.

Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Singh told the news agency that the case was filed based on a complaint filed by members of the Muslim community.

Rajat Agarwal, the president of the Baba Bulleh Shah Committee, alleged that the incident was “not merely damage to a religious site, but a conspiracy to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere of Mussoorie”, ETV Bharat reported on Sunday.

Hindutva organisations had objected to the expansion of the shrine, alleging that it was illegal and built on government land. The committee denied the allegation that the structure had been built on government land, ETV Bharat reported.

The structure is located on the land of a private school, which had allowed the shrine to be set up “years ago”, Agarwal was quoted as saying, adding that administrative inquiries had found no encroachment.

Shah died in 1757. His grave is located in Kasur, Pakistan.

Less than two weeks into the new year, the US State Department posted an image on its official social media account declaring in capital letters, “100,000 visas revoked.”

The message highlighted the immigration crackdown that has marked US President Donald Trump’s first year back in office.

About 8,000 of those visas, the post claimed, had been held by international students but “who had encounters with U.S. law enforcement for criminal activity”. “We will continue to deport these thugs to keep America safe,” the Instagram announcement declared.

It is unclear how many of the students whose visas were revoked are Indian. The Indian Embassy in Washington DC did not respond to Scroll’s questions about the numbers of Indian students who may have had their visas cancelled and whether such students had been given guidelines about how to proceed.

While illegal immigration has dominated Trump’s agenda from the outset, he has intensified scrutiny on one group as never before: international students.

They have been targeted with sweeping restrictions on entry into the US, unprecedented vetting rules and sudden cancellations of current student visas and, in the case of students from over 20 countries, suspensions of future ones being issued.

Scroll analysed every official notification issued by the Trump administration since it took office, affecting the more than 1.58 million international students in the country. Since May 2025, the US has altered or mandated new policies governing student visas almost every month.

“Hostility towards international scientists and researchers isn’t unheard of in the United States,” said Vivien Leung, an assistant professor of Political Science at the Santa Clara University. However, the current administration’s crackdown on foreign students is “unprecedented”, she said.

“I don’t think we have ever seen such a direct push towards excising international students,” Leung continued.

Screening, vetting and visa chaos

It began in May, four months after Trump took office. On May 27, US embassies and consulates around the world were instructed to immediately halt scheduling new student visa appointments. The cable, obtained by Politico, cited “an expansion of required social media screening and vetting”.

The move appeared to be an extension of the administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests on campuses across the US. Issued just weeks before the start of the fall semester at American universities, the message did not spell out what this expanded social media scrutiny would entail.

Some students became afraid of posting news or messages about Gaza on social media. Others became apprehensive about sharing anything critical of the US government at all.

Shortly after, on June 6, 2025, the US Department of State made an official announcement that effective June 9, it had “partially suspended” issuing certain non-immigrant visas to citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. This included student visas.

It ended with a note: “This Presidential Proclamation only applies to foreign nationals who are outside the United States on the effective date AND do not hold a valid visa on the effective date”.

It took until June 18 for the administration to address the May visa halt.

The State Department announced that the screening of student visa applicants’ social media profiles and broader “online presence” would require applicants to set their accounts to “public”.

“A US visa is a privilege, not a right,” the announcement said. “Every visa adjudication is a national security decision”.

Soon after, Scroll spoke to Indian student visa applicants and reported on the increased anxiety this new policy caused. Students who had already applied for their visas but were awaiting decisions scrambled to understand what this meant for them.

Those who were yet to apply cataloged every trace of their online presence – even if inactive. Additional anxiety was caused by WhatsApp messages claiming that even those with no social media presence had reason to be nervous as this could also be a red flag for visa officials.

Two months later, the BBC reported that the US had revoked over 6,000 student visas. Over 60% of them, the State Department told the outlet, were due to previous criminal charges ranging from driving under the influence of intoxicating substances, assault, burglary and “support for terrorism” – a phrase it did not elaborate on.

The same month, on August 28, the administration took it a step further. The Department of Homeland Security proposed limiting the duration of stay for international students. This followed repeated signals from Trump administration officials about ending provisions that allowed students to work in the US for some time after they had finished their courses.

It also recommended imposing a maximum period of four years for all international and exchange students. But students – especially those in PhD programmes in the US – often take longer to complete their degrees, according to studies by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics.

Soon after, the administration added another item to its immigration agenda: ending, or at least restricting, Optional Practical Training. This provision allows international graduates to work in their field as an extension of their student visas, without applying for separate permits.

The proposed rule cited “fraud and national security concerns” and the need to “protect US workers from being displaced by foreign nationals”.

It remains unclear whether the proposal will be formalised, or when a decision might be taken.

If implemented, immigration and education experts say it would deal a significant blow to international students. Optional Practical Training, they argue, is one of the strongest incentives drawing foreign students to American universities.

Indian students in the US – a population that surpassed China recently – are the largest beneficiary of the Optional Practical Training extension in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields, as per a 2024 report by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As many as 48% of all those who choose this option to work after completing their studies were Indians as of last year.

Now, in just the first three weeks of 2026, the administration has suspended entry and new visa issuance – including student visas – for citizens of 20 countries. They include Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan and Palestine. Another 15 countries have been placed under a “partial ban list”.

Issuing new student visas, as it happens, are suspended as per both the lists.

Leung, who teaches American politics in one of California’s oldest graduate institutions, the current administration has targeted higher education and science, driven by the xenophobia of its support base. “International students are at the centre of all of that,” she said.

Restricting their entry and perilling their futures in the US, Leung believes, would have “deep ramifications in the economy”.

British journalist and broadcaster Mark Tully, known as the BBC’s “voice of India”, died on Sunday. He was 90.

He had been in hospital for a week, ANI reported.

Born in Kolkata, Tully moved to the United Kingdom before returning to India for work in 1965. He started as an administrative assistant at the British state broadcaster and went on to become the BBC’s bureau chief in New Delhi, a position he held for two decades.

Tully’s reportage included wars between India and Pakistan, the Emergency, riots, the Bhopal gas tragedy and Operation Blue Star.

In 1984, Indira Gandhi, the prime minister at the time, had ordered the military operation to extract Sikh militants who had allegedly stored weapons inside the Golden Temple premises.

Tully and his colleague Satish Jacob were the only journalists to report from inside the Golden Temple about the fortifications there, prior to the military operation.

In 1975, the BBC was expelled from India during the Emergency. Tully, who was the BBC’s Delhi correspondent at the time, was given 24 hours to leave the country after the organisation refused to sign a censorship agreement.

Tully believed that the BBC’s role during the Emergency proved crucial for its Indian audience.

