West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that, to “grab power” in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party had deleted more than 90 lakh names from the electoral rolls during the special intensive revision, PTI reported.

Addressing a public rally at Minakhan in North 24 Parganas district, the Trinamool Congress chief said: “You [the BJP] deleted names of over 90 lakh people to grab power in Bengal, but we will win.”

The Assembly elections in the state will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.

Nearly 91 lakh voters had been removed from West Bengal’s voter lists as part of the revision of the electoral rolls ahead of the elections, The Statesman had reported on Tuesday citing data from the Election Commission.

The deletions represented nearly 11.9% of the state’s electorate of 7.6 crore that existed before the voter roll revision process began.

The exercise concluded after judicial officers adjudicated about 60 lakh claims and objections. However, voters who were removed during the adjudication process could appeal in 19 tribunals set up for the purpose.

On Thursday, Banerjee said that the elections were “a fight for the survival of the people and the existence of Bengal,” the news agency reported. She urged voters to remain vigilant and participate in the elections to safeguard the rights and identity of Bengal’s residents.

The chief minister also claimed that many were being harassed in BJP-ruled states for speaking in Bengali. She accused the Hindutva party of terming the language as “foreign” and describing Bengali speakers as “infiltrators”.

Since April 2025, the police in several states ruled by the BJP have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asking 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.

‘Systematic mass disenfranchisement’: CPI(M) writes to EC

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday told the Election Commission that the special intensive revision in West Bengal had led to “algorithm-driven exclusions rather than transparent, field-based verification”.

In a letter to the chief election commissioner, CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby raised “grave concern and strong protest” about the large-scale deletion of voters from the electoral rolls in the state after the exercise.

Citing reports of the deletion of more than 90 lakh voters from the final electoral rolls, Baby said that this amounted to a denial of the right to vote guaranteed under Article 326 of the Constitution.

He noted that the CPI(M) had argued right from the beginning of the exercise that it represented a “systematic exercise in mass disenfranchisement”.

The letter said: “Unlike earlier exercises, the voter was treated as a suspect and the burden to prove otherwise rested on them.”

Baby added that equally troubling was the “opacity” of the entire exercise.

“Lists were released in non-analysable formats, preventing public scrutiny,” he said. “Independent analyses, indicate that marginalised communities, particularly Muslims, women, and economically vulnerable sections, have been disproportionately impacted.”

The right to vote is a core democratic right integral to equality and dignity, the letter said.

It added: “Its large-scale denial, particularly to marginalised sections, constitutes a serious assault on the precepts of the Constitution itself.”

. @MABABYCPIM, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has written to the Chief Election Commissioner against the backdrop of the large-scale deletion of voters from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). He has… pic.twitter.com/R6k4EGI6Na

— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) April 9, 2026

SIR in West Bengal

West Bengal is also among the 12 states and Union Territories where the special intensive revision of the electoral roll was undertaken.

On February 28, the Election Commission published the final electoral roll for West Bengal, showing that more than 61 lakh voters had been excluded. However, the process continued with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases remaining under adjudication based on their objections to their exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered that judicial officers of the rank of district judge or additional district judge be appointed to help complete the revision exercise in the state.

On March 10, the top court ordered the formation of appellate tribunals composed of former High Court chief justices and judges to hear appeals against exclusions. A person whose claim for inclusion in the electoral rolls has been rejected by a judicial officer can approach the tribunal.

Also read:

• Millions of Bengalis may lose their vote. Not over citizenship but due to clerical errors

• Mehebub Sheikh was forced into Bangladesh – but still made it to the Bengal SIR voter list

Voting in the Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry concluded at 6 pm on Thursday.

The approximate polling trends for voter turnout in Assam was at 85.4%, according to data from the Election Commission. Kerala recorded a 78% turnout while Puducherry saw 89.8%.

The numbers are expected to rise as the poll panel revises figures based on inputs from several booths.

This was the highest ever voter turnout recorded in Assam’s electoral history. In the Assembly elections held in 2021, the state had recorded a total voter turnout of 82%.

All constituencies in the two states and the Union Territory are being covered in a single phase. The polling began at 7 am. The votes will be counted on May 4.

In Assam, more than 1.5 lakh security personnel have been deployed to cover 31,940 polling stations in the 126 constituencies, PTI reported.

There are about 2.5 crore electors in the state, including 6.4 lakh first-time voters.

Also read:

• In Upper Assam, BJP faces an upbeat Opposition with its battalion of welfare schemes
• Battered by BJP rule, Assam’s Miya Muslims pin no hopes on the election

In Kerala, more than 880 candidates are in the fray for the 140 constituencies. About 2.7 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the state.

The Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front is seeking a rare third consecutive term, facing off against the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s National Democratic Alliance.

In Puducherry, 9.5 lakh voters are choosing from 294 candidates in 30 constituencies.

The NDA, which is led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy’s All India NR Congress in the Union Territory, is aiming to retain power. It is facing candidates from the Opposition INDIA bloc mainly comprising the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Ahead of the polls, the Election Commission conducted a special intensive revision of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union Territories including Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.

The final voter lists have now been published, but the exercise has been contentious. Following the revision process in Bihar conducted last year, concerns had been raised that eligible voters might be removed from the rolls. Several petitioners had approached the Supreme Court to challenge the process.

#WATCH | Keralam CM Pinarayi Vijayan casts his vote in Assembly elections, at Pinarayi RC Amala Basic Upper Primary School in Kannur pic.twitter.com/yIVgSmzdPh

— ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2026

Bye-elections were also held in Karnataka (Bagalkot and Davangere South), Nagaland (Koridang) and Tripura.

Polling in Goa’s Ponda constituency, initially scheduled for Thursday, was cancelled on Wednesday by the Bombay High Court, which noted that the term of the Assembly will end in less than a year.

The 2021 results

In the previous Assembly polls in Assam, the BJP-led NDA had won a clear majority. It won 75 seats of the 126-member Assembly. The Opposition Mahajot alliance comprising the Congress, the Left and the All India United Democratic Front had won 50 seats.

After the polls, BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma had become the chief minister, replacing Sarbananda Sonowal.

In Kerala, the LDF had broken a 44-year trend of incumbents losing power. The alliance picked up 99 seats in the 140-member Assembly. The Congress-led United Democratic Front had won 41.

In Puducherry, the NDA, comprising the All India NR Congress and the BJP, had defeated the United Progressive Alliance of the Congress and the DMK. N Rangaswamy of the NR Congress became the chief minister.

Also read:

• Why unhappiness over Zubeen’s death is not driving Assam voters away from BJP
• Why an ‘inclusive’ tribal leader from Assam has joined hands with BJP for the Assembly poll

The Congress on Thursday announced that it will withdraw its candidate from Maharashtra’s Baramati Assembly seat in the upcoming bye-elections as a “mark of respect” for former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, PTI reported.

Sunetra Pawar, the deputy chief minister and Ajit Pawar’s wife, is contesting the seat following the Nationalist Congress Party leader’s death in a plane crash on January 28.

Thursday is the last day to withdraw nominations for the April 23 bye-elections, necessitated by his death.

Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said that he had asked the party’s state unit to withdraw its candidate. PTI reported. The Opposition party had fielded Akash More from the seat.

Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said that the party had earlier decided to contest from Baramati as “a message to the people regarding the opposition to BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party],” The Hindu reported.

“Ajit Pawar was a big leader of Maharashtra,” the newspaper quoted Sapkal as saying. “Congress has decided to respond to the emotional appeals about this.”

Sapkal also said that Sunetra Pawar had called him on April 5 about withdrawing from the seat, and again on Wednesday and Thursday. He added that other Nationalist Congress Party leaders had also contacted him.

“NCP-SP [Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar] leaders have contacted our senior leaders too,” The Hindu quoted Sapkal as saying.

The Nationalist Congress Party is part of the state’s ruling Mahayuti coalition, which also comprises the BJP and the Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi comprises the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Sharad Pawar.

Ajit Pawar died when a small aircraft crashed near an airstrip in Baramati town during its second attempt to land after having initiated a go-around. Two pilots, a flight attendant and Ajit Pawar’s security officer were the others who died in the incident.

The cause of the crash was unclear. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, a unit of the civil aviation ministry, is investigating the incident.

On January 31, Sunetra Pawar took oath as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister, replacing Ajit Pawar. She was also elected as the leader of the legislative party of the Nationalist Congress Party.

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Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 203 persons and injured over a thousand, the Lebanese health ministry said. The Israeli military said that it had, in a 10-minute operation, conducted “the largest coordinated strike” in Lebanon since the conflict in West Asia began.

With the attacks starting hours after a ceasefire was announced between the United States and Iran, Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz again.

The United States said that Iran must open the strategic waterway “immediately, quickly and safely” and that any closure of the strait was completely unacceptable. Read more.

Does India have enough fertiliser stocks to tide over Iran war shock? explains Vaishnavi Rathore

Voting took place for the Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry. As of 5 pm, the turnout in Assam was 84.42%. Kerala recorded 75.01% turnout while Puducherry saw 86.92%, according to data from the Election Commission.

The numbers are expected to rise as the poll panel revises figures based on inputs from several booths. This was the highest ever voter turnout recorded in Assam’s electoral history. In the Assembly elections held in 2021, the state had recorded a total voter turnout of 82.42%. Read more.

In Upper Assam, BJP faces an upbeat Opposition with its battalion of welfare schemes, reports Rokibuz Zaman

Congress leader Pawan Khera told the Telangana High Court that the forgery and criminal conspiracy case registered against him by the Assam Police “reeks of political vendetta”. He had moved the court seeking transit anticipatory bail after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife filed a first information report against him.

The court reserved the verdict in the case, asking why the Congress leader had not moved a court in Assam to seek relief.

The FIR was filed after the Congress leader claimed on Sunday that he had documentary evidence that showed that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma holds passports of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda. Read more.

A Kolkata-based research organisation found that Muslims comprised more than 40% of the voters deleted from the electoral rolls in the city’s Bhabanipur seat during adjudication as part of the special intensive revision process. The community accounts for only about 20% of the population in the constituency.

Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is slated to contest the seat against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Suvendu Adhikari.

The deletions of voters from the electoral rolls were caused by minor spelling mismatches or arbitrary criteria like “too many siblings”, said the Sabar Institute. The organisation noted that the patterns of deletions are “structural” across West Bengal. Read more.

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Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday told the Telangana High Court that the forgery and criminal conspiracy case registered against him by the Assam Police “reeks of political vendetta”, reported Bar and Bench.

Khera had moved the High Court seeking transit anticipatory bail after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma filed a first information report against him, according to Live Law.

The FIR was filed after the Congress leader claimed on Sunday that he had documentary evidence that showed that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma holds passports of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda. Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife refuted the allegations.

On Thursday, the High Court reserved its verdict in the matter.

Appearing for Khera, advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the court that the FIR invokes “every possible offence one can dream of”, reported Live Law.

“You are not fighting your political opponents politically, but through vicious unjustified misuse of law,” Singhvi told the court. “Because you want to silence me...It is disproportionate.”

On the other hand, Assam Advocate General Devajit Saikia asked why the Congress leader had moved the Telangana High Court, though he lives in Delhi and the case has been registered in Assam, reported Bar and Bench.

“There is no indication that he cannot come to Assam,” Saikia was quoted as saying. “Assam is not a banana republic. There is no threat to his life.”

Hearing the case, Justice K Sujana also asked Khera why he had not moved a court in Assam to seek relief.

On Tuesday, the Assam Police went to Khera’s home in Delhi to question him in connection with his allegations.

Khera was not at home when the police arrived, and the authorities searched the house, said Assam Police Assistant Commissioner Debojit Nath.

Nath added that electronic devices and “incriminating material” were seized from Khera’s home. However, he did not disclose what the material was.

On Monday, Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged that the documents cited by the Congress had been supplied by a Pakistani social media group. He had added that his wife had filed a first information report against Khera and others.

He had also claimed that the Congress had used details from a passport that had been allegedly lost. This document, he claimed, had been uploaded to the Pakistani social media group. “They photoshopped it,” he said at a press conference.

The case against the Congress leader has been registered at the Crime Branch Police Station in Guwahati.

The Election Commission has initiated an investigation against Sobha Surendran, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Kerala’s Palakkad, for allegedly distributing money to voters ahead of the Assembly elections, The Indian Express reported.

Surendran rejected the claims and described them as a “conspiracy”.

Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar said that the alleged incident was reported on Wednesday.

Assembly elections in the state are being held in a single phase on Thursday. Votes will be counted on May 4.

Videos circulating on social media and on television channels showed a person offering something to an elderly woman, PTI reported. Subsequently, another group went to her, asked her to open her fist and showed that she had a roll of Rs 500 notes.

It was alleged that the woman was given money by a person in Surendran’s campaign team, the news agency reported. The woman denied having received any money but admitted that she had asked for Rs 5,000 to buy medicines.

The alleged incident took place in Theruvakkurishi under the Kannadi panchayat in Palakkad.

The BJP candidate in Palakkad is caught red-handed distributing cash on the eve of elections! All this, while the Election Commission is asleep and blissfully unaware of the electoral malpractice. It is in BJP’s DNA to manipulate elections, no matter what, no matter where.

This… pic.twitter.com/XOWQQ947mC

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) April 8, 2026

Following the media reports, the district election department sent a flying squad to the site and recorded the statement of the woman who had allegedly received the money, Mathrubhumi reported.

Kelkar noted that although the woman denied receiving money, District Collector MS Madhavikutty told the Election Commission that a detailed investigation was needed owing to the gravity of the matter, The Indian Express reported.