“We were very widely listened to, but Mrs [Indira] Gandhi hated us and the government [did] too, since we were defying them,” Tully told Fair Observer in 2015. “They thought that by closing the office and throwing me out, they would close the BBC down, but they didn’t – the BBC continued. There were lots and lots of people who were very grateful to the BBC, and we had not damaged our credibility.”

He later wrote several books including about the events leading up to Operation Blue Star, one about the first four decades of independent India and No Full Stops in India, which was a collection of essays. The Heart of India, a work of fiction, was published in 1995.

Tully, who became an Overseas Citizen of India, continued to write books, essays, analysis and short stories about India.

He was knighted in 2002 and received the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour, in 2005.

Several journalists, academics and politicians on Sunday expressed their condolences about Tully’s death.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Tully’s “connect with India and the people of our nation” reflected in his work. “His reporting and insights have left an enduring mark on public discourse,” Modi said on social media.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “We saw him as one of our own.”

Also read: From Emergency to Modi: How the BBC has played a major role in India

A case has been registered against five minor Muslim girls under the anti-conversion law in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly forcing their 16-year-old Hindu friend to wear a burqa, The Times of India reported on Saturday.

While the alleged incident took place in Moradabad district’s Bilari town in December, it came to light after the police said they have filed a case in the matter following a complaint by the Hindu girl’s brother, the newspaper reported.

The five minors have been booked under sections 3 and 5(1) of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, which prohibits religious conversions by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion and allurement.

Kunwar Akash Singh, the superintendent of police (rural) in Moradabad, told the newspaper that the investigation into the matter is underway.

The Hindu girl’s brother, Daksh Chaudhary, told The Times of India that his sister “was talking to one of the girls whom she had met about two months back and had been going out regularly with”. The five Muslim girls “who took away my sister in burqa may have had some ill intention”, Chaudhary was quoted as having alleged.

The brother alleged that the Muslim girls had attempted to brainwash his sister to convert to Islam, The New Indian Express reported on Saturday.

On Sunday, Bharat Samachar quoted the Hindu girl as alleging that the Muslim girls had attempted to force her to wear the burqa and convert her religion. “I was told that you would look good wearing a burqa,” the girl told the news portal.

She also alleged that the Muslim girls had earlier insisted her to eat non-vegetarian food.

In response to the video posted on social media, the police reiterated that a case had been registered in the matter and legal proceedings were underway.

A purported video of the incident widely shared on social media showed the girls in an alley. One of them is seen wearing a burqa, with another girl trying to assist her.

In UP's Moradabad, a video had surfaced on social media with a claim that 5 Muslim girl students forced their Hindu friend to wear Burqa and were luring her for religious conversion. Now, an FIR has been registered against the 5 girls. pic.twitter.com/i11ChaaIpF

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) January 24, 2026

The Times of India quoted an unidentified police officer as saying that the girls were “on their way to a restaurant which crosses the victim’s brother’s shop”.

“They didn’t want him to know about it,” the officer was quoted as having said. “Fearful of getting caught, the Hindu girl may have worn her friend's burqa.”

The matter was being probed to find out the background of the girls and whether there was any motive behind their actions, the officer was quoted as saying.

Commenting on the video posted on social media platform X, Moradabad Police had said on January 16 that the investigation had revealed that the girl “had worn the burqa herself only to escape from her brother”.

“No facts related to any criminal incident or religious conversion were found,” the police had said.

It had added that legal action was being taken following a probe against persons posting misleading videos and claims, based on the family’s complaint.

A Delhi court on Saturday acquitted activist Medha Patkar in a 20-year-old defamation case filed against her by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, reported Bar and Bench.

Judicial Magistrate First Class Raghav Sharma of the Saket Courts stated that Saxena had failed to prove that Patkar made defamatory statements about him during a television program in April 2006.

The case was filed when Saxena was heading the Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organisation National Council for Civil Liberties. Saxena alleged that Patkar had made defamatory allegations about the NGO receiving civil contracts, which he had denied.

The court held that Patkar was not a panellist on the program in question and only a pre-recorded video clip of hers was played during the telecast, reported PTI.

“It is important to note that neither the reporter who actually recorded the audio-video nor any person who had seen the accused making the impugned statements has been examined as a witness,” the judge was quoted as saying by the news agency.

He added that the video played during the telecast appeared to be a part of an interview or a press conference held by Patkar.

It is essential to submit the entire video and audio of the press conference for the court to establish anything, the judge held.

He said that Saxena had failed to produce the original video footage or the recording device that recorded the allegedly defamatory statements. As a result, the allegations cannot be established, the judge added.

In August, the Supreme Court had upheld Patkar’s conviction in a separate defamation case filed in 2001 by Saxena.

Saxena had alleged that Patkar had defamed him in a press note titled “True face of patriot”, which the activist had issued in November 2000.

In May 2024, Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma convicted Patkar in the case. She was found guilty of criminal defamation and held liable to serve two years in jail, pay a fine, or both.

The court also observed that Patkar had accused Saxena of “mortgaging the people of Gujarat and their resources to foreign interests” and held the allegation to be a “direct attack” on his integrity and public service.

While upholding the decision, the Supreme Court had modified the probation condition requiring her to appear before the trial court periodically, instead allowing her to furnish bonds.

Beyond the highways that cut through farmlands, down winding paths that lead into Amaragori village in West Bengal’s Howrah district, stands the Gajalakshmi temple. Its red walls have been darkened with time.

The carvings on its terracotta panels are beginning to recede into the brick. Floral roundels and trellises, a Durga pantheon, rows of birds and men setting out to sea struggle against oblivion. A crouching man stares back at the viewer from one corner panel, inches away from a gaping crack opened up by a tree that now grows out of the temple.

The Gajalakshmi temple was built in 1729 by a wealthy local family, like most of Bengal’s terracotta temples.

Many were built as family shrines by prosperous landed merchants who made their fortunes in the colonial economy of the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of these temples were built by merchants’ guilds.

According to folk art historian Tarapada Santra, there were about 234 such terracotta temples across Howrah district in the 1970s. Many of these quietly moulder away in the neighbouring districts of South Bengal.

They are found in the courtyards of family homes, though the family itself may have scattered or died out. They crop up in the middle of market places, or in lonely spots which once hummed with activity.

At a time when Bengal’s colonial architecture is being rediscovered and explored by research scholars, heritage enthusiasts and cultural organisations, conservation efforts have largely bypassed the terracotta temple, a vital part of Bengal’s built heritage.

The neglect of Bengal’s brick temples is the result of colonial biases that continue to shape the idea of architectural heritage in independent India.

Built mostly between the late-17th and late-19th century, these temples had neither the aura of hoary antiquity nor the prestige of valuable stone to recommend them to foreign Indologists in their construction of India’s past.

With the flight of capital and talents to Calcutta, the metropolis of opportunity and modernity under British rule, the villages of Bengal went into economic decline. In the colonial imagination, the temples were relegated to a pre-modern past that was not worth preserving.

West Bengal’s economic fortunes did not look up after 1947, as the state struggled to deal with the cataclysmic fallout of Partition. For successive state governments, heritage conservation was a luxury and the terracotta temples were not a priority. After all, they were not built by mighty dynasties, nor did they commemorate famous victories or coronations.

As terracotta temples slowly disappear from Bengal, they take with them a slice of the region’s layered cultural history, formed by waves of external influence blending indigenous knowledge. What remains of this storied past must be salvaged.

Texts in terracotta

In their choice of material and form, Bengali builders showed remarkable architectural wisdom. The temples are made of brick, bamboo and clay, readily available material in this fertile region. Their roofs replicate the curving slopes (chalas) of thatched village huts, ensuring the easy drainage of rainwater.

A long history of cultural assimilation under Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and even colonial rule has produced syncretic styles and novel temple forms. The simple charchala (four-sided) structure of the early temples evolved into more complex forms with the passing of time. The chalas multiplied in steps to add height. Sometimes, they were surmounted by ratnas (turrets). Several later temples are flat-roofed, resembling the mansions of the rich in the 19th century, thus reflecting changes in the rural landscape.

Abjuring the use of expensive stone, which had to be brought from other regions, the makers of these temples chose to craft local clay into richly engraved panels. Terracotta, in the hands of unsung village artisans, sings of the religious and quotidian life of the community.

Stories from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the life of Krishna jostle for space with folk deities on the terracotta panels. From the 18th century onwards, social scenes and battles scenes from recent historical memory appear on the walls. These temples are also texts in terracotta waiting to be deciphered.

What isn’t ‘Indian art’

Yet, it is this very uniqueness of Bengal’s terracotta temples that has excluded them from the imagination of Indian art. In the quest for a national idiom after Independence, the terracotta temples, built in a regional style long after the major temples in other parts of India, proved to be a disadvantage.

For instance, architect Srishchandra Chatterjee wrote in favour of a School of Indian Architecture and Regional Planning in 1948. He mentioned several schools of Indian architecture but ignored the terracotta temples of Bengal.

Similarly, many Indians have heard the story of the discovery of the Ajanta caves, but only a handful know how scholar David McCutcheon stumbled upon the Chandranath Shiva temple, with European figures on its walls, while accompanying director Satyajit Ray during the shooting of the film, Abhijaan, in Hetampur.

The evolution of the 19th-century Bengal school of art has been researched but studies of the terracotta temple are scarce, stymied by the untimely death of notable field researchers like McCutcheon and folk art historian Tarapada Santra. Otherwise, Mukul Dey’s Birbhum Terracottas, published by the Lalit Kala Academy in 1959, remains a path-breaking compendium.

Poor conservation

Today, a few of the terracotta temples are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. These include the famous complexes at Bishnupur as well as those in Ambika Kalna and Jaydev Kenduli in Bardhaman district, all built by relatively important local feudatories.

A handful of temples are nominally under the protection of the state’s archaeological department but their maintenance leaves much to be desired. Take the Dadhimadhab temple, built some years after the Gajalakshmi temple in the same village. Carved panels above the entrance to the sanctum, once mentioned in a survey by Santra, appear to have been plastered over.

Social and economic factors also played a part in the destruction of terracotta temples. They were built to signal wealth and influence, but they did not become hubs of economic activity, which meant they faded from community life.

Now abandoned or owned by fragmented families, the structures have been vandalised or engulfed by vegetation which cracks open walls and brings the roof down. In many cases, there are too many stakeholders in the families that own them, leading to deadlocks in decisions over upkeep. Some structures have been razed to the ground as the land they stood on proved more profitable than derelict temples.

Even structures that remain strong are sometimes marred by well-meant but inept attempts at maintenance, with kitsch replacing the original craftsmanship. At several temples in Howrah district, for instance, paint on terracotta panels has blunted the sharpness of the engravings, diminishing the play of light on the panels as the sun changes. Ceramic tiles pave brick plinths and porches, their cold hardness at variance with the earthy warmth of the original brick.

It is the same story across the districts of South Bengal. With no clear advisory on conservation or financial support from the state, owners and local stakeholders have opted for cheap makeovers, resulting in technicolour terracotta and crude workmanship.

Temples in Howrah’s Rautara village and Birbhum district’s Surul village have been painted red with synthetic colour.

At the Rautara temple, a number of missing panels have been replaced with mass produced terracotta tiles featuring mainly the figure of Hanuman. The dhoti-clad, bow-bearing figure, executed in shallow relief, is a jarring contrast to the naturalness of the primates in the older panels.

Green shoots

In recent years, improved connectivity has brought urban bloggers and terracotta enthusiasts to the temple sites. Many post about them, stoking interest among Kolkata’s middle classes. Organisations such as the Birla Academy of Art and Culture in Kolkata and the Delhi Art Gallery have started conducting tours.

Terracotta enthusiasts from Kolkata have started initiatives to involve local communities in conservation. For instance, Kamal Banerjee, a heritage activist from Kolkata, recounts how community participation helped save terracotta temples in Chamka in West Midnapore district and Joypur in Bankura district. The projects aimed to clear access to the temples and encourage locals to keep them clear of undergrowth. This is a recurrent task, funded by enthusiasts from the city and abroad.

In Chamka, a member of the Nag family, who own the temple, got all stakeholders on board with the project. The temple has now regained prominence with the local community gathering there for festivals.

In Joypur, the temple cleaning was completed just before the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020. During the lockdown, news reached Banerjee that well-meaning but overzealous local residents were planning to “restore” the temple. The block development officer was contacted and he dissuaded them from going ahead with uninformed conservation and restoration.

If terracotta temples are to survive, they must be linked to the lives and livelihoods of those around them. Few remain centres of religious activity, which has shifted to new, more easily maintained temples. They could, however, generate economic activity. Creative efforts at conservation are urgently needed.

Tourism projects could involve local stakeholders, particularly women, students and indigenous artists. Homestays, local guides, opportunities to taste the local cuisine could be organised in a way that does not disrupt the life of the community but offers livelihoods

Suchandra Chakravarty retired as an associate professor of English from The Bhawanipur Education Society College.

The Union government has directed social media platforms to take down a video of a 29-year-old man being shot dead in Manipur’s Churachandpur district by unidentified assailants, reported The Hindu on Saturday.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued the takedown order on Thursday on the grounds that the video was “likely to disturb public order”, according to the newspaper. The order came after a request from the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Information Technology Act Section 69A.