The chief electoral officer added that the investigation will determine whether there was any breach of the Model Code of Conduct or the Representation of the People Act, Mathrubhumi reported.

Further action will be taken after reviewing the district collector’s report, he said.

Surendran, however, described the allegations as baseless and said that this was the tenth time she was contesting an election.

“I know the rules,” The Indian Express quoted the BJP candidate as saying. “Rivals have understood that I am going to win the election. This is a pre-planned script against the BJP. Let the police find out the conspiracy behind it.”

She added that she had also filed a complaint with the Election Commission.

Sharing visuals of the alleged incident on social media, Congress MP KC Venugopal claimed that the BJP candidate from Palakkad had been “caught red-handed distributing cash” on the eve of the Assembly elections.

“All this, while the Election Commission is asleep and blissfully unaware of the electoral malpractice,” the Alappuzha MP said. “It is in the BJP’s DNA to manipulate elections, no matter what, no matter where.”

He added: “This is a crime and the candidate must be punished for this blatant violation of election norms. She does not have the legal and moral standing to continue on the ballot.”

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted bail to a man accused of passing on sensitive information about Operation Sindoor to Pakistan.

Justice Vinod S Bharadwaj noted on April 1 that the prosecution had failed to submit any material to substantiate its allegations against Davender Singh.

Operation Sindoor refers to strikes carried out by the Indian military on alleged terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

Singh was arrested in May on the basis of a case registered in Haryana’s Kaithal district.

The prosecution alleged that he had travelled to Pakistan in November 2024 through the Kartarpur corridor and had shared information about the movements of the Indian Army with individuals in Pakistan.

It also alleged that he made calls to a Pakistani man allegedly involved in espionage activities from April 18 to May 10 last year. India’s military operation had begun on May 9.

Singh, however, maintained that he had travelled to Pakistan only for a pilgrimage, remained within the gurdwara premises and did not engage in any illegal activities.

The judge noted that the case emanated from a disclosure statement made by Singh in a separate case, in which he was booked under the Arms Act for allegedly uploading his own photograph with pistols and guns on the social media platform Facebook.

In the disclosure statement, Singh was also said to have admitted that he deleted some data from his phone as he was apprehending arrest.

Singh’s counsel told the court that his client had already been granted bail in the Arms Act case on May 15 and his phone had been seized. However, on the same day, a new case was filed against Singh on allegations that he shared sensitive information with individuals in Pakistan.

Bharadwaj asked the prosecution what the need was for filing a second case when Singh’s mobile phone had already been seized, what was the basis for assuming that the Pakistani man he spoke to was an intelligence operative, whether a video found on his phone had been shared with anyone, and whether there was any evidence against the accused man apart from the disclosure statement.

“Learned state counsel, however, is not in a position to refer to any specific material on the basis whereof it may be assumed that any video or photographs had been transmitted or shared by the petitioner herein with any other person, including those based in Pakistan,” the judge said.

The counsel could also not state whether the video on Singh’s phone pertained to the period between the attack at Pahalgam and the start of Operation Sindoor, the court noted.

The court said that when it asked the counsel for the state about the nature of information allegedly shared with Pakistani individuals, he “was not in a position to point out any specific material or evidence on record in support thereof”.

The judge said that based on these responses, and based on the fact that a sanction for prosecution under the Official Secrets Act had not yet been granted, Singh was entitled to bail.

The Allahabad High Court has refused to quash criminal proceedings against the chief of the Muslim Personal Law Board in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly claiming in 2023 that Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states were attempting to intimidate Muslims.

Taking note of the police’s allegations that Noor Ahmed Ajahri’s remarks could incite communal hostility, Justice Saurabh Srivastava held on March 16 that the case could not be quashed at this stage.

The case is based on a video allegedly received by the police in which Ajahri could be heard purportedly speaking about the killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed in April 2023.

On April 15, 2023, Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead in the presence of police officers as they were being taken for a medical check-up to a hospital in Prayagraj.

The brothers were in custody in connection with the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal, who was a witness in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case. Umesh Pal was shot dead in Prayagraj on February 24. Days later, the Uttar Pradesh Police booked Ahmed, his wife Sahista Parveen, two of their sons and Ashraf, among others, for Umesh Pal’s murder.

In the video, Ajahri could be heard purportedly alleging that despite a court sentencing Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf Ahmed to life imprisonment, they were killed “as a result of a conspiracy” by the Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government.

Ajahri had also allegedly stated that the BJP has “trampled the Constitution into the ground”.

A first information report was registered against him in 2023 at the Puranpur police station in Pilibhit.

The police had initially invoked Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to promoting enmity between religious groups, as well as committing acts intended to outrage religious feelings.

A chargesheet was filed in May 2023 under a section pertaining to making statements that promote enmity, hatred, or ill-will between communities (505(2) of IPC).

Ajahri challenged this before the High Court, stating that he had only expressed his views during a public discussion. He said that he had not spoken any words that would come under the ambit of section 505(2).

He also alleged that the investigation was not conducted fairly and claimed that the magistrate summoned him to face trial without properly examining the material placed before the court.

The High Court rejected the plea, stating that it could not be concluded that no prima facie case was made out.

More than 40% of the voters deleted in West Bengal’s Bhabanipur seat during adjudication as part of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls were Muslims, even though the community comprises only about 20% of the population in the constituency, an analysis by a Kolkata-based research organisation found on Wednesday.

Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is the MLA from Bhabanipur. In the upcoming Assembly election as well, Banerjee will contest the seat against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari.

The analysis by the Sabar Institute showed that among voters found to be absent, shifted, dead or duplicate entries, the share of Muslims – 22.7% – was broadly in line with the community’s population.

However, Muslims constituted 40.1% of the voters deleted from the supplementary lists released after an adjudication process, the research organisation found. “These deletions are triggered by minor spelling mismatches or arbitrary criteria like ‘too many siblings’,” Sabar Institute said on social media.

🔗 Bhabanipur Supplementary List data — Public Repository

Link in next tweet

🚨 Muslim voters disproportionately targeted in Supplementary List deletions in Bhabanipur AC

In the constituency represented by WB CM Mamata Banerjee:

ASDD deletions (Absent, Shifted, Dead,… pic.twitter.com/1g2XiyuNQz

— SABAR Institute (@SabarInstitute_) April 8, 2026

The Election Commission had published its preliminary “final” list of voters after the special intensive revision in Bhabanipur on February 28. At the time, 14,113 names were listed as “under adjudication”, according to The Telegraph.

The poll panel later released 15 supplementary lists, in which 10,238 voters were included and 3,875 voters were deleted. Of those deleted, 1,554 voters, or 40.1%, were Muslims, Sabar Institute said.

An analysis by fact-checking website Alt News had found that in Bhabanipur, the share of voters put under adjudication was higher among Muslims as compared to non-Muslims.

As many as 51.8% Muslim voters were put under adjudication after the special intensive revision, the Alt News reported.

Banerjee had won the Bhabanipur constituency by a record margin of 58,832 votes in a bye-poll held in September 2021. However, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamool Congress won only 8,297 votes more than the BJP in the Bhabanipur segment of the Kolkata South parliamentary seat.

Deletion patterns structural across Bengal, says research group

On Wednesday, Sabar Institute noted that the patterns of deletions are “structural” across West Bengal.

On Sunday, the institute released a similar analysis about the Nandigram constituency. It had noted that although Muslims make up only 25% of the population there, they accounted for 95.5% of the deletions in seven supplementary lists released by the Election Commission.

The organisation had analysed voter roll data from supplementary lists 1, 2, 3, 4a, 7, 8 and 9.

Nandigram, part of the East Midnapore district, is represented by Adhikari in the Assembly. He is contesting from the seat in the upcoming polls as well, besides Bhabanipur.

Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The votes will be counted on May 4.

The Trinamool Congress has alleged that the Election Commission, through the special intensive revision exercise conducted before the polls, targeted specific communities for deletion from the voter rolls, including the Matuas, Rajbanshis and minorities.

The Banerjee-led party has also alleged that the poll panel has engaged in the partisan posting of officials for conducting the election.

What is common between khwaja sira in Punjab and Kashmir, thirunar in Tamil Nadu and nupi maanbi in Manipur? These are some of India’s traditional trans communities whose legal standing is left uncertain under the new transgender law passed in March.

The law in force earlier, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, contained a wide and inclusive definition of a transgender person. It began by stating that a transgender person was someone “whose gender does not match with the gender assigned at birth”.

This included a “trans man or trans woman”, irrespective of whether or not they had undergone a medical procedure such as a sex reassignment surgery, someone “with intersex variations” and “genderqueer” individuals.

Apart from these categories, the 2019 law also included individuals “having such socio-cultural identities as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta”. Further, it accorded all transgender individuals “a right to self-perceived gender identity”.

In contrast, the new law has a far more restrictive definition of a transgender person. It foregrounds the four socio-cultural identities of kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta, adding “eunuch” to the list. The other categories it includes are individuals who have “intersex variations”, “a congenital variation” in certain sexual characteristics, or have been “by force, allurement, inducement, deceit or undue influence” been put through one of several medical procedures.

The 2026 law leaves out all other categories. Its statement of “objects and reasons” notes that the act’s aim is “not to protect each and every class of persons with various gender identities, self-perceived sex/gender identities or gender fluidities”.

Activists are alarmed at this dramatic reduction of the scope of the definition of transgender individuals.

They fear that the prominence given in the definition to the four specific socio-cultural categories, combined with the complete omission of self-determined identities, represents a grave threat to numerous other traditional transgender communities in the country, including the khwaja sira in Punjab and Kashmir, thirunar in Tamil Nadu and nupi maanbi in Manipur.

These identities are Muslim, syncretic or unaffiliated with any particular religions – in contrast, the four specifically named socio-cultural groups are broadly located within Hindu society. Thus, activists argue that the new law is, in effect, an extension of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the wider Sangh Parivar’s Hindutva agenda.

As a statement by the All India Students’ Association noted, the act was restricting the definition to communities that were “already culturally legible to the state”. It observed that the hijra, kinnar, aravani and jogta communities were “historically visible through ritual roles at births, weddings, and religious spaces” and so “may be tolerated within this framework”.

The queer feminist academic Jennifer Loh made a similar argument in a 2022 book chapter, noting that the “Hindu right favours Hindu trans (feminine) identities above other less visible, non-homonormative trans identities and Muslim trans people”. Loh argued that this was because Hindu trans feminine identities such as hijras align with the “broader goals of promoting Hindu ideologies, through the reinforcement of existing gender and religious norms”.

The writer and filmmaker Rayyan Monkey argued that even the traditional communities mentioned in the act were in a sense limited by it. “While the hijra and kinnar communities do want to sustain their place in the spiritual ecosystem of India, they also want to get into schools, colleges and jobs,” she said.

Scroll spoke with experts and trans activists in Manipur, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Punjab to learn about the traditional identities that are at increased risk of exclusion under the new act.

Thirunar, thirunangai, thirunambi in Tamil Nadu

Activists from Tamil Nadu explained that the late chief minister, M Karunanidhi, had introduced the terms thirunar, thirunangai and thirunambi in the late 2000s, to refer to trans persons, trans women and trans men, respectively. They noted that the positive intent underlying the move was evident in the fact that the word “thiru” translates to “respected” in Tamil.

Many activists prefer this term to others, like aravani and “third gender” that are also used in the state. Negha, a trans activist and actor, noted that the former term, used for trans women, is rooted in Hindu mythology. The traditional aravani community worships the Mahabharata character Aravan – the son of Arjuna, who marries Krishna in the form of a woman, Mohini, before going to war and dying.

Not all trans women in Tamil Nadu participate in the rituals of the aravan community, Negha noted. “The term aravani is not an inclusive word,” she said. “Many trans women are concerned about being pushed to assume a Hindu identity. Not everybody believes in the Ramayana and Mahabharata.”

In comparison, she said, the terms thirunar, thirunangai and thirunambi were rooted in the legacy of the state’s self-respect movement, which promoted social justice and gender equality, and challenged caste-based oppression. Karunanidhi “researched Tamil literature and then came up with the words thirunar and thirunangai,” Negha said. “It is an inclusive word which can be used by Hindus, Buddhists and Dalits regardless of caste and religions. This amendment will erase and invisibilise these words.”

Activists and members of these and other communities are also anxious about the fact that the new act lays emphasis on medical procedures and clearance from authorities before a transgender individual is accorded recognition, such as with an identity certificate recognising them as transgender. Negha explained that these identities were not typically linked to gender reassignment surgeries or other medical procedures, but were based on individuals’ self-perception.

Under the previous law, a transgender individual could obtain such a certificate by applying through an online portal to the district magistrate – the rules of the act only required that they furnish a self-attested affidavit, along with identity documents and proof of their residence. It was only at a secondary stage, if a transgender person wished to revise their gender on other identity documents, that the rules mandated that they show proof of medical intervention to a medical authority – even then, the rules allowed for a range of such interventions, including “counselling”, “hormonal therapy” and “surgical intervention”.

The new law, however, notes that when an individual makes an application for a transgender identity certificate, the district magistrate must examine “the recommendation of the authority” – referring to a government medical board – and may also take “the assistance of other medical experts” before issuing such a certificate.

This process “pathologizes gender identity as a medical ‘condition’ rather than a human right”, a statement by the grassroots coalition CommonHealth noted.

It added that the process “violates bodily autonomy and dignity and the disclosure of individuals undergoing gender-affirming procedures to state authorities, infringes on their privacy, as protected under the Right to Privacy”.