Section 69A states that online content can be blocked on grounds such as national sovereignty, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign countries or public order.

The man, Mayanglambam Rishikant Singh, was a member of the Meitei community. He was shot dead on Wednesday at a village named Nathjan. For the past month, he had been staying in the Churachandpur district with his wife Chingnu Haokip, who belongs to the Kuki-Zo community.

A purported video of the killing, which surfaced on Wednesday night, showed the man sitting on the ground in the dark. He could be seen pleading with folded hands to persons not seen in the video, after which two shots were fired at him.

The video carried the text “No peace no popular government”, in a reference to attempts to restore an elected government in Manipur.

Manipur has been under President’s Rule since February 2025, when Bharatiya Janata Party leader N Biren Singh resigned as the chief minister.

At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced in the state since the ethnic clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in May 2023. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024 and 2025.

After Mayanglambam Rishikant Singh’s killing, the state government had also moved the Manipur High Court seeking directions for social media platforms to take down the video of the incident.

On Thursday, the court issued notice to the Union Government in this regard and asked it to place on record information on the progress of removing the viral clips from all platforms by the next date of hearing, scheduled for February 18, reported PTI.

The video of Singh’s killing was initially shared on WhatsApp from an IP address based in Guwahati.

The Kuki National Organisation, an umbrella group of Kuki militant outfits, denied allegations that it had given Singh “permission to visit” the area. It claimed that it neither knew about his visit nor was it involved in the killing.

On January 4, as a pastor named Bipin Naik was conducting a prayer meeting in the village of Parjang in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district, a Hindutva mob attacked him. His hands were tied up, he was beaten with sticks and garlanded with slippers, and force-fed cow dung.

After more than two weeks of inaction, nine people were detained in the matter on Wednesday, The Hindu reported.

Odisha has a long history of anti-Christian violence. In January 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burnt to death as they slept in their jeep. In December 2007 and August 2008, in large-scale attacks on Christians in Kandhamal district, Hindutva mobs killed 100 people and injured nearly 20,000.

The attack on pastor Naik is part of the continuing pattern of systematic violence perpetrated by Hindutva groups on Christian communities, which are largely composed of Dalits and Adivasis.

In the last fiscal year, the Rashtriya Christian Morcha documented about 87 attacks against Christians, said bishop Pallab Lima, the organisation’s state general secretary. Of these, the police registered cases relating only to 15 incidents, while action was taken in only three or four cases, he said.

Lima observed that while anti-Christian sentiment had always existed in Odisha, Hindutva groups had been emboldened by the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state – the party swept the Assembly elections in Odisha in June 2024, ending the Biju Janata Dal’s 24-year reign.

Activists noted that under the new state government, accusations of forced conversions had increased.

Odisha was the first state to enact an anti-conversion law – the Odisha Freedom of Religion Act, which was enacted in 1967. But “for decades there were hardly any convictions under this law”, said a minority rights activist, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.

In recent years, though, the law has been frequently invoked by Hindutva groups who monitor prayer meetings, attack participants and then drag them to police stations to be booked under it.

“This has contributed to a climate of fear and vulnerability among Christian communities,” the activist said. “While the anti-conversion law allows complaints to be filed by the converted person or close relatives, in practice it is often these third-party groups who initiate the process, using allegations of conversion to legitimise violence and silence victims.”

The activist also expressed dismay at the lack of action from the police in such incidents.

“In many of these cases, the police response has been inadequate or delayed,” this person said. “Some incidents of violence have occurred in the presence of the police, while in other cases the police have expressed helplessness.”

Often, while perpetrators are set free, the victims of their attacks are detained or booked. “When local remedies fail, victims are forced to seek justice through higher authorities, human rights bodies, or the courts, a process that is long and exhausting,” the activist said

Activists observed that this pattern of communal violence in the state seemed particularly illogical, given that almost 94% of Odisha’s population is Hindu.

“There is no reason why they should feel insecure,” said political scientist Bijay Bohidar. “Virtually speaking, the state is already a Hindu rashtra.”

Hindus control the bureaucracy, education, media and medicine, he said. “There are hardly any Christians or Muslims in positions of power,” Bohidar said. “So the majority have no reason to feel threatened by the 2% minority population of Christians.”

He said that anti-Christian violence in Odisha was a strategy to divert the attention of citizens from the government’s failure to fulfil its promises.

“They have a lot to distract the public from, like growing unemployment, the gradual transfer of resources from people to corporations, the complete collapse of the educational system and perpetuation of inequality in an intergenerational manner,” Bohidar said. “How else will they cover this all up?”

He argued that the right to religious conversion was an important constitutional freedom.

“How many people actually choose their own religion?” he said. “Most people just inherit it from their families, they don’t read religious scriptures and pick the one they like the best. So it is the right to religious conversion that gives actual freedom to people to exercise their agency.”

But he and others worry that anti-minority sentiment is becoming even more firmly entrenched in Odisha.

“The minds of people have been affected in a very deep way,” Bohidar said. “I think even if the BJP is defeated from power in the future, the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] mindset will not go away soon.”

Here is a summary of last week’s top stories.

Governors vs the Opposition. The governors in three Opposition-ruled southern states had run-ins with the governments there this week. On Thursday, protests erupted in the Karnataka Assembly after Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot only read out two lines from his customary address to the joint session of the state legislature. Gehlot objected to 11 paragraphs in the speech prepared by the state’s Congress government.

The speech contained criticism of the Union government, including its introduction of the new rural employment guarantee act.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged that Gehlot had violated the Constitution as he was bound to read the address prepared by the Cabinet and “has no authority to substitute it with a speech of his own”.

On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi walked out of the Assembly without delivering the customary address. This is the fourth consecutive year that Ravi has walked out during the opening ceremony. He alleged that the Assembly had disrespected the national anthem and that his mic had been switched off during the proceedings.

On the same day, in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan edited Governor Rajendra Arlekar’s address to the Assembly. After Arlekar left the Assembly, Vijayan told the House that the governor had made changes to three paragraphs in the speech. Among the changes, Arlekar said that Kerala was facing financial stress arising from “curtailment of advances”, while the speech approved by the Cabinet had attributed the stress to “adverse Union government actions that undermine the constitutional principles of fiscal federalism”.

The struggling rupee. The Indian currency fell to an all-time record low of 91.9 against the United States dollar on Friday. It has plummeted more than 2% this month after falling about 5% in 2025.

The slide has continued amid foreign fund outflows and risk aversion triggered by geopolitical tensions.

Proving your identity. The Supreme Court told the Election Commission to publish the names of 1.2 crore persons against whom the poll panel had raised “logical discrepancy” objections during the special intensive revision in West Bengal. The names should be displayed in gram panchayats, block offices and ward offices, the court said.

Logical discrepancies include a mismatch in parents’ names, low age gap with parents and cases where parents have more than six children.

The court said that persons who had received notices from the Election Commission could submit their documents or objections through booth-level agents. If the documents submitted as proof are found to be unsatisfactory, the persons should be given an opportunity to be heard, the bench said.

It also verbally observed that the Class 10 admit cards issued by the state education board must be accepted as a proof in the enumeration process.

Also on Scroll last week

• ‘Attempt to silence national press’: Four Kashmiri journalists get police summons
• In Assam, ‘forged’ forms aimed at deleting thousands of Muslim voters ring alarm bells
• Why the chatter about a separate Jammu state is back in J&K politics
• ‘Legally untenable’: Why UP police arresting people for offering namaz is a misuse of the law
• Is ‘fair use’ really fair to artists under Indian copyright law?
• Why an Uttarakhand district has banned paddy farming in the summer
• When India needed support, Venezuela stood firmly by its side
• Silence as citizenship: The burden of being a ‘Good Muslim’ in India
• Review: Timothee Chalamet reigns supreme in ‘Marty Supreme’
• Review: ‘Border 2’ is ‘Border’ too, the whole package better packaged

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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday that only Miyas, and not Hindus or Assamese Muslims, were being served notices under the special revision of electoral rolls in the state, reported PTI.

“There is no controversy over the special revision,” the chief minister was quoted as saying by the news agency. “Which Hindu has got notice? Which Assamese Muslim has got notice? Notices have been served to Miyas and such people, else they will walk over our heads.”

“Miya” is a derogatory term for Bengali-speaking Muslims. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam has often labelled the community as “infiltrators” who are allegedly taking over resources, jobs and land of the indigenous people.

On December 27, the Election Commission said that the names of more than 10 lakh voters were identified to be deleted in Assam after a house-to-house verification process under the ‘special revision’ exercise. The final list will be published on February 10.

Unlike in 12 states and Union Territories, the Election Commission is not conducting a special intensive revision exercise in Assam. Instead, on November 17, it had directed the state chief electoral officer to conduct a “special revision” of electoral rolls.

The door-to-door verification took place in the state between November 22 and December 20. The process did not involve document verification, unlike the special intensive revision.

Assembly elections are expected to be held in March-April.

Several Opposition parties have accused the BJP of conspiring to delete the names of a large number of genuine voters from the state’s electoral rolls amid the exercise and filed police complaints.

On Saturday, Sarma said that there was “nothing to hide”, reported PTI.

“We are giving them trouble,” said the chief minister, referring to his earlier statements that Miyas would face problems in his regime, according to the news agency.

He added that serving them notices as part of the special revision exercise was a way to “keep them under pressure”.

“They have to understand that at some level, people of Assam are resisting them,” said the BJP leader. “Otherwise, they will get a walkover. That is why some will get notices during SR, some for eviction, some from border police.”

Sarma added: “We will do some utpaat [mischief], but within the ambit of law… we are with the poor and downtrodden, but not those who want to destroy our jati [community].”

This came a day after the Assam Congress and Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi filed separate complaints with the police against the BJP for allegedly attempting to tamper with voter lists in the Boko-Chhaygaon Assembly constituency.

In a complaint filed at the Boko Police Station on Friday, Boko Block Congress Committee chief Tuleswar Rabha claimed that BJP leaders, along with a few locals and office staff, entered the election branch of the Boko co-district commissioner’s office in the evening a day earlier.

He alleged that the group attempted to access the electoral roll revision portal using a government password to delete and include names using data from Form 7.

Form 7 of the Election Commission is the official application used to object to the inclusion of a name or to request the deletion of a name from an existing electoral roll.

In his complaint in Jorhat, Gogoi said that he had received video footage a day earlier showing four persons “unlawfully entering and operating inside the Boko co-district commissioner’s office, Kamrup (Rural), Assam”.

He added that the video footage showed the four persons “unauthorisedly accessing” official documents and electronic databases.

“As such, there may be every possibility to illegally adding fictitious voters’ names and deleting names of genuine voters, without any lawful authority,” the Sivasagar MLA said.

On January 7, the Congress, the Raijor Dal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the Assam Jatiya Parishad also filed a police complaint, accusing Assam BJP president and MP Dilip Saikia of being involved in an alleged conspiracy to delete the names of a large number of genuine voters from the state’s electoral rolls.

The parties claimed that Saikia had directed the Hindutva party MLAs to ensure the deletion of the names of “anti-BJP voters” in at least 60 of the state’s 126 Assembly constituencies.

Odisha’s Nabarangpur district has been declared “Naxal-free” after nine Maoists surrendered in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, PTI quoted the police as saying on Saturday.

Seven of those who surrendered were women and the group carried a combined bounty of Rs 47 lakh.

They were active in Nabarangpur and neighbouring Dhamtari district in Chhattisgarh, the police were quoted as saying.

“With their surrender, Nabarangpur district has become free from Naxal activity,” PTI quoted the police as saying in a statement.

Of Odisha’s 30 districts, Maoist activity is now confined to pockets of seven districts, PTI quoted an unidentified police officer as saying. These are Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada and Boudh.

On December 16, the Union government told Parliament that 2,167 “Left-wing extremists” had surrendered and 335 had been killed in the first 11 months of 2025. More than 940 had been arrested.

Overall, more than 1,800 such persons had been killed and over 16,000 had been arrested between 2014 and December 1, 2025. More than 9,580 had surrendered during the period.

The Union government has vowed to end Maoism by March 31, 2026.

In 2025, the number of “most affected” districts came down from six to three. These are Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh.

The International Cricket Council has formally informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board that Bangladesh has been replaced by Scotland in the upcoming men’s T20 World Cup after it refused to travel to India.

Since January 4, the interim government in Bangladesh has been saying the country’s cricket team does not want to travel to India for the world cup, citing what it alleged was a “violent communal policy” of the Indian cricket board.

This came after the Kolkata Knight Riders on January 3 dropped Bangladeshi cricketer Mustafizur Rahman from its squad ahead of the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League, following instructions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Rahman had been dropped amid diplomatic tensions between New Delhi and Dhaka after the killing of a Hindu man in Bangladesh in December. India has repeatedly condemned hostilities against religious minorities in the country.

Bangladesh had been urging the International Cricket Council to shift its matches to Sri Lanka, where Pakistan is also scheduled to play.