Nupi maanbi, nupa maanba in Manipur

Among the most prominent trans communities in the north-east is the nupi maanbi in Manipur. In a paper about the community, sociologist Rubani Yumkhaibam explained that in the Manipuri language, the word nupi means “female, lady, woman and also means wife”, while “maanbi” is derived from the word “similar”. Thus, the term nupi maanbi, which emerged in the 2000s, translates to “resemblance to a woman”. Similarly, the term “nupa maanba” refers to a traditional trans men community in the region.

Trans activist and writer Santa Khurai explained that trans identities have existed in the region since ancient times. “Trans people are mentioned in texts about ancient kingdoms, they were called pheidas,” Khurai said. “But many layers of colonisation dismantled this institution. At present, we have the nupi maanbi and nupa maanba, and there’s also the nupa amaibi and the nupi sabi.” Nupa amaibi are trans people who are also traditionally shamans, and function as healers and soothsayers, Khurai explained, while the nupi sabi are traditional performers who play the role of women in dramas.

As with the thirunar community, Khurai noted that these identities also were not fundamentally linked to gender reassignment surgeries or other medical procedures – thus, activists fear their exclusion also on this ground.

In her paper, Yumkhaibam delineated a vital way in which the nupi maanbi community was integrated into the mainstream of society – many members work as professionals in beauty parlours.

Khurai was one of the first in Manipur to start a beauty parlour run by nupi maanbis. “Beauty parlours became a space for the trans community to interact with non-trans people,” she said. “It really helped to bridge the gap between people. And it also improved the visibility of the trans people and the trans liberation movement in the state.”

Thus, Khurai argued that the nupi maanbi identity is a distinct one rooted in contemporary Manipuri culture, whereas the new amendment is “completely based on Hindu mythology” and thus erases the nupi maanbi identity. “I am not against any religion, but why should trans rights be linked to a particular religion?” she said. “Trans rights are human rights. They should be understood from a human rights perspective.”

Khurai also cautioned against a broader tendency to link trans identities to mythologies, to such an extent as to deify them.

At a recent national-level literature festival, she recounted, several trans women referred to trans men as as reincarnations of Shikhandi – a character in Hindu mythology who is said to have been assigned the female gender at birth and later transitions into a man. Khurai worries that such deification ultimately dehumanises trans people. “Once a human is considered a demi-god, then that human is no longer considered a human being,” she said. “They do not receive respect from society, but fear.”

Khwaja sira in Islamic culture

Rayyan Monkey, the writer and filmmaker, told Scroll that the term khwaja sira, as also the word hijra, has Arabic roots. Historically, Monkey noted, hijras were common people who “lived outside the palace”, whereas the khwaja sira belonged to the aristocracy and “worked within palaces”, were patrons and “custodians of art, poetry and tehzeeb”, or etiquette, and “built spiritual institutions”, such as mosques.

According to anthropologist Faris A Khan, historical documents from the medieval period noted the presence of a trans identity known as khwaja sira at the royal Mughal courts. “These individuals served as army generals, harem guards, and advisers to the emperors,” he wrote.

Over time, the term khwaja sira also came to be used more generally in South Asian Islamic culture to refer to trans persons.

Monkey noted that in the nineteenth century, the use of the term began to decline – among the key factors for this was the British empire’s passage of the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, which criminalised trans communities.

After Partition, the term khwaja sira further faded from wide use in India. But researchers told Scroll that Muslim persons in Punjab and Kashmir continue to use this term to identify themselves – though, they added, most are secretive about it because they fear the Islamophobic atmosphere prevalent in much of the country.

In contrast, in Pakistan, “the term khwaja sira is widely used as a term of respect for the trans community”, Monkey said. It is preferred over hijra, which “ is seen as a derogatory term”.

Monkey noted that certain practices of the trans community also embodied forms of syncretism that have seen a decline along with the decline of identities like the khwaja sira. “Even thirty years ago, most hijras went to both temples and dargahs,” she said. “It is only in recent times that a strict line was drawn between Hindu and Muslim practices.”

Kothis in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere

According to the 2014 NALSA judgement of the Supreme Court, which laid the ground for the 2019 legislation, “Kothis are a heterogenous group who can be described as biological males who show varying degrees of femininity – which may be situational”.

Trans activist Dr Gargi Dhananjayan noted that there were overlaps between the kothi community and the hijra and kinnar communities, and that members of each sometimes identified with the other. But the overlap with categories listed under the new act did not necessarily protect kothis from exclusion, Dhananjayan argued, because the law laid great emphasis on medical procedures, whereas “transitioning was not typically a key process for kothis”.

Dhananjayan explained, “We either don’t undergo transition, or the transition we undergo is not always of the same extent as trans women. And this might not medically qualify under what medical boards call complete transition.”

Activists are also worried about provisions of the act that could criminalise members of the community – these provisions prescribe imprisonment and fines for, among others, individuals who “compel any person” to present themselves as trans and engage in “begging, solicitation, servitude, or any other form of forced or bonded labour”. Activists argue these provisions could be misused by authorities and families of kothis to target friends, partners and others from the trans and allied communities who offer support to kothis.

This concern is particularly acute because kothis, many of whom engage in sex work, typically come from lower strata of society. “Many have been thrown out by their families. Even the NALSA judgement mentions that a lot of us from the kothi community are from underprivileged backgrounds,” Dhananjayan said. “People who are privileged among us may escape it somehow, but not all of us are privileged.”

Unconsolidated identities

The new law will also have far-reaching repercussions on trans persons in India who have not consolidated their identities under specific terms or communities, activists noted.

In Nagaland, a queer activist who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions, said that there existed terms for trans persons in tribal languages that were not officially recognised. “The Ao Naga community has a term called lapi and the Sumi Naga community uses a term called shokhu for people showing trans feminine gender expression,” he said. “People use these terms widely but trans people are afraid to come out officially, as they are repressed by conservative forces.”

He added, “This amendment will further prevent them from proclaiming their identities publicly.”

Similarly, Sawang, a queer activist from the Arunachal Pradesh QueerStation said, “We are still in the process of identifying and documenting local terms for the queer-trans community.”

Corrections: 1. The term “nupi maanba” was corrected to “nupa maanba” 2. The term “nupi amaibi” was corrected to “nupa amaibi” 3. The term “pheita” was corrected to “pheida” 4. A reference to a literature festival was corrected to reflect the fact that several trans women referred to trans men, and not themselves, as reincarnations of Shikhandi

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday reiterated to his Bangladeshi counterpart Khalilur Rahman that India will “engage constructively” with the new government in Dhaka and work to strengthen bilateral ties.

The comments were made during talks in New Delhi between Jaishankar and Khalilur Rahman. Humayun Kabir, the foreign affairs adviser to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, was also present in the meeting.

The two sides agreed to explore proposals to deepen the partnership through existing bilateral mechanisms and to hold follow-up meetings soon, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Jaishankar said on social media that he discussed with Khalilur Rahman the strengthening bilateral relations in several areas, as well as regional and global developments and agreed to remain in close contact.

Pleased to host FM Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh and his delegation this afternoon.

We discussed strengthening our bilateral relationship in its various facets. Also exchanged views on regional and global developments.

Agreed to remain in close touch.@BDMOFA

🇮🇳 🇧🇩 pic.twitter.com/qAf87w2cvr

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 8, 2026

Dhaka said that Khalilur Rahman reiterated a request for India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been residing in Delhi since her ouster in August 2024. He also conveyed Dhaka’s intention to pursue a “Bangladesh First” foreign policy.

However, unidentified Bangladeshi officials told The Hindu that broader ties would not be “held hostage” to Hasina’s presence in India, while seeking assurances that she would not use Indian territory for political activities.

During the discussions, the Bangladeshi side also addressed India’s security concerns, stating that its territory would not be used against Indian interests and that it would not pursue security arrangements with countries such as the United States, China or Pakistan, The Hindu reported.

Dhaka in its statement also acknowledged India’s role in apprehending suspects in the killing of Bangladeshi activist Sharif Osman Hadi in December and sought their extradition.

The visit by Khalilur Rahman marks the first high-level bilateral engagement hosted by India since the Hasina government was ousted.

Hasina 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.

An interim administration headed by Muhammad Yunus took charge following her ouster.

The ties between New Delhi and Dhaka had strained during this period until Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party government came to power in February.

Sumitra migrated from Muzaffarpur in Bihar to Delhi in 2005 in search of a better life. Two decades later, she juggles domestic work in her home and outside. She works in five households from 7 am till 2 pm. Once home, does it all over again, cooking and cleaning while taking care of her ailing parents, she told me in October as I was conducting field work among domestic workers in Delhi.

A month later she broke her leg while cleaning a ceiling fan and had to spend Rs 2,000 at a private hospital. Earning around 3,000 per month she pays rent and supports her unemployed husband and the education of her 14-year-old son who barely attends classes regularly since she is unable to pay the school fees on time.

Domestic work in India is unorganised and unregulated, even though it contributes to the country’s economy. According to the policy network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, or WIEGO, there is no data so far on the exact number of domestic workers in India. The estimates vary from 4.75 million, according to the 2005 National Sample Survey, to over 90 million, going by different sources.

Their grim working and living conditions are well established. In 2007, the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised sector recognised that domestic workers, like others in the informal sector, live and work in precarious conditions without employment contracts, social security, bargaining power or institutional protection.

Even so, in 2025, a committee appointed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment recommended against passing a separate law to protect the rights of domestic workers in India.

Instead, the report relies on the effective implementation of the four labour codes, consolidating 29 labour laws, which were passed in November. This is despite there being no clarity on inclusion of domestic workers in three of the four codes, barring the Code on Social Security, 2020.

The government reiterated this stance in the current session of Parliament, when MP Shobha Dinesh on March 9 asked the Labour Ministry about fixing minimum wages for domestic workers by introducing a national framework. Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje cited the Code of Wages, which has subsumed provisions of the Minimum Wages Act.

“The Code on Wages, 2019 empowers both Central and State Governments as appropriate governments to fix, review and revise the minimum rates of wages for the establishments falling under their respective jurisdiction,” the minister told Parliament in her written response.

Researchers, activists and domestic worker unions overwhelmingly favour a separate legislation. A law that recognises domestic workers and lays out their rights has been a long-pending demand. Otherwise, employers hold the advantage of dictating terms and conditions without accountability while discriminating on the basis of religion, class, caste and age groups.

By passing such a law, India can recognise the economic value of domestic labour and create a framework that addresses the specific discrimination that domestic workers face and uphold their rights.

Productive care work

Domestic work is understood as a web of inseparable tasks that make human life possible. Feminist scholars describe domestic work as “care work”, since that better captures multifaceted labour which sustains the daily living conditions of basic human health and well-being.

Although domestic work is difficult to quantify, it is productive since it reproduces labour power by enabling adults to work while ensuring that children are raised and prepared to join the workforce. Domestic work is essential to sustaining the economy and communities, contributing indirectly to the gross domestic product of a country.

Since 1959, government and private member bills have sought to regulate domestic work by fixing wages and bringing about registration and social security but none have resulted in a national law.

In 2025, the Supreme Court directed the labour ministry to form a committee to consider drafting a legal framework for the benefit, protection and regulation of rights of domestic workers.

The ongoing plight of domestic workers in India highlights one of the largest yet most invisible segments of our workforce. Most are women from marginalised and economically vulnerable backgrounds who sustain households and enable broader economic participation.

Despite their… pic.twitter.com/kVLVFQESnb

— Congress (@INCIndia) March 23, 2026

Flaws in the committee report

In July, the Martha Farrell Foundation accessed the committee’s report through the Right to Information Act. The report concluded that since various provisions are already in place to protect the domestic workers through welfare policies and legislations, a separate legislation is not needed.

But unions, labour rights activists, researchers and nonprofits condemned the report saying that it failed to reflect the lived realities of domestic workers and reinforces existing exclusions.

The report acknowledges that domestic workers, most of them women, are marginalised due to low wages and weak legal protection, but it fails to examine the depth of the problem.

The four social security codes are adequate, the report notes, even though they define work relationships around formal employer-employee arrangements and institutional workplaces, a framework that excludes most domestic workers.

The report also relies on general welfare schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, and laws such as the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, to protect and ensure the welfare of domestic workers. In response to a question in Parliament in March 2025 on thewelfare of domestic workers, the government had similarly elaborated on its various social security and welfare schemes for “unorganised workers, including domestic workers”.

The report also says that e-shram portal can deliver welfare benefits and redress grievances without any clarity on how it will deal with day to day issues of domestic workers.

The report tells the labour ministry to issue standard operating procedures for state governments to promote the welfare of domestic workers, and talks of strengthening the welfare boards of states through capacity building of the field officers. These recommendations shift the responsibility of protecting domestic workers to the state governments with the Centre acting as a monitoring body.

Our work gets no respect!- a sentiment echoed by millions of South Asian women migrant domestic workers, who face forced labour, trafficking & abuse.@ILO continues to support safe, dignified & decent working conditions through its Work in Freedom programme.

Find out more 👇 pic.twitter.com/hNKMJrjbNf

— ILOAsiaPacific (@ILOAsiaPacific) September 11, 2024

India’s neighbours show the way

The difficulty in regulating domestic work and enforcing labour standards within the private household is often cited as a justification for legislative inaction. This is framed as a trade-off between the rights of workers and the rights of employers, particularly the right to privacy of the household.

However, the Convention Number 189 of the International Labour Organization makes it clear that decent working conditions for domestic workers and the right to privacy of employers are not mutually exclusive. The Convention explicitly recognises the privacy of the employer’s household under Article 17, while simultaneously safeguarding the right to privacy and dignity of domestic workers under Article 6.