Bangladesh was in Group C alongside England, West Indies, Italy and Nepal. The team was scheduled to play its first three group stage matches in Kolkata followed by one in Mumbai.

On Wednesday, the International Cricket Council said that the Bangladesh Cricket Board had repeatedly linked its participation in the tournament to an “isolated and unrelated development” concerning one of its player’s involvement in a domestic league”.

The linkage has no bearing on the tournament’s security framework, it had said at the time.

Security assessments, including independent reviews, have indicated that there was no threat to Bangladeshi players, media persons, officials and fans at venues in India, the council had said.

Also read: For Hindutva groups, Bangladesh is the new Pakistan

In August 2023, the Indian parliament approved a bill authorising the establishment of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation and the act came into force on February 5, 2024. As a funding agency for scientific research, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation is charged with raising and disbursing around $6 billion to universities and research laboratories over five years.

Of the proposed target, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation is expected to invert current funding ratios by raising at least 70% from non-governmental sources, including industry and philanthropy. Industry contribution to research today stands at 36% overall. State funding for science is today at 64% and when seen as Gross Expenditure on Research and Development, in percentage of GDP, has been 0.66% (2018-’20) and 0.64% (2020-’24). For comparison, the equivalent figure for the US stood at 3.59% in 2023 and China was at approximately 2.5% in 2023-’24.

This is not the first time that India has considered an independent funding body for science research at an arms-length from the government. The idea was already proposed in 1944 by the biologist Archibald Vivian Hill in his report to the British Government of India about the post-war reconstruction of India. Hill envisioned a “Central Organisation for Scientific Research” while Indian scientists with the National Institute of Sciences at the time proposed a “National Research Council.” Since independence, the government or administration of science for development in India has been important to those in India and interesting to observers outside.

Two decades after Hill, the American educationist and activist Ward Morehouse (1929-2012) comprehensively surveyed the organisation of science in India yet again and wrote a 500-page manuscript, Sarkar and Vigyan (“Government and Science,” Hindi) in 1967 and a revised version in 1970. These drafts that surveyed the first 20 years after independence have remained unpublished to date. Historian David Arnold, in his paper on “Nehruvian Science”, noted that in 1961, India had 400,000 science and technology degree holders and 70,000 full time researchers. Between 1948-1960, state expenditure on scientific research grew from Rs 10.8 million to Rs 133.7 million. We can understand the thinking behind and the implications of these numbers in Morehouse’s work. No other book-length critical account of science under Nehru’s leadership has been written thus far.

This book is a witness of its time. Morehouse explores the Indian state as administrator and chief patron of scientific research. In his words, this is an account of “public patronage of scientific work in India – about three-quarters of the total in the mid 1960s: industrial research, atomic energy, and agricultural research.”

Morehouse makes three main claims: first, about the bureaucratisation of science in India, evident in the book’s title. He then speaks about the difficulties of building enduring institutions for science, in contrast to the more common leader-dependent organisations, and finally, he speaks to the concerns related to the social structures within which science and scientific institutions in India function. Morehouse’s arguments and observations remain astonishingly relevant today.

In preparation, Morehouse interviewed over a hundred key figures in Indian science and science policy, organised a conference with them in New York, and had access to robust documentation from the Research, Survey, and Planning Organization Unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Today’s commentators on science in India may well envy the robustness of the data to which he had access.

I stumbled upon the manuscript a few years ago and have now prepared it to be published. Drawing on my introduction to the soon to be posthumously published Sarkar and Vigyan: Government and Science in Nehru’s India, I make a case for what we might gain from reading Morehouse today.

Contemporary Debates

Sarkar and Vigyan is necessary reading today not only as a primary source, for historical reasons, or for the interesting intellectual journey of its author, but also because of its relevance to contemporary debates on science, technology, and development in India. This book is a reminder of some of the questions already posed, debated, discredited, ignored, or abandoned in the past.

Morehouse’s approach to public policy and science in India was to centre the goal of reducing inequality on the path to social justice. There are two moments when he could still have published this book in the 14-year period between 1970 – when Morehouse revised the manuscript – and 1984 when, following the gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, we saw a complete shift in Morehouse’s thinking on science for development.

The first is the long seven years between 1971, when he published Science in India and 1978, when he signed the statement on “The Perversion of Science and Technology: An Indictment.” Signed at the 14th meeting of the “World Order Models Project” (Poona, July 1978) by Rajni Kothari, Shiv Visvanathan, and Giri Deshingkar, among others, this statement called for a rejection of the contemporary approach to science and development. In calling for a reorientation of science, the statement still carried the belief that a different kind of science could – and should – shape development.

The other moment when Morehouse could have published the book was between 1978-’84. During this time, he was still interested in India and published a report on the state of policy and research and development for electronics in India (1983) but his faith in science and technology as drivers of development was shattered by the “world’s worst industrial disaster”, a gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. Bringing justice to the victims and survivors of the tragedy completely swallowed his attention until he died in 2012.

Even then, years after he first wrote it, Sarkar and Vigyan would still have been relevant as a critique of the obstacles to a social transformation shaped by science. Perhaps the academic critique of his manuscript was far too strong, perhaps he found it difficult to get a publisher of his choice or, perhaps his interest in revising a long manuscript simply waned with time.

Government ‘before’ science

Six years before Morehouse’s first draft, the British bureaucrat and scientist Charles Percy Snow published Science and Government (1961), which likely informed Morehouse’s choice of title. Snow was important for Morehouse’s thinking on the purpose of science and engineering in developing societies. It is, however, interesting that he flipped the order – government came before science.

At the risk of reading too much into what may have been a stylistic choice, in putting government before science in India, Morehouse may well be suggesting the primacy of bureaucracy in the organisation of science in India, an argument he makes strongly in this book.

In his use of Hindi, we may read that this level of bureaucratisation was likely specific to India, or at least true of India in particular ways. Finally, and this too is drawn from his use of Hindi, Morehouse seemed to indicate that the strong arm of administration was located in Delhi – the capital – rather than other parts of the country where Hindi was not a working language. Bureaucratisation was a concern then and remains one today in the debates on science in India today.

‘Appropriate Technology’

Technology, even more than science, is now seen as the panacea for all problems – and this book offers one genealogy for why that came to be the case.

The late 1960s were a moment of transition. Morehouse captures these final years of an era when the first generation of independent India’s leadership was giving way to the next: the physicist Meghnad Saha passed away in 1956, prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, Homi Bhabha (of the nuclear program) in 1966, Vikram Sarabhai (of the space programme) in 1971, and the statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in 1972. Each of them believed in the power of science for development and global relevance.