Here, it is the state’s responsibility to take a balanced approach in framing a legislation that protects workers from exploitation without infringing upon household privacy.

India’s neighbours show that this is possible and practical.

Sri Lanka adopted The National Policy for Decent Work in 2006, which refers to domestic workers and commits to “improving legal coverage and enforcement” of domestic workers. Sri Lanka has also ratified the International Labour Organization’s Convention 189. Nepal, through its Labour Act, 2017, formally recognises domestic workers and provides for minimum wages, leave, and social security.

A particularly strong example is the Philippines, which enacted the Domestic Workers Act, 2013 (Batas Kasambahay), a comprehensive law that recognises domestic workers as workers and guarantees minimum wages, written employment contracts, weekly rest days, social security coverage, regulated working hours, protection from abuse and harassment, and accessible grievance redressal mechanisms.

Domestic work can be effectively regulated through legislation that balances competing rights while ensuring dignity, safety, and justice for workers. For India, at this point, political will might be be the only way out.

Piyush Poddar works with the Martha Farrell Foundation where he advocates for the rights of Women Domestic Workers.

In November last year, after months of deliberation, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change approved the Maharashtra government’s proposal for leopard population control in the state. Although other states have proposed similar interventions, Maharashtra is the first state in the country to trial birth control in leopards to potentially mitigate increasing human-leopard interactions.

The state forest department will implement the programme according to the proposal presented by the Wildlife Institute of India. While the proposed population control method has been widely reported as “sterilisation”, Bilal Habib, WII scientist, who led a long-term study in Junnar, clarifies that it is, in fact, immunocontraception – “a temporary vaccination which will prevent these animals from breeding for the next two to three years”. Unlike sterilisation, a permanent, one-time procedure, immunocontraceptive vaccines stimulate an animal’s immune system to temporarily prevent it from fertilising offspring.

The chosen site for the pilot programme is Pune’s Junnar forest division, where negative interactions between humans and leopards are resulting in a rising number of human deaths and injuries.

Since 2021, 22 people have died, another 42 have been injured, and 16,593 cattle have been killed from leopard attacks, according to compensation records obtained by Mongabay-India from the Junnar forest division. During the same period, the department has distributed about Rs 190 million in compensation.

Surrogate leopard habitats

The Junnar forest division covers about 5,826 sq km in the northern part of the Pune district, including the subdistricts of Junnar, Ambegaon, Khed and Shirur. Situated on the eastern side of the Western Ghats, Junnar comprises vast human-dominated agricultural landscapes dotted with intermittent dry, deciduous forest patches.

The development of irrigation infrastructure projects, such as the Yedgaon dam and the Kukadi irrigation system, provided surplus water to the region, sparking a boom in sugarcane cultivation.

“There were fewer leopards in this landscape before sugarcane cultivation started,“ Nikit Surve, leopard researcher at the Wildlife Conservation Society-India, says. Leopards, considered the most adaptive of the big cats, are nocturnal, requiring cover during the day to hide. “Sugarcane, within two-three months of planting, can easily hide a whole leopard family,“ Surve adds.

“Human-leopard conflict in the Junnar forest division has a documented history of over two decades,” says Yogesh P Badhe, assistant professor at the Savitribai Phule Pune University. “Between 2001 and 2010, conflict was persistent but it was relatively moderate and spatially clustered. However, since 2012, both human attacks and livestock depredation have shown a marked increase.”

A conflict trend and hotspot analysis co-authored by Badhe reveals an increase in livestock attacks between 2015 and 2019, from an annual average of roughly 274 rising to 643 attacks. The compensation records from the Junnar forest division shows significant escalation in the years since, with 6,844 livestock deaths recorded in 2024 alone.

WII has worked in Junnar for the last six years, and as per their estimate, the density of leopards in Junnar – 6.75 animals per 100 sq km – is equivalent to that of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve but they are unsure how widely the population is distributed.

Badhe says that the rise in negative interactions is a reflection of the landscape transformation and increasing human-leopard spatial overlap in the region. “Habitat degradation and fragmentation in the western hilly belt, which historically supported wild prey, has meant that, over time, leopards have adapted to this mosaic of farms, settlements, and riparian corridors. The sugarcane fields have provided the cats a surrogate habitat that offers year-round dense cover and access to easy prey in the form of livestock, primarily goats,” he says.

No other way

Immunocontraception has been successful among the managed felid populations in African game reserves. Giovanna Massei, Director of the Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control in Europe says fertility control or birth control can be a viable management tool even for free-living wildlife. Massei cites a study conducted in Utah, US, which found that surgically sterilising wild coyote populations reduced sheep predation.

The study demonstrated that surgical sterilisation did not disrupt social or territorial behaviour in coyotes. Without pups to provision, depredation rates significantly reduced, and sterile coyotes functioned as “biological placeholders” that defended their territories.

Massei, however, emphasises that the use of fertility control applications to mitigate human-wildlife conflict largely depends on the species and the context. “[Conservation] managers should establish whether and why fertility control for this species, in this context, is the best method to mitigate human-wildlife conflict,” Massei says.

According to Wildlife Institute of India’s Habib, immunocontraception may be the only solution left to potentially mitigate conflict in the region. “In the last 25 years, we have tested everything: removal, capture, barriers, fox lights,” he says.

When the Wildlife Institute of India team captured and collared 15 leopards, believed to be individuals in conflict, between 2020-2025 and released them “far away from Junnar”, all of them returned in three to nine months. “Once collared, we realised these animals were not involved in conflict. Over the next year, none of these individuals was responsible for human deaths,” Habib shares.

Changing leopard dynamics

From their research, Wildlife Institute of India scientists identified that there are territorial leopards with home ranges, and young, dispersing animals who are looking to establish territories. The young ones are forced to move away from occupied territories, resulting in increased interactions with humans, Habib explains.

When the department set up cages near conflict sites to capture the animals in conflict, the young leopards remained elusive, and it was the individuals with established territories that got caught instead.

Leopards start dispersing around the age of two to three years and become fully equipped to establish their own territories around four or five years, once they are experienced enough to navigate human-dominated landscapes, according to Habib. Removing established, territorial animals creates openings that younger, less experienced individuals quickly occupy, increasing the likelihood of conflict. “You end up with a population dominated by younger animals, which drives more conflict.”

To address this, Habib emphasises the need to prolong the tenure of existing animals while limiting reproduction. The aim is to retain stable individuals without encouraging an influx of younger ones. Reducing a female leopard’s lifetime reproductive output – from around 20 cubs to five or six – could, over time, lower population pressures and conflict.

Animal birth control

The proposed method for birth control in leopards is GonaCon-B, a Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone-based immunocontraceptive vaccine widely used for population control in ungulates in the US.

GnRH is a primary regulating hormone of reproductive function in animals, which has long been recognised as a potential target for the control and management of fertility in female animals.

Habib shares that the GnRH vaccine has been tested on captive tigers, and on lions both in captivity and in the wild. However, Mongabay-India could only find evidence of GonaCon-B use in free-ranging ungulates such as white-tailed deer, bison and feral horses and cattle.

Whereas GnRH agonists such as deslorelin implants, which shuts down GnRH receptors through overstimulation, have been in use for decades for population control in big cats in zoos and reserves.

As of now, the ministry has given permission for five leopards to be captured and taken to the Manikdoh Rescue Centre in Pune for trials. However, the Wildlife Institute of India proposal mandates that the animals should be vaccinated, collared and monitored in the field, and not at a rescue centre, says a source. Mongabay-India could not independently access the proposal.

Conservation challenge

Surve questions claims of an increasing leopard population in these landscapes. “A mere rise in sightings due to better technology does not necessarily mean numbers are increasing,” he says.

Surve, who studies leopard ecology in Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park for his doctoral thesis, compares conflict dynamics in Mumbai and Junnar: “Mumbai has around 20,000 people per sq km along the periphery of SGNP, whereas Junnar likely has 500-1,000 people per sq km. Mumbai has a density of 26 leopards per 100 sq km, and even if we assume Junnar has six to seven, how is it that Junnar shows greater conflict potential?” He argues that population control is justified only when a clear surge in animal numbers is established.

As a way forward, Surve advocates a more considered, long-term approach such as establishing accurate population estimates and trends, and understanding their relationship with conflict. He also emphasises awareness and capacity building across stakeholders beyond the forest department. “It is not just one department that can solve this issue; you need to rope in all major stakeholders,” he says.

Badhe, who has studied human-leopard conflict trends in Junnar, calls for a shift towards prevention-based management informed by geospatial analysis. “Instead of dispersing resources across 600 villages, prioritise the 200 high-incidence villages. Increase vigilance during the monsoon and early evening, when most leopard attacks occur,” he says.

Habib stresses the urgency of mitigation, pointing to a recent leopard sighting as far east as Solapur in Maharashtra. “In my lifetime, I would never have imagined a leopard in Solapur,” he notes. “Down the line, we may have so many animals in agricultural fields that it becomes difficult to manage their population.”

This article was first published on Mongabay.

The Union government on Wednesday said that a secular court cannot determine whether a religious practice amounts to superstition, Bar and Bench reported.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government, made the contention before a nine-judge bench hearing a case involving constitutional questions related to the entry of women into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple and discrimination at other religious places.

In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench had, by a 4:1 majority, lifted a ban on women of menstruating age from entering the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.

However, in November 2019, another five-judge bench, in response to review petitions against the verdict, referred a set of broader legal questions about the freedom of religion to a nine-judge bench.

The bench comprises Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices BV Nagarathna, MM Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi.

The court began hearing the matter on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Mehta told the bench that if religion does not interfere with the state, then the state must also not interfere with religion.

He added that it would not be within the domain of the courts to decide what constitutes “superstition”, and that this power lay with the legislature under Article 25(2)(b) of the Constitution, Live Law reported.

Article 25(2)(b) empowers the state to regulate, restrict or reform secular activities associated with religious practices, specifically allowing laws that provide for social welfare and reform.

“The legislature can say that a particular practice is superstition and requires reform,” Bar and Bench quoted the solicitor general as saying. “There are several such statutes, laws dealing with black magic, prevention of such practices and others.”

Amanullah, in response, said that a court has the jurisdiction in judicial review to determine whether a religious practice is superstition, but what follows would be for the legislature to decide.

“…to the court you cannot say that whatever is the last word, the legislature decides,” Live Law quoted the judge as saying.

Mehta also said that the right of entry into a temple must be tested against the rights of devotees who believe that a particular class of persons should not be permitted entry.

“It is said that one or a few individuals want to enter,” Bar and Bench quoted him as saying. “But has the corresponding right under Article 25 [which guarantees the right to freedom of religion] of other devotees been examined?”

Noting that a secular court cannot decide a religious practice as mere superstition, Mehta added: “Your lordships don’t have scholarly competence. You are scholars in field of law not in the field of religion.”

The chief justice, however, observed that the court can declare a practice as contrary to public order, morality or health, Bar and Bench reported.

The nine-judge bench has been asked to examine the interplay between the freedom of religion under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution and other provisions, especially Article 14, which guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the laws.

The bench has also been asked to determine whether the rights of a denomination to manage its religious affairs under Article 26 are subject to other provisions of Part III of the Constitution apart from public order, morality and health. Part III deals with fundamental rights.

On Tuesday, Mehta questioned whether courts are the appropriate forum to decide what constitutes an essential religious practice.

Sugar-free products with sugar. ‘Real’ juices with artificial ingredients. Misleading food ads are fuelling a public health crisis in India. Help Scroll expose the systemic failure. Support our investigation.

The Israeli military said it had carried out “the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon” since the start of the West Asia conflict. This came hours after United States President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire in West Asia in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran had confirmed that Iranian forces will stop their “defensive operations” if the attacks on the country are halted. “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces…,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

Welcoming the announcement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said New Delhi expects that “unimpeded freedom of navigation and global flow of commerce would prevail through the Strait of Hormuz”. Read on.

The Congress said that Pakistan facilitating the ceasefire talks between the US and Iran was a “severe setback” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “highly personalised” style of diplomacy. Modi’s “self-styled vishwaguru [world leader]” image had been “thoroughly exposed”, the party said.

While announcing the two-week ceasefire in West Asia, Trump said that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistani military chief Asim Munir had requested him to “hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran”.

Sharif also invited the US and Iranian delegations to Islamabad on Friday “to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes”. Read on.

The Trinamool Congress alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar told a delegation of the party to “get lost” during a meeting about the upcoming Assembly elections. The party had approached the poll panel to express concerns about officials allegedly linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party being made part of the West Bengal polling process.

On social media, the poll panel referred to “straight-talk to Trinamool Congress” and said it had told Bengal’s ruling party that the Assembly polls would be “fear-free, violence-free, intimidation-free, inducement-free and without any chappa, booth-jamming and source-jamming”.

The Trinamool Congress objected to the post, asking if this was how “a neutral constitutional body” was expected to behave. Read on.

The Delhi High Court asked the police and social media platform X to take action against journalist Rana Ayyub for ‘inflammatory’ posts she made between 2013 and 2017 about Hindu deities and Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar. The matter required urgent consideration, the bench said and sought responses from Ayyub, X and the Delhi Police.

The court was hearing a petition by a lawyer named Amita Sachdeva seeking that six posts made by the journalist be taken down.

Sachdeva had also approached a Delhi court in January 2025 seeking an FIR against the journalist. The court had then ordered that a case be filed, following which the police registered an FIR. Read on.

India’s Border Security Force shot dead a Bangladeshi man along the Dhabolguri border while he was allegedly attempting to cross into the country, said a Border Guard Bangladesh official. The man was reportedly with seven to eight other Bangladeshi nationals who had allegedly attempted to cut the barbed-wire fence.