Internationally, after the student protests of 1968, critiques of science and engineering as being overwhelmingly beholden to the state went briefly mainstream. Morehouse was writing at the threshold of this transition, and the book is marked faintly by the tensions of thinking about social justice in the shadow of statism and big science and technology.

Along the way, Morehouse became associated with Ernst Friedrich Schumacher’s Intermediate Technology Development Group (United Kingdom, 1965), focusing, among other things, on a Gandhian approach to technology and economics. Schumacher, the German-born British statistician and economist, published Small is Beautiful (1973), a book that sought to recenter people and integrate the environment into government policies.

Given this association, it is curious that Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi does not figure meaningfully in the book. Missing also is a reference to the work of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (est. 1962) and more generally, the people’s science movement in India, as well as a direct engagement with the debate on appropriate technology led by, among others, chemist Amulya Reddy at the Applied Science and Technology for Rural Areas, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

In effect, disagreements on how to develop science and utilise technology to alleviate poverty are missing from the book. Was there a Delhi Consensus, and was it so strong that Morehouse had to wait for a disaster before any critique of the Nehruvian project captivated his imagination?

‘The White Brahmin’

When Morehouse started writing, Walt Whitman Rostow’s The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (1960) was well absorbed by American bureaucracy of the Cold War. Rostow begins, “With the phrase ‘traditional society’ we are grouping the whole pre-Newtonian world…the dynasties in China; the civilisation of the Middle East and the Mediterranean; the world of medieval Europe.” The US, argued Rostow, had the responsibility to lead the newly independent nations through the stages of industrial development toward democracy and prosperity. Under the Lyndon Johnson presidency, Rostow would go on to advocate Operation Rolling Thunder for the carpet bombing of North Vietnam. In the year that Morehouse was writing the first draft of this book, George Basalla published The Spread of Western Science: A Three-Stage Model (1967) about the introduction of what appears to be an almost alien modern science into any non-European nation.

Both Rostow and later Basalla are broadly covering the same terrain as Morehouse. It is interesting, then, that Morehouse’s approach is at a distance from both Rostow and Basalla even as he held on to his faith in a “scientific revolution for the third world.” Morehouse was acutely aware of his position as an American in India. He knew that his claims about what mattered to Indian leadership and to Indian scientists was written through foreign eyes. In the spirit of Graham Greene’s The Quiet American (1955) and Eugene Burdick and William Lederer’s The Ugly American (1958), Morehouse wrote The White Brahmin – a critique of American presence and behaviour in India and in the world during the Cold War (Illustrated Weekly of India, 1970).

A lot has changed since Morehouse wrote the book. Aspiration to global power and the specter of a rising China has tenuously taken over earlier goals of modernisation in India. Today, Indian science and politics are taking stock of capabilities in science and engineering, and not surprisingly, also of the Nehru era. The Anusandhan National Research Foundation is tasked with delivering internationally competitive research. How that unfolds – and if it can do so while addressing the major concerns around how science is organised in India, including those that Morehouse posed decades ago – remains to be seen. If we want to trace genealogies of the socio-technical imaginaries of our time and re-evaluate problems with the organisation of science and engineering in India, then this is a book worth reading.

Jahnavi Phalkey (CASI Spring 2025 Visiting Scholar) is a historian of science, filmmaker, and the Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru. She was awarded the Infosys Prize in Humanities (2023).

The article was first published in India in Transition, a publication of the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania.

The Madras High Court has quashed an order issued by the Tamil Nadu government to collect sensitive personal data on the social background of higher secondary students in model schools, saying that the move violated their right to privacy, Bar and Bench reported on Saturday.

Model schools were established in Tamil Nadu to coach higher secondary students to clear competitive exams and help them secure admission to premier higher educational institutions.

The matter before the bench pertained to an order issued by the state Education Department on September 4, 2025, which directed government-run model schools to collect personal and social background information from students studying in Classes 9 to 12, Bar and Bench reported.

The information to be collected comprised 25 questions about the social and familial background of the students, including whether they were from refugee, nomadic or gypsy communities, migrants from other states, or from oppressed caste backgrounds.

Other questions included whether students had gender non-conforming identities, were survivors of abuse or violence, or had families with a history of substance abuse, the legal news portal reported.

The order directed teachers to collect the information from students and upload it on a portal.

On January 5, Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan of the Madurai bench held that collecting such data without a clear purpose also amounted to discrimination against students from vulnerable backgrounds.

“The data sought to be collected as well as the manner in which, it is to be documented…is absolutely in violation of privacy and…is clear discrimination and ill-treatment of the students of the model school,” the legal news portal quoted the bench as saying.

The move would only demoralise students who came from “stigmatic” social backgrounds, it said, adding that it was an “absolute abuse of power”.

The order came in response to a writ petition filed before the court challenging the direction.

Earlier, the authorities of the model schools had maintained that the details were being collected to ensure special attention could be given to students who required it.

While quashing the order, the court noted that the counsel representing the authorities was unable to provide justification for the collection of such information. The bench added that it was also not explained what kind of special attention the students were expected to receive.

The bench further rejected the authorities’ argument that the data was being collected in their role as parens patriae, Bar and Bench reported.

Parens patriae, which is Latin for “parent of the country”, is a legal doctrine allowing the state to act as the ultimate guardian for individuals unable to care for themselves, such as children, the incapacitated, or the disabled, intervening to protect their welfare and interests when their natural caretakers fail or are absent

Last December, Delhi hosted a concert by AR Rahman and his Sufi ensemble. On paper, this was an accessible concert, at least for wheelchair users who could afford the premium tiers priced at Rs 6,000 or Rs 25,000. The lowest-priced ticket, at Rs1,000, offered no wheelchair access at all. The Rahman concert was symptomatic of a larger issue – one where accessibility is treated as a luxury feature rather than a basic design requirement.

Many other musicians like Sunidhi Chauhan, AP Dhillon, and Papon came and captured Delhi in the same month. Unfortunately, unlike Rahman, even money could not buy you access to these concerts.

And we are only talking about accessibility for wheelchair users here. People with visual, hearing, or sensory impairments do not even enter the conversation in most cases. Are they not seen as individuals who have a right to access and enjoy public spaces?

Some countries such as the United Kingdom have made considerable progress in terms of mainstreaming accessibility for different disabilities. In addition to the Equality Act of 2010 that makes access a statutory right, many organisations including universities, event management and ticketing platforms and charities have guidelines on designing inclusive events.

This is an outcome of years of disability rights advocacy that has made accessibility a core part of how people think about public spaces.