Following this, India’s 156 BSF battalion fired a round of blank shots to disperse them. As they did not disperse, the Indian security forces opened fire and one man was shot while the others fled, said the Bangladeshi official. Read on.

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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected a petition filed by British arms consultant Christian James Michel, accused in the alleged AgustaWestland helicopter scam, seeking his release from jail, Bar and Bench reported.

Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja also rejected his challenge to provisions of the 1999 extradition treaty between India and the United Arab Emirates. The bench said that the petition lacked merit and dismissed it, The Indian Express reported.

The case pertains to a Rs 3,565-crore helicopter deal signed by the former Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government with British-Italian firm AgustaWestland. The deal was put on hold after Italy arrested the head of Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland’s parent company, on charges of paying bribes to secure the contract.

Michel is one of three suspected middlemen whom Indian investigative agencies believe brokered the agreement. He was arrested on December 22, 2018, after he was extradited from the United Arab Emirates.

He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.

The CBI is looking into the corruption allegations in the AgustaWestland case, while the ED is looking into alleged money laundering linked to it. The CBI alleges that the deal caused a loss of 398.21 million euros, or Rs 2,666, to the exchequer.

In his petition before the High Court, Michel challenged a trial court order dated August 7, 2025, that rejected his application under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking release, PTI reported.

Section 436A allows for the release of undertrial prisoners who have served half of the maximum sentence prescribed for their alleged offences.

He also challenged Article 17 of the India-UAE extradition treaty, which allows the requesting state to prosecute extradited persons not only for the specific offence for which extradition was granted but also for connected offences.

Michel argued before the court that an extradited person can be prosecuted only for the offences for which extradition took place and not for any connected offences, PTI reported.

Noting that he had completed seven years in jail on December 4, 2025, Michel said he had already undergone the maximum sentence possible for the offences for which he was extradited.

This rendered his continued detention in India illegal, he said in his petition.

Michel was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case in February 2025, while the High Court granted him bail in the ED case a month later.

The British arms consultant, however, continues to be in jail as he was unable to fulfil the bail conditions, PTI reported.

India’s Border Security Force shot dead a Bangladeshi man along the Dhabolguri border while he was allegedly attempting to cross into the country on Wednesday, a Border Guard Bangladesh official was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

The man, identified as 41-year-old Ali Hossain, allegedly crossed the international border at night and entered about 500 metres into the Indian territory, said Bangladeshi Lieutenant Colonel Syed Fazle Munim, quoting a phone conversation with the Border Security Force.

Munim added that Hossain was with seven to eight other Bangladeshi nationals who had allegedly attempted to cut the barbed-wire fence when India’s 156 BSF battalion fired a round of blank shots to disperse them, reported The Daily Star.

As they did not disperse, the Indian security forces opened fire and one man was shot while the others fled, Munim was quoted as saying.

The BSF took Hossain to hospital, where he was declared dead, the Bangladeshi official added.

“The body is currently at a hospital in India,” Munim said. He added that preparations were underway to bring the body to Bangladesh.

The incident was reported amid Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman’s visit to India. This is the first high-level bilateral visit from Bangladesh since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party formed the government in February.

In December, the Union home ministry told Parliament that the India-Bangladesh border recorded the highest number of infiltration attempts and arrests among the country’s land borders.

Data shared by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai showed that 1,104 infiltration attempts were detected along the 4,096.7-km India-Bangladesh border between January and November, while 2,556 persons were arrested for allegedly attempting to enter India without documents during the same period.

Since 2014, security agencies have detected more than 8,500 infiltration attempts across India’s borders and arrested over 20,800 infiltrators, with the India-Bangladesh border accounting for the bulk of these cases.

Between 2014 and 2024, more than 7,528 infiltration attempts and 18,851 arrests were recorded along the Bangladesh border alone, according to the government data.

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

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the police and social media platform X to take action against journalist Rana Ayyub for allegedly inflammatory posts she made between 2013 and 2017 about Hindu deities and Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar, Bar and Bench reported.

The court said the matter required urgent consideration and that X, the Delhi Police and the Union government would have to act in tandem.

It issued notice to Ayyub, X and the Delhi Police, seeking their responses to the plea by Thursday.

The observations came while Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav was hearing a petition by a lawyer named Amita Sachdeva seeking that six posts made by the journalist be taken down.

“The action is necessary in view of the highly derogatory, inflammatory and communal tweets posted by [Ayyub] pursuant to which an [first information report] has been registered on the orders of a competent court,” Bar and Bench quoted Kaurav as saying on Wednesday.

Sachdeva had also approached a Delhi court in January 2025 seeking an FIR against the journalist. The court had then ordered that a case be filed, following which the police registered an FIR the next day.

Ayyub had at the time told Scroll that her posts on X did not violate any legal provision. She had said that the complaint against her was “yet another attempt to intimidate and silence my voice”.

Sachdeva claimed in her petition before the High Court that Ayyub had insulted Hindu deities Sita and Ram, Savarkar, and Hindu nationalism, Bar and Bench reported. The lawyer claimed that the posts could disrupt communal harmony.

Sachdeva added that she had approached X Corp’s Grievance Appellate Committee, which declined to order the posts to be taken down, saying that the matter was sub judice, Live Law reported.

The Haridwar Municipal Corporation has approved a proposal to ban the sale of raw meat within the city limits ahead of the Ardh Kumbh, reported The Hindu on Wednesday.

The 45-day-long Ardh Kumbh will begin on January 14, 2027, the day of the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti. The authorities expect six crore to seven crore visitors to the fair, the newspaper reported.

All meat shops operating in the city will be removed and relocated to the nearby Sarai village, The Indian Express quoted Mayor Kiran Jaisal as saying.

A total of 56 shops have been constructed in the village for this purpose and the allotment process has been initiated, she added.

“So far, 20 shopkeepers with licences have been identified,” the mayor was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “The remaining shops will be allotted as per demand.”

The proposal to ban the sale of meat in the city was passed with a majority vote on Monday. It amended the Haridwar municipal bylaws to expand the ban on the sale of raw meat.

The bylaws earlier restricted the sale and consumption of meat, liquor and eggs within a five-km radius of the Har-ki-Pauri ghat in Haridwar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has 40 councillors and the support of an Independent corporator in the 60-member corporation. Objections will be invited on the matter, reported The Indian Express.

Independent councillor Ahsan Ansari had opposed the proposal on Monday, stating that it was “hurriedly passed without any thought of the implementation”, the newspaper reported.

“Several border areas in the municipality will keep their meat shops running, while those within will be pushed out,” he was quoted as saying. “Around 150 shopkeepers will not be allotted a shop in Sarai, and even after allotment, their business will suffer as the distance to these shops will impact the footfall.”

Also read: The illogic of meat bans

More than 50 police personnel and several residents were injured on Tuesday in a clash between the police and Adivasi residents in Odisha’s Rayagada district in connection with a road project linked to Vedanta Limited’s proposed Sijimali bauxite mine, The Hindu reported.

The confrontation occurred in Sagabari village under the Kashipur block, where residents have been protesting the construction of a roughly 3 km-long road from Purlong to Sagabari Ghat, which would provide access to the mine in the ecologically sensitive Sijimali hills, the Hindustan Times reported.

Mining company Vedanta Limited had secured the bauxite block through an auction in 2023.

The police said that a team had arrived in the area early in the morning to execute a non-bailable arrest warrant against a local leader, Sudarshan Majhi, who is among persons opposing the project.

He was wanted in connection with 14 criminal cases, including an attempt to murder, Rayagada Superintendent of Police Swathy S Kumar told The Times of India.

The police team was surrounded and attacked by a large group of residents, according to Kumar.

“The police found it difficult to retreat,” she said. “As many as 58 personnel, including a sub-divisional officer, were injured. Six personnel were shifted to Visakhapatnam as their condition deteriorated.”

The police used tear gas and carried out a lathi charge to disperse the crowd and retreat, Kumar was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

According to activists, eight residents sustained serious injuries after being assaulted by the police, The Hindu reported.

The authorities have imposed prohibitory orders restricting the assembly of more than four persons within a 100-metre radius of the project site for a month.

Vedanta Limited said that it would be inappropriate to comment on the clash as mining operations at the Sijimali site have not yet begun, The Times of India reported.

“The incident involves the administration and local residents,” an unidentified representative of the company told the newspaper. “Vedanta remains committed to fulfilling all statutory and corporate social responsibility obligations.”

Action against protesters concerning, says citizens’ group

A group of 60 concerned citizens on Wednesday condemned the violence against residents in the Kashipur block and urged Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to intervene urgently to ensure that steps are taken to protect and uphold the constitutional rights of those living in the region.

In a letter to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, the Concerned Citizens Forum in the state noted that both police and senior district officials were present when the violence broke out

“We are deeply concerned that in a democracy, Adivasis and Dalits opposed to the mining operations of Vedanta Limited and its contract company Maithri, have been subject to ceaseless violence and arbitrary arrests since mid-2023,” it said.

The forum said that residents in the region had adopted democratic means to protect their land, livelihood, water and air while also holding on to their cultural heritage and the abode of their sacred deity.

The entire area is protected under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, the letter noted.

The Fifth Schedule provides for the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in 10 states. It empowers the governor to regulate tribal land, restrict land transfer and control moneylending, with a mandatory Tribes Advisory Council.

The letter said that local activists had appealed to several authorities, including Union ministers and presidents, to halt the proposed mining project.

“However, in this Scheduled Area, the state administration has resorted to repression to push through Vedanta Limited’s mining project,” the Concerned Citizens Forum added.

The letter said that hundreds of criminal cases had been filed against the residents of the region and “almost a hundred of them have undergone incarceration and many still continue to languish in jail”. It added that such repression had escalated sharply in the last few months.

The forum urged the chief minister to revoke the prohibitory orders issued in the region. It further urged him to revoke the proposed mining lease in Sijimali and “ensure the protection of the jal, jangal and jameen [water, forests and land] of the Adivasis of the region”.

The letter sought the immediate halting of the proposed approach road to the mining area.

“Withdraw the entire police force in the area and immediately stop all drone surveillance,” it said. “Withdraw all criminal cases foisted on villagers who are opposed to bauxite mining.”

Pakistan facilitating the ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran was a “severe setback” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “highly personalised” style of diplomacy, said the Congress on Wednesday.

Modi’s “self-styled vishwaguru [world leader]” image had been “thoroughly exposed”, with his “self-declared 56-inch chest shrunk and shrivelled”, wrote Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on social media.

The Rajya Sabha MP’s criticism of the prime minister came hours after US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire in West Asia in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

In a social media post, Trump said that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistani military chief Asim Munir had requested him to “hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran”.

Sharif also invited the US and Iranian delegations to Islamabad on Friday “to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes”.

Soon after, Ramesh wrote on social media that “a bankrupt economy” like Pakistan being able to play a crucial role in the ceasefire talks “calls into question Mr Modi’s strategy of engagement and narrative management”.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday welcomed the ceasefire, adding that it hopes the agreement will bring lasting peace in West Asia.

“The conflict has already caused immense suffering to people and disrupted global energy supply and trade networks,” ministry said. “We expect that unimpeded freedom of navigation and global flow of commerce would prevail through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra described the language used by Trump while issuing warnings to Iran to accept the ceasefire plan as “despicable”.

“The world is watching and understanding as the veil of morality falls from across the face of the West,” she said. “Hatred, anger, violence and injustice never win.”

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said that “Iran has taught the world what courage and having a spine is all about”, adding that India’s leadership should “deal with bullies firmly”.

Trump said that Washington had received a 10-point proposal from Tehran, which it believed was a “workable basis on which to negotiate”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he supports Trump’s decision to suspend strikes on Iran, but added that the ceasefire does “not include Lebanon”, where his country’s forces have launched a ground invasion and are fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah.

How the world reacted

Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the ceasefire, stating that the US and Iran must fully commit to achieving a lasting resolution.

The ministry stressed the need for “full commitment to the ceasefire and refraining from any escalations”, Al Jazeera reported.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the ceasefire as “a very important opportunity that must be seized to make room for negotiations, diplomacy, and constructive dialogue”.

Egypt also pledged to continue efforts with Pakistan and Türkiye to promote security and stability in the region.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the ceasefire announcement and called on all the parties “to comply with their obligations under international law and to abide by the terms of the ceasefire in order to pave the way toward a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region”.

His spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, stated that Guterres also expressed appreciation for the efforts of Pakistan and other countries involved in facilitating the ceasefire.

In the US, Congressman Gregory Meeks, a Democratic party member, said that a “temporary ceasefire was not enough” and that the administration must work closely with Gulf partners to secure “long-term regional stability”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterated calls for de-escalation, warning that prolonged conflict would increase the impact on the global economy and human costs.

“Australia wants to see the ceasefire upheld and a resolution to the conflict,” he said.

Albanese also told Sky News that Trump’s threat to the Iranian population was not appropriate.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to use language such as that from the President of the United States,” he said. “And I think it will cause some concern.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had warned that a “whole civilisation will die” in Iran if the country does not agree to a deal before the deadline.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the ceasefire could contribute to restoring regional and global stability.

“It is earnestly hoped that the negotiation process will be conducted in good faith, with a firm resolve to seeking lasting resolution to the issues currently facing the region,” he said. “Peace talks cannot succeed if the proceedings are cloaked in deception and double-dealing.”

He also extended appreciation to Pakistan for its role in the mediation, calling Shehbaz Sharif’s diplomacy “tireless and courageous”.

Japan and New Zealand also welcomed the ceasefire but stressed that further efforts would be needed to secure a durable peace and stability in the region, AP reported.

Also read important updates from the conflict in West Asia

The Pune bench of the National Green Tribunal on Tuesday halted the felling of trees in Nashik for the Simhastha Kumbh Mela until April 28, The Times of India reported.

The tribunal granted the interim stay on a petition by city-based environmental activist Manish Baviskar, who challenged the Nashik Municipal Corporation’s ongoing tree-cutting linked to development works for the religious gathering.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh and judicial member Sujit Kumar Bajpayee directed the authorities to refrain from cutting any trees in the city until the next hearing.

Advocate Shriram Pingle, representing the petitioner, told the newspaper that the tribunal ordered an interim stay after being informed of large-scale cutting by the civic body, including in areas such as Gangapur Road.

Baviskar presented live visuals of trees being cut via video call, prompting the tribunal to take up the matter urgently.

The commissioner of the civic body, Manisha Khatri, said the authority would comply with the tribunal’s instructions once it receives the order, The Times of India reported.

Baviskar’s petition challenged 35 public notices issued by the Nashik Municipal Corporation between November 12 and March 10.

The petition alleged that many notices lacked sufficient data and did not state the number of trees to be cut. While officials cited around 1,800 trees for felling, Baviskar alleged the actual figure could exceed 5,000 and that about 1,500 trees had already been cut without following due legal procedures or previous orders of the Bombay High Court.

The plea also disputed claims of compensatory afforestation, noting that no trees had been planted or preserved on the ground, according to The Times of India.

Baviskar further highlighted that, despite municipal elections being over, the statutory tree authority had not been constituted and objections from citizens had been ignored or dismissed without reasoned orders.

Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani has moved a United States court seeking that a fraud case filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission be dismissed on the grounds that it constituted an impermissible extraterritorial application of American law, PTI reported.

The commission had in November 2024 indicted Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to bribe officials in India for solar energy contracts, and then misrepresenting the company’s anti-bribery practices to investors in the US.

The allegations of fraud are based on the alleged failure of Adani Green to disclose the scheme in documents related to a $750 million bond offering in 2021.

Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, in their petition, claimed that the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s claims are legally flawed for several reasons, according to PTI. They contended that the Eastern District Court of New York, which is hearing the matter, lacks personal jurisdiction over the case, as neither of them had sufficient contact with the US, and were not directly involved in the bond offering.

They contended that the bond sale was conducted outside the United States, and the securities were sold to underwriters outside the US, PTI reported. The petition argued that it was only later that the securities were resold in part by the underwriters to qualified institutional buyers.

The complaint does not allege that Gautam Adani approved issuing the bonds, attended key meetings or ordered any activity linked to US investors, the Adani Group chairperson’s petition was quoted as saying.

The plea further said that the Adanis have disputed that there is any credible proof of the alleged bribery scheme.

“Notably, the SEC does not allege that there were any investor losses, and there were none,” PTI quoted the plea as having contended. “The bonds have matured, and Adani Green repaid all principal and interest in full to investors in 2024.”

The Adanis also argued that the Securities and Exchange Commission had not been able to show any “domestic transaction” in the US, which would be needed for US securities laws to apply.

On February 1, PTI reported that Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani had agreed to accept a legal notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission in the case. This removed the need for a US judge to rule on how the industrialist should be served the legal notice.

In August, the commission had told the court in New York that India was yet to deliver summons to the two of them.

On November 27, 2024, the Adani Group said in a stock exchange filing that Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani had been charged in the US for securities fraud, not bribery.

The charges had hurt the group’s market value, with shares falling by $54 billion at the time.

The lawyers ​for the Adanis ​told Reuters that they will formally ⁠seek the dismissal of the case by April 30.

Also read:

• What does US law say about Adani’s indictment – and can he be charged in India?

• Adani US indictment: The Indian solar deals for which Rs 2,029 crore was allegedly paid in bribes

Through the month of March, major players of India’s fertiliser industry began showing the first signs of an impending crisis.

Early in the month, a Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited plant in Gujarat announced that it was going to cut down on its planned production of neem-coated urea. In mid-March, two plants of National Fertilizers Limited in Punjab’s Namgal and Bhatinda ceased their operations.

These developments occurred after the Gas Authority of India Limited reduced the supply of liquified natural gas by 40% to each of these plants.

The cut in supply was a consequence of the conflict in West Asia, which escalated through March. India’s fertiliser industry depends heavily on liquified natural gas imported from the region as raw material to manufacture fertilisers domestically. Half of these imports come from Qatar alone, where the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas plant was damaged on March 19.

It is not only the supply of raw materials that has been hit – India also directly imports finished products like urea and diammonium phosphate from Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. With the Strait of Hormuz shut since the outbreak of the war, supplies of these raw materials and products have dwindled.

Even as farmers watched the situation with concern, the Indian government sought to assuage their fears. In late March, the government announced that the country had “adequate reserves for fertilisers”.

In another statement, released on March 30, the government said that for the upcoming kharif season, the total available stock of all fertilisers, including urea, diammonium phosphate, potassium chloride and nitrogen-phosphate-potassium, was 18 million tonnes. In the same statement the government estimated that for the upcoming kharif season, the country would require 39 million tonnes of fertiliser – more than double of this available stock. It suggested that it would bridge this gap by building up stocks during April and May, which it described as “lean agricultural periods”.

Scroll spoke to agricultural experts to obtain their assessment of whether the country’s current stocks were likely to be adequate to meet its needs.

These experts offered mixed assessments of the situation. Ramanjaneyulu GV, executive director at the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, in Secunderabad, noted that farmers would be sowing for the kharif seasons between April and June, and that there would be a high demand from across the country during this period. “There is a short window of sowing,” he said. “That is when all farmers require the fertiliser at the same time.”

Ramanjaneyulu added, “These stocks might be enough for the initial application when the crops are being sowed. But beyond that basal requirement, farmers will require a second and third application as well, and for that, we may not have enough.”

Some experts offered more optimistic assessments, at least for specific fertilisers. Siraj Hussain, former union secretary in the ministry of food processing industries and agriculture, said that he did not expect India to face a shortage of urea, the fertiliser used in the highest amounts in India.

Siraj, who is currently senior visiting fellow at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, estimated that the demand for the season would be around 18 million tonnes. He noted that in March, the country had a stock of between 5 and 6 million tonnes, and that domestic production in the current war scenario, with reduced liquefied natural gas imports, stands at between 1.6 and 1.8 million tonnes a month. With this domestic supply, as well as the available stock and imports from other countries, meeting the country’s demand “should not be difficult”, Hussain said.

But on the ground, many farmers are anxious about the possibility of a fertiliser shortage. In Maharashtra’s Vidharbha, farmer and activist Vijay Jawandhia said, “The government may say there is enough stock. But if fertiliser manufacturers have stopped or reduced production, it is bound to have an impact in the future. The demand is the same but the supply isn’t.”

Many farmers are frustrated because they feel that the government is not giving them sufficient information about the situation. Tejbir Singh, a farmer from Ambala, on the Haryana-Punjab border, told Scroll that there is a sense of panic amongst some farmers because there has so far been no communication from the government about its plans to make adequate quantities of fertiliser available.

“Neither the government nor the cooperative societies seem to have prepared,” he said. “Many people have bought the fertilisers in bulk in advance, and so in many places it is not available right now.”

Higher demand in kharif

Among the key reasons some farmers and experts are worried is that the kharif season requires more fertiliser than the rabi season.

For instance, in 2023, India consumed a total of 31.2 million tonnes of urea, nitrogen-phosphate-potassium and diammonium phosphate in the kharif season, and 27.2 million tonnes in the rabi season.

One reason for this difference is that more area is cultivated under kharif crops – in 2024, almost 38 million hectares of crops were grown in the kharif season, while 33.6 million hectares were grown in the rabi season.

Another reason is that since kharif coincides with monsoons, fertiliser applied to the soil in the season often gets washed away with rain. Ramanjaneyulu explained that crops end up taking only about 60% of the fertiliser sprayed on them, which reduces their efficacy.

Ambala’s Singh explained that kharif’s paddy crop also needs more fertiliser because “the land is left fallow for a long time, between harvesting in April, and sowing in early June”. Thus, he explained, “There is a need to recharge the soil.” Singh noted that for the complete paddy season, he uses three 45-kg bags of urea per acre.

“The question then is what are the prospects of bridging the gap of supply and demand in the coming two months,” said Sudha Narayanan, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. “The government is diversifying sources of fertiliser imports from Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Algeria and Egypt, including talking to China to import finished fertiliser products from. But we do not know if this will materialise, because China is also not exporting right now, since everyone is facing the same constraints domestically.”

To enable the optimal use of available stocks, Ramanjaneyulu suggested that the government should encourage farmers to opt for green manure in the next two months. This, he argued, would reduce the need for the first round of fertiliser use, which is when farmers use the most fertiliser.

“Then, the leftover fertiliser can be used by farmers for top-up application,” he said, referring to the second and third application of the fertiliser, which require smaller amounts than the basal or the first round. He added, “How efficiently can the available stocks be used, that needs to be the strategy right now.”

Food crisis not inevitable

Farmers’ fear of a fertiliser shortage is particularly heightened because they already struggled with the same problem only recently.

In 2025, fertiliser supply to India fell as a result of the Red Sea Crisis – a situation that began in 2023 when Houthi rebels began targeting ships that were passing through the Red Sea. Overall, in 2024-’25, India’s import of urea and diammonium phosphate declined by almost 20% and 18%, respectively, according to the Fertiliser Association of India. Farmers across states complained of an insufficient supply of urea last year.

Some experts believe that some factors may insulate India from a food security crisis even in the event of such a supply crunch. This is because many farmers “use more nitrogen than required, and even the use of phosphate is somewhat skewed”, said Narayanan.

Narayanan referred to a 2025 study of 31,000 fields across Nepal, Bangladesh, and four rice-producing regions of India. It found that 55% of rice farmers were overusing nitrogen fertiliser. It also found that if farmers used 18 kg less of the fertiliser per hectare, they could still obtain the same yield of rice. “This shows that even in a supply constraint, there might not be a yield implication since the returns to increasing fertiliser use have plateaued,” said Narayanan.

She added that the worst-case scenario was that a shortage would have “farmer-welfare implications”, since some may not obtain as much fertiliser as they need, or only obtain it at a higher price. “But we do not have to worry about food security, at least in the short run,” Narayanan said.

Hussain echoed this argument, and noted that in several states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, “the urea consumption is much higher than recommended levels”. He added that to tackle the problem of a potential shortage, authorities could consider “tweaking with dispatches to various states” so that they did not receive fertiliser in excess of their real need.

Reducing long-term dependency on fertilisers

Experts also suggested that in the long term, India needed to reduce its dependence on fertilisers. The first step towards this, they noted, would be to recognise the factors that created the dependency.

Some analyses have pointed to monocultures as a key such factor that led to excessive fertiliser use. For instance, the journalist Aishwarya Mohanty found in 2025 that among the top ten states that consumed the most fertiliser, six mainly cultivate just five crops on over 90% of land. When farmers grow the same crop year after year, Mohanty found, it absorbs the same nutrients repeatedly, forcing them to depend on fertilisers to make up for the loss of those nutrients. But when farmers plant diverse crops, “the different plants replenish and balance soil nutrients”, Mohanty wrote.

“The problem is not the supply alone, but the extreme dependency on these fertilisers,” Ramanjaneyulu said. “How do we improve soil health? That should be the central strategy.”

He added that such steps would have advantages beyond improving the health of natural resources – for instance, they could help improve the health of the public, which is harmed by exposure to chemicals in fertilisers, either through inhalation if they are sprayed, or through ingestion if they enter groundwater. These steps also reduce the government’s burden of importing fertilisers and providing them at a subsidy to farmers, he added.

Singh, however, pointed out that farmers may not find it easy to shift to alternatives to fertilisers. “Farmers are ready to cultivate without urea,” he said. “But then the market has to make the alternatives available.” He added that the government should strive to provide farmers with seed varieties that had good yields, at a reasonable cost, and also provide them with incentives to switch to alternatives to pesticides.

Narayanan noted that the government “has definitely learnt from the previous crisis”. She noted that it was looking “at diversification of imports, securing long-term stability with other countries, and pushing for new technology at the production end”. But, she added, when it came to making improvements such as using nitrogen fertiliser more efficiently, and thus reducing demand, “we have not made significant effort”.

With additional reporting by Tabassum Barnagarwala.

During the Emergency of 1975-’77, a few newspapers and magazines tried to get the better of the censors. In the first few days, The Indian Express, most famously had white space on its columns for editorials. The censors got onto that quickly.

The Economic and Political Weekly in Bombay ran an occasional full page of extracts from published newspaper reports. Called “Clippings”, no censor could object. They spoke for themselves, no comment was needed.

Here is one report from the Clippings of December 4, 1975:

“Mr [Sunjay] Gandhi remarked that though Vyasarpadi [in Tamil Nadu] was the worst affected area in the floods, "I see smiling faces here. Much of our troubles would be over if only all of us keep smiling”, he said.” – The Hindustan Times, November 29

That was half a century ago. There is no censorship now in the world’s largest democracy which is also the world’s oldest democracy. There is so much happening, though, that it is hard to keep track and, most important, difficult to remember. A journal or diary on the phone is a useful tool to track what is happening.

Here is one compilation of news reports and a couple of social media posts from 12 days in March. The headlines are as in the original. The period is arbitrary. A compilation of any period will be just as insightful.