Attitudinal barriers

So, why are live events still not universally accessible nearly a decade after the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act came into force? In India, people with disabilities are treated with indifference at best and prejudice at worst. We grow up consuming television and popular culture that ridicules difficulties in speaking (“atki hui cassette” in Aankh Micholi), hearing (Bunty Malhotra in Housefull 3), walking (“Langda Tyagi” in Omkara), normalising disdain and embedding it deep within our collective consciousness.

These attitudes do not remain on screen – they actively shape how public infrastructure is imagined, funded, and prioritised. When people with disabilities are stereotyped as belonging to “special” schools or distant, segregated spaces, they are rendered invisible in everyday public life.

This institutionalised invisibility means event organisers do not perceive them as a legitimate audience. And when a group is not recognised as an audience, its needs are never designed for. This results in them being systematically excluded from the very public spaces where leisure, culture and social life unfold.

Apart from attitudinal barriers, organisers often point to practical concerns such as fear of backlash “if something goes wrong” or the additional resources required to make venues accessible. But these claims ring hollow because when accessibility is built into planning from the outset, it does not significantly inflate costs.

Another common argument is that accessible venues offer poor returns as not many people with disabilities attend such events. Of course they wouldn’t if the venue itself isn’t accessible. This argument is circular: without access, there is no attendance; without attendance, access is never built.

Some bright spots

Not all is grim in India, though. The recently concluded Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa is an exemplar of accessible and inclusive events. In addition to being wheelchair accessible, exhibitions were curated with multisensory elements such as tactile installations, Braille, audio descriptions, and visual cues to include Deaf and Blind audiences.

Coldplay’s 2025 concert provided vibration jackets that enabled deaf individuals to feel the rhythm and beats and actually feel the music. In fact, Coldplay has been prioritising inclusivity and has ensured that their events cater to people with different needs. Another example is the India Art Fair, which not only offers tactile and Braille artworks along with sign language interpretation but also provides quiet rooms for people with cognitive disabilities who may need respite from sensory overload.

Making live events accessible is ultimately a matter of intent. People with disabilities are not a niche market but citizens with equal rights to culture, leisure and public life. Investing in accessibility is both socially just and economically sound – brands gain goodwill, loyalty, and reach, while people with disabilities get to participate in leisure and culture on equal terms and with dignity.

While having a legislation which mandates accessibility is certainly necessary, its objective falls flat if there is no concomitant effort to visibilise people with disabilities and bring them into public discourse.

On paper, India has an extremely strong legislation in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act. However, on the ground, its implementation continues to be dismal, especially when it comes to events. This is reflected in an absence of a commitment towards accessibility by most Indian musicians.

As Siddhant Shah, Founder of Access for ALL (the organisation that made Coldplay’s India experience accessible), puts it, “Accessibility should not be seen as a virtue. It should become a habit. It should be something we live by every day, not something we do only to look good.”

Seventy-nine years after Independence, the conversation around disability still often gets restricted to skilling, employment and pensions. However, persons with disabilities are complete human beings with a spectrum of needs and desires. It is time we start looking at them as complete human beings with a right not just to life, but to live. It is time we start looking at them as a market and not just as a charity.

More importantly, it is time to look for “us” in them because everyone in the world is temporarily able bodied and when we are designing for the disabled, we are designing for universal access.

Nipun Malhotra is a disability rights advocate He is the founder of Nipman Foundation and director of The Quantum Hub. Teesta Shukla is a senior analyst at The Quantum Hub.

India on Friday voted against a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution that censured Iran’s crackdown on the recent anti-government protests.

The resolution, also demanding an end to “brutal repression” by Tehran, was passed by the 47-member council. While 25 members of the council voted in favour of the resolution, 14 abstained. Seven, including India and China, opposed it.

Ambassador of Iran to India Mohammad Fathali on Saturday thanked New Delhi for its “principled and firm support” of Tehran “including opposing an unjust and politically motivated resolution”.

“This stance reflects India’s commitment to justice, multilateralism, and national sovereignty,” Fathali said.

I extend my sincere gratitude to the Govt. of India for its principled and firm support of I.R. of Iran at the UN_HRC, including opposing an unjust and politically motivated resolution. This stance reflects India’s commitment to justice, multilateralism, and national sovereignty. pic.twitter.com/kLFnqpNjmB

— Iran Ambassador Mohammad Fathali (@IranAmbIndia) January 24, 2026

The protests, which began on December 28, initially focused on discontent about rising inflation. However, they later expanded as protesters in more than 100 towns demanded an end to clerical rule.

On Friday, the council in its resolution said that it “deplores the violent crackdown of peaceful protests” resulting in thousands of deaths, and urged the Iranian government to “respect, protect and fulfil its human rights obligations”.

The resolution asked Tehran to take measures to end and prevent extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance and arbitrary arrests.

The toll in the crackdown on the protests is at least 5,000, AP quoted activists as saying on Friday.

The United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency was quoted as saying that the toll includes more than 4,700 protesters, over 200 demonstrators affiliated to the Iranian government, 43 children and 40 civilians who had not participated in the unrest.

This would make the protests the deadliest unrest in Iran in several decades.

More than 26,800 persons have been detained by the authorities in a widening arrest campaign, AP quoted the US-based human rights group as saying.

On Wednesday, the Iranian government said that the toll was more than 3,100. More than 2,400 of those killed in the protests were civilians and security personnel and the remaining, Tehran claimed, were “terrorists”.

On January 8, the Iranian government snapped internet access and telephone lines, largely cutting off the country from the outside world. The authorities have accused the US and Israel of inciting the unrest.

The restrictions were eased on January 13, AP reported. However, text messaging services were still down and internet users were only able to connect to government-approved websites locally.

The internet shutdown has made it difficult for international human rights groups to independently verify the toll.

On Friday, to deepen scrutiny of Tehran’s actions, the UN body also extended for two years and broadened the mandate of the independent investigators gathering evidence to ensure accountability for human rights violations in Iran.

The collector and district magistrate of Koraput district in Odisha have directed officials to impose a one-day ban on the sale of non-vegetarian food items on Republic Day, Monday, ANI reported.

In a letter issued on Friday, the administration instructed all tehsildars, block development officers and executive officers in the district to enforce a ban on the sale of “meat, chicken, fish, eggs and other non-vegetarian items” on the day.

Odisha: Koraput Collector & DM has written to all Tahsildars, all Block Development Officers and all Executive Officers of the district to issue an official order in their jurisdiction for prohibition on selling of meat, chicken, fish, egg, etc and non- vegetarian food on the… pic.twitter.com/4WmcCMtOXv

— ANI (@ANI) January 24, 2026

In 2025, the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation had ordered all slaughterhouses and meat shops within its jurisdiction to remain closed on Independence Day. The move had sparked a row, with Opposition parties describing it as “food policing”.

Also read: The illogic of meat bans