March 19

‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ Censored in India Amid Fears Theatrical Release ‘Would Break Up the India-Israel Relationship’

The Indian theatrical release of Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated feature “The Voice of Hind Rajab” which was planned for this month, is being blocked by the country’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for political reasons, according to the film’s local distributor.

[Manoj] Nadawana [the distributor] said he screened “The Voice of Hind Rajab” for the CBFC in February, when he submitted the film for censorship approval, and was planning a March 6 Indian release “because we thought it was a good date ahead of the March 16 Oscars.” Instead, the film has not been cleared for release and he was told by a CBFC member that “if it gets released it would break up the India-Israel relationship,” Nadawana said.

March 20

‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ banned in India orally by CBFC, distributor says

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the CBFC did not respond to a query by The Hindu. A senior official told The Hindu on Friday that the film has now been referred to a Revising Committee in the CBFC over the last few days, and that it will be reviewed by them now.

Over the last two years, the CBFC has rejected and censored films that have progressive political messaging. Any reference to real life political events and personalities is typically removed. While an emerging crop of right wing cinema has also faced heavy censorship, according to cut lists viewed by The Hindu, their core messages have more or less withstood the process.

March 19

After 8 Years In Jail Under UAPA, Delhi Court Acquits Two Booked For Terror Conspiracy; Flags Serious Gaps In Police Case

A Delhi Court on Thursday acquitted two men in a case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act, saying that there was a “great deal of doubt” about the recovery of arms and ammunition in the manner as alleged by the Delhi Police's Special Cell.

…

The judge acquitted Jamsheed Zahoor Paul and Parvaiz Rashid who were charged for the offences under Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy) and 20 (punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and Section 25 (punishment for illegal possession of firearms or ammunition) of the Arms Act, 1959.

March 20

‘Who Will Answer for the Years Lost?’: Families Await Return of Two Kashmiris Jailed in 2018, Acquitted a Day Ago

Rashid was days away from sitting in his final semester exams when everything fell apart. Eight years later, Lone, his father and a retired government employee, struggles to control his emotions at his home in Ganopora village of Shopian.

“The legal battle took away our savings, our peace and somewhere along the way the five years he had poured into his education. It drained us – financially, emotionally, in every way,” Lone who lives alone with his wife in Ganopora said.

Parvaiz, then 24 years old, was pursuing MTech from Shri Venkateshwara University in Gajraula of Uttar Pradesh when a special cell team nabbed him near Red Fort in the national capital along with Jamshed Zahoor Paul, a resident of the adjoining Balpora village in Shopian, on September 7, 2018.

Pramod Singh Kushwah, a deputy commissioner of Delhi police’s special cell had then told the media that four cell phones were recovered from the two “highly radicalised” men which had “videos” linked to militants.

March 19

HC rejects ‘Mohammad Deepak’ plea for protection as ‘abuse of process’, orders financial disclosure

The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday issued a stern rebuke to Deepak Kumar who gained prominence for defending a Muslim shopkeeper against right-wing activists during a recent communal standoff in Kotdwar.

Justice Rakesh Thapliyal, presiding over a petition filed by Kumar, dismissed his demands for police protection and a departmental inquiry against local officers, labelling the entire legal exercise an “abuse of process”.

…

Following the incident, a case was registered against Kumar and his associate, Vijay Rawat, on January 28, based on a complaint by one Kamal Prasad, alleging intimidation and misconduct.

During the hearing, Justice Thapliyal expressed deep dissatisfaction with the petitioner's multifaceted prayer. “This is a complete abuse of process. The person who is an accused is praying for protection? Trust them [the police]. You are a suspected accused,” the bench remarked. The court further criticized Kumar’s request for a departmental inquiry against police personnel, terming it a “pressure tactic”.

March 22

Dear Hindus of Uttam Nagar - thank you. Thank you for showing us how it’s done

— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) March 20, 2026

I wrote about Judicial Corruption and Overreach. And they called my University.

So, [a] few judges, and advocates of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and some law students were unhappy with a piece I wrote on my personal Substack. They found my personal details, found the university I study in, got the contact details of authorities there, picked up their phones and called them to pressure me into silence.

…

Is any of this making sense? Judges in this country are issuing de-facto “takedown” orders to students through their universities, simply because he criticised them. At least the SC order earlier had the form of a legal proceeding. It was at least happening in public. But this? What exactly is this? What do you even call it? In what version of a functioning democracy is any of this normal?

Criticising a court order for something that is clearly wrong should never be contempt. It is the most basic functions of a free press and an academia. If judges cannot bear to have their orders or their words scrutinised, that is a problem with the judges and the judiciary, not with my criticism. It seems that when some of them have spent their whole career in an institution that is so unaccustomed to criticism, pressure and intimidation is a completely normal response.

March 23

Justice Bhuyan laments lack of space for dissent in ‘Viksit Bharat’

Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Sunday said that incarceration of citizens for dissent, and continuing atrocities against Dalits “cannot be a model of Viksit Bharat”.

…

“In Viksit Bharat, there should be more space for dissent and debate. Dissent cannot be criminalised,” he said, warning against the growing tendency to invoke criminal law in response to protests, student movements, and even social media expression.

He said the past few years have seen a pattern of “reckless registration” of criminal cases by the State, often in trivial matters. FIRs routinely filed for public demonstrations or online content, pushing individuals into prolonged investigations and incarceration, he said.

…

He, however, acknowledged that courts have not always acted as an effective check and said, “Many within the judiciary also suffer from the more loyal than the king syndrome. As a result, people continue to languish in jails for months and months together without bail and without facing trial.”

OFFICIAL CLARIFICATION: REGARDING THE ERRONEOUS CIRCULATION OF ELECTION COMMISSION DOCUMENT

It has come to our notice that a letter from the Election Commission, bearing the seal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is being circulated across various Malayalam news channels. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) hereby clarifies that this was purely a clerical error, which was identified and rectified immediately.

March 24

8,931 Days In Office, PM Modi Becomes India’s Longest-Serving Head Of Government

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has achieved a historic milestone in Indian politics by becoming the longest-serving head of an elected government in the country.

With this, PM Modi has surpassed Pawan Kumar Chamling, who held office as Chief Minister of Sikkim for 8,930 days. He has now completed 8,931 days as head of government, combining his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat and as Prime Minister, thereby entering his 25th year in a leadership role.”

[Note: Jawaharlal Nehru served as prime minister from August 14, 1947 until his death on May 27, 1964 – a total of 16 years and 286 days: 6,129 days

Indira Gandhi served two separate stints as PM:

First term: January 24, 1966 - March 24, 1977 (4,077 days)

Second term: January 14, 1980 – October 31, 1984, (1,752 days)

Total: 5,829 days

Narendra Modi became prime minister on May 26, 2014.

May 26, 2014 to March 26, 2025: 4018 days

May 26, 2025 to March 24, 2026 = 303 days

Total: 4,321 days]

March 23

New Uttar Pradesh is embracing the power of Artificial Intelligence.

A ₹25,000 Crore MoU with Puch AI will bring AI Parks, large-scale data centre infrastructure, AI Commons, and an AI University to the state. This initiative will strengthen governance, drive innovation, and create future-ready opportunities for our youth.

March 26

As per standard protocols laid by State Government, the MoU signed with Puch AI on 23 Mar 2026 was reviewed.

Necessary details as per SOP were sought from the investor, but they failed to provide them timely. Due diligence showed lack of net worth and credible financial linkages for the project's scale. On directions of the State Government, the MoU is cancelled effective today. No rights or obligations remain. The MoU has been cancelled in the interest of transparency and highest level of probity in governance, which are in the core of Government of Uttar Pradesh.

‘Not a dalaal nation like Pakistan’

The government slammed Pakistan at an all-party meeting on the West Asia crisis on Wednesday, with the Centre hitting out at Islamabad over their reported role as the mediator between the United States and Iran in the ongoing conflict.

Responding sharply to concerns around Pakistan’s reported mediation efforts, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said, “We are not a dalaal (Broker) nation,” news agency PTI reported citing sources.

[Note: India ever ready to play “active role" in peace efforts: PM Modi to Zelenskyy

Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to find ways to end the ongoing war and that India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict. In his talks with Zelenskyy in Kyiv that took place under the shadow of the raging war, Modi said India is ever ready to play an “active role” in every effort to restore peace in Ukraine and he would even like to contribute personally. The Economic Times, August 26, 2024 ]

‘It’s very humiliating’: Former Calcutta HC judge Sahidullah Munshi to file appeal after name struck off Bengal voters’ list

Former Calcutta High Court judge Sahidullah Munshi said on Thursday that his name has been deleted from the voters’ list following the adjudication process after the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

…

The former judge expressed surprise at his name being struck off, saying that he had submitted all required documents, including passports. “I do not know how they have adjudicated and how they have deleted. We were kept in the dark.

…

Former Justice Munshi pointed out that before becoming a judge, he had already submitted documents as part of the appointment process. “Apart from my documents, they conduct an internal enquiry. Only after scrutiny is the name approved by the Collegium. Then the President appoints you, and you take oath on the Constitution,” he said.

March 27

India’s luxury promise hits a wall: not enough malls to shop in

In India’s rapidly growing economy, millions of newly affluent consumers are fuelling demand for bags and accessories from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior. But getting to a store can be a problem - there aren’t that many of them.

…

India only has three true luxury malls: two in New Delhi – the Emporio and the Chanakya, owned by real estate developer DLF, and the Jio World Plaza in Mumbai, owned by the Reliance conglomerate.

“We have regular requests from the parent companies – from LVMH Group, from Kering, from Richemont – to give them more space for the brands they want to get into India,” said Saurabh Bharara, head of luxury malls at DLF.

“We have top 15 brands that are ready to enter India, if we give them space tomorrow,” he said, but added there was “zero availability” right now.

March 30

Despite assurance from Centre, MGNREGS workers denied work

For the last 87 days, MGNREGS workers have been protesting at the Muzaffarpur district headquarters in Bihar.

The Union government had assured them that until the Viksit Bharat —Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025, passed by Parliament in December, is rolled out, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) would continue unchanged. But on the ground, workers say the story is very different.

The protest in Muzaffarpur began on January 2 this year. Nearly 12,000 workers in the district have not received work for the past three to four months – even before the new rural employment law was introduced….

March 29

Oppn attempting to induce ‘artificial fear’, says BJP’s Tarun Chugh on PM Modi’s message to citizens in 'Mann ki Baat'

Tarun Chugh stated that, keeping in mind the ongoing conflict in the Gulf region, the Prime Minister utilised his address to reassure the citizens that there is absolutely no shortage of petrol, diesel, or gas in India. He explained that supplies are continuously arriving via shipments, and therefore, there is no need for the public to harbour any anxiety whatsoever….

March 31

As LPG supply takes a hit, a quiet return of migrant workers begins in Mumbai

It does not show up at construction sites or in factory lanes. There are no visible signs of an outflow, but go to Mumbai’s railway stations, and you will find it.

Vishesh Tyagi, 24, has been working for the last five years at a Mumbai factory that makes plumbing material. He had gone home to Varanasi for a brief break and returned on March 19. Five days later, he was on a train back. He had not been able to find a gas cylinder, could not afford to keep eating out, and saw no point in staying.

The newspaper spoke to migrants at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) over five days. Of the 130 people interviewed, 62 said they were returning home because of the LPG crisis. At LTT, 40 of 70 cited it as their reason for leaving. At CSMT, 22 of 50 said the same.

“For four to five days (Kusum) Gupta tried to arrange a gas cylinder, with no luck. She explored alternatives but hit the same wall. “I don’t have the energy to purchase wood and coal for cooking. It is too tedious a process. I would have preferred kerosene, but that isn’t available as well,” she said. She is leaving until things improve.”

These were just 12 days. Tiring and exhausting as it may be, we could all maintain a clippings file to remind ourselves where we are today and what is happening around us.

The Assam Assembly election campaign witnessed “the first industrialised artificial intelligence disinformation operation” in an Indian state election, an advocacy group said in a report on Tuesday.

The organisation, the Foundation Diaspora in Action for Human Rights and Democracy, said that the disinformation campaign was part of a strategy in which Muslims were “simultaneously dehumanised, disenfranchised, displaced and erased from cultural memory”.

The study came two days before the Assam Assembly election on Thursday. The results will be announced on May 4.

The report said that it identified 31 confirmed deepfakes targeting Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi by “fabricating his identity as a Pakistani agent and Muslim sympathiser”.

It added that it found “119 documented breaches” of the model code of conduct, but said that the Election Commission took no action in any of such cases.

Social media platforms also did not take down any such content, nor were any labels applied declaring that the posts were generated by AI.

The report said that the model implemented in Assam – voter roll purges, demographic engineering and AI-generated communal content – was being replicated in other parts of the country, including poll-bound West Bengal.

“Assam is the laboratory; the rest of India is the intended market,” the report said.

In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has alleged that specific communities, including the Matuas, Rajbanshis and minorities, were being targeted for deletion from the voter rolls through the special intensive revision exercise.

Also read: Bengal SIR: 95% of deleted voters in Nandigram are Muslims, shows study

‘Disinformation infrastructure created ahead of polls’

The report alleged that an extensive “disinformation architecture” involving synthetic images, deepfake videos and AI-generated communal content was created ahead of the polls.

It identified 432 posts on Facebook and Instagram as “very likely” or “likely” to have been AI-generated. These posts garnered 45.4 million views and more than 1 lakh likes, it said.

It noted that a single Instagram account – “politooons” – generated 40.2 million views from 102 AI-generated posts, accounting for 88% of all such content views.

The report also noted that the Assam BJP had uploaded and later removed a post that depicted Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma symbolically firing at images of two Muslim men at point-blank range.

The clip was deleted following social media criticism. It combined what appeared to be original footage of the BJP leader handling rifles with AI-generated images portraying Muslims as targets.

The advocacy group mentioned that Sarma said in an interview to Aaj Tak on March 12 that the video “was correct”, but should have identified the men as Bangladeshis.

The report said that the chief minister’s statement showed that the shift in vocabulary from targeting “Miya” Muslims to Bangladeshis was a deliberate legal adjustment rather than a change in intent.

The Assam BJP had made the post against the backdrop of a series of remarks by Sarma targeting Bengali-origin Muslims in the state.

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

The report said that, ahead of the elections, several posts calling for the exclusion and economic boycott of “Miya” Muslims were made from the verified social media accounts of Sarma and those of cabinet ministers. Such posts were later “amplified through paid media at scale”, it added.

Also read: Himanta Sarma’s remarks about ‘Miyas’ make a mockery of the Constitution

Sugar-free products with sugar. ‘Real’ juices with artificial ingredients. Misleading food ads are fuelling a public health crisis in India. Help Scroll expose the systemic failure. Support our investigation.

United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that a “whole civilisation will die” in Iran if the country does not agree to a deal before the deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. On Sunday, Trump extended the deadline for Iran to agree to 8 pm US Eastern Time (5.30 am on Wednesday in India).

On Tuesday, Trump said that while he did not want Iranian civilisation to “die tonight”, “it probably will”. Iran said that it would respond to any attacks “without any consideration”.

“The US and it’s allies [will be deprived of] oil and gas for years,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps stated. Read on.

Nearly 91 lakh voters have been removed from West Bengal’s voter lists after the special intensive revision of the state’s electoral rolls ahead of the Assembly polls. The deletions represent nearly 11.9% of the state’s electorate of 7.6 crore that existed before the voter roll revision process began.

District-wise, the highest number of deletions during the adjudications phase had taken place in Muslim-dominated Murshidabad, where 4.5 lakh names were struck off the list.

This came as one research report estimated that Muslims accounted for 95.% of the deletions in seven supplementary lists of Nandigram, despite being only 25% of the population in the district. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata alleged that voters from minority communities had been targeted in the revision exercise. Read on.

Mehebub Sheikh was forced into Bangladesh – but still made it to the Bengal SIR voter list, reports Anant Gupta

An appellate tribunal in West Bengal directed the Election Commission to restore Congress candidate Md Mottakin Alam’s name to the voter list. The order came hours before the deadline to file nominations for the Ratua Assembly constituency from where Alam is contesting.

The tribunal noted that the adjudicating officer had cited discrepancies in his father’s name in the documents Alam submitted during the process. However, it said that there was nothing to show that the authority had the power to question the appellant’s parentage. Read on.

Two protesters were shot dead after a mob allegedly stormed a Central Reserve Police Force camp in Manipur’s Bishnupur. The incident followed an attack earlier in the day in which two children were killed by suspected Kuki militants.

The mother of the children, who were five months old and five years old, was injured. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, a Kuki organisation, has rejected the allegations that members of the community were connected to the attack.

As tensions escalated through the day, the Manipur administration suspended internet services, including mobile data, in five districts – Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal, Kakching and Bishnupur – for three days. Read on.

An Assam Police team went to Congress leader Pawan Khera’s home in Delhi to question him about allegations he made about Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his family. Khera was not at home when the police arrived and the authorities searched his house.

Sarma claimed that Khera had “run away” to Hyderabad in Congress-ruled Telangana. Read on.

The Union government asked whether courts are the appropriate forum to decide what constitutes an essential religious practice. The Centre made the submission before a nine-judge bench hearing a case involving constitutional questions on the entry of women into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple and alleged discrimination at other religious places.

In his submission before the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta contended that the 2018 judgement, which lifted a ban on women of menstruating age from entering the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, needed to be reconsidered and reversed. Read on.

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The Union government on Tuesday questioned whether courts are the appropriate forum to decide what constitutes an essential religious practice, Bar and Bench reported.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, made the contention before a nine-judge bench hearing a case involving constitutional questions related to the entry of women into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple and discrimination at other religious places.

In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench had, by a 4:1 majority, lifted a ban on women of menstruating age from entering the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.

However, in November 2019, another five-judge bench, in response to review petitions against the verdict, referred a set of broader legal questions about the freedom of religion to a nine-judge bench.

On Tuesday, Mehta contended that the 2018 judgement needed to be reconsidered and reversed, Live Law reported. He also said that he strongly objected to the view expressed in the ruling that the bar on women’s entry amounted to untouchability.

Mehta argued that the bar on women’s entry was based on age, and contended that the restriction was because of the unique nature of the deity, Live Law reported.

The solicitor general said that western notions of patriarchy should not be blindly applied to India, without taking the country’s civilisational values into account.

However, Justice BV Nagarathna verbally observed that if social evils are branded as religious practices, then the court can distinguish between the two, The Hindu reported.

To this, Mehta argued that as per Article 25(2)(b) of the Constitution, it is up to the legislature to frame laws on social reform. The provision allows the state to make laws on social welfare and on throwing Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all sections of the community.

The nine-judge bench has been asked to examine the interplay between freedom of religion granted under Articles 25 and 26 of Constitution and other provisions, especially in Article 14, that grant right to equality before the law and equal protection of the laws.

The bench has been asked to determine whether the rights of a denomination to manage its religious affairs under Article 26 are subject to any other provisions of Part III the Constitution apart from public order, morality and health. Part III of the Constitution deals with fundamental rights.

A team of the Assam Police went to Congress leader Pawan Khera’s home in Delhi on Tuesday to question him in connection with allegations he made about Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his family, PTI reported.

Khera was not at home when the police arrived, and the authorities searched the house, PTI quoted Assam Police Assistant Commissioner Debojit Nath as saying.

Nath added that electronic devices and “incriminating material” were seized from Khera’s home during the search, The Hindu reported. He did not disclose what the material was.

The police officer said that efforts were underway to locate the Congress leader, the newspaper reported.

Sarma, meanwhile, claimed that Khera had “run away” to Hyderabad in Congress-ruled Telangana.

On Sunday, Khera claimed that he had documentary evidence that showed that the chief minister’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma holds passports of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda. Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife refuted the allegations.

On Monday, Sarma alleged that the documents cited by the Congress had been supplied by a Pakistani social media group. He had added that his wife had filed a first information report against Khera and others.

He had also claimed that the Congress had used details from a passport that had been allegedly lost. This document, he claimed, had been uploaded to the Pakistani social media group. “They photoshopped it,” he said at a press conference.

The case against the Congress leader has been registered at the Crime Branch Police Station in Guwahati, The Hindu reported.

Two protesters were shot dead after a mob allegedly stormed a Central Reserve Police Force camp in Manipur’s Bishnupur on Tuesday, a police official told Scroll.

The incident followed an attack earlier in the day in the district in which two children were killed by suspected Kuki militants, PTI reported.

The mother of the children, who were five months old and five years old, was injured in the incident at Tronglaobi Awang Leikai, said the state’s home minister.

The attack took place at about 1 am when a bomb thrown by the suspected militants fell on a house, PTI reported. The three were asleep at the time of the explosion.

As tensions escalated through the day, a mob stormed a CRPF camp, attempted to snatch weapons and set fire to a few vehicles, the police official told Scroll.

CRPF personnel then opened fire, killing two protesters and injuring several others, reported The Northeast Post.

In response to the violence, the Manipur administration suspended internet services, including mobile data, in five districts – Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal, Kakching and Bishnupur – for three days

“There exists apprehension that some anti-social elements might use social media for transmission of images, hate speech and hate video messages inciting the public which might have serious repercussions on the law and order situation in Manipur,” stated the home department.

Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh said that the government will hand over the case of the bomb attack to the National Investigation Agency.

Addressing a press conference, Singh said that the act “appears to be the handiwork of individuals or groups with vested interests in disturbing the prevailing peace in the state”.

He added that the state police, Assam Rifles and the Central Reserve Police Force, have been deployed and helicopters are being used to search for the perpetrators.

State Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas Singh said the chief minister had instructed that the perpetrators be caught “dead or alive”.

Kuki-Zos not involved in bomb attack: Tribal forum

Meanwhile, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, a Kuki organisation, rejected the allegations that members of the community were connected to the incident.

The group said that “any untoward incident” affecting the Meiteis “should not be automatically attributed to the Kuki-Zo people without proper investigation”.

The buffer zones between Kuki-Zo and Meitei areas are “heavily guarded by security forces, making it virtually impossible for Kuki-Zo individuals to cross undetected to carry out any form of attack or to plant explosive devices in Meitei localities”, the organisation stated.

The nearest Kuki village to Tronglaobi is abandoned and currently held by the central security forces, “further disproving these allegations”, the forum said.

According to PTI, the village is located near the hill areas of Churachandpur and has witnessed tensions since the ethnic clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in May 2023.

At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced since the conflict began. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024 and 2025.

State Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam said on social media that “such brutality” will not be tolerated.

“The matter is under active investigation, and all necessary steps are being taken to ensure that those responsible are swiftly identified and brought to justice in accordance with law,” he added.

The city of Amaravati formally became the capital of Andhra Pradesh on Monday after President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Amendment Act.

The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on April 1 and by the Rajya Sabha on April 2.

The capital of Andhra Pradesh is Amaravati.

#APThanksIndia#APThanksModiJi #HistoricAmaravatiResolution pic.twitter.com/W4TocOw8nQ

— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) April 7, 2026

The development marked the fulfilment of a “long-cherished dream”, said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday.

“This is a victory for my people of Andhra Pradesh, especially my farmers of Amaravati,” Naidu said in a social media post in which he expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all MPs who supported the bill and citizens.

The new law amends Section 5 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to replace the words “and there shall be a new capital” with “and Amaravati shall be the new capital”. It also clarifies that Amaravati includes areas notified under the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Act.

The project to make Amaravati the state capital had begun in 2014, when Telangana was carved out of undivided Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad was made the joint capital of the two states for ten years. The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet, in September 1, 2014, approved Amaravati as the site for the new capital, and Naidu announced the decision on October 22, 2015.

However, the process of developing Amaravati as the capital had come to a halt when the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress came to power in 2019. In 2020, the YSR Congress government proposed making Vishakhapatnam the executive capital, Amaravati the legislative capital and Kurnool the judicial capital.

However, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled, in March 2022, that Amaravati alone should be the state capital.

When the amendment bill was debated in Parliament earlier this month, the Telugu Desam Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress supported the legislation. While the Congress supported making Amaravati the capital of Andhra Pradesh, it also called for the state to be given special status.

The YSR Congress, however, had argued that the law would be meaningless unless farmers’ interests were protected and a clear timeline was set for giving them compensation for land acquired from them.

Also read: They gave up farmland for new Andhra capital. Now they are crippled with uncertainty

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging Bharatiya Janata Party MP Suresh Gopi’s victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Thrissur, reported Bar and Bench.

The petition was filed by Joshi Villadom who had contested the 2024 elections as an Independent candidate.

Villadom had accused Gopi of engaging in corrupt practices during the election, including bribery, promoting enmity between different groups and using religious appeals to solicit votes, reported Bar and Bench.

Another election petition against Gopi is pending before the High Court.

On April 1, the court held as maintainable a petition filed by Binoy AS, an All India Youth Federation leader and a voter from Thrissur.

He sought that the actor-turned-politician’s election be declared void under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act.

Like Villadom, Binoy AS also alleged that Gopi, his election agent and associates engaged in corrupt practices, including invoking religious sentiments, using religious imagery in campaign material and promising monetary or other benefits to influence voters.

The petition contained references to campaign materials, including flex boards depicting Gopi alongside images of Hindu deities Krishna and Radha as well as the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, along with messaging invoking religious appeals.

It also included claims that BJP leaders, in speeches, urged voters to make electoral choices based on religious considerations.

Justice Kauser Edappagath had rejected Gopi’s preliminary objections seeking dismissal of the petition, ruling that they “must fail” and that the election petition “is not liable to be dismissed” at the outset.

Although Muslims make up only 25% of the population of West Bengal’s Nandigram, they accounted for 95.5% of the deletions in seven supplementary lists released by the Election Commission as part of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in the state, according to an analysis done by a Kolkata-based research organisation.

The findings were released by the Sabar Institute on Sunday after it analysed voter roll data from supplementary lists 1, 2, 3, 4a, 7, 8 and 9.

Nandigram, part of the East Midnapore district, is represented by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari in the Assembly. He is contesting from the seat in the upcoming elections as well. The constituency will go to polls in the first phase on April 23.

The Election Commission published the first post-voter roll revision list on March 23. Ten such lists have been published since then till Sunday, identifying those who were deleted or approved.

According to data published by the Sabar Institute on social media, the share of Muslims deleted from the electoral rolls in Nandigram ranged from 60.9% to 98.7% in seven of the supplementary lists. The only exception was list 4a, where 100% of those deleted were non-Muslim women.

In the draft voter list of the state published in December, the proportion of deletions among Muslim voters was not as high.

Nearly 58 lakh voters were deleted after being marked as dead, duplicate, shifted or absent across the state. Out of these, a total of 10,604 voters were in Nandigram, of whom 7,077, or 66.7%, were non-Muslims and 3,527, or 33.3% were Muslims.

Citing data from the Election Commission, The Statesman reported on Tuesday that nearly 91 lakh voters have been removed from West Bengal’s voter lists after the revision of electoral rolls.

The deletions represent nearly 11.9% of the state’s electorate of 7.6 crore that existed before the voter roll revision process began.

The exercise concluded after judicial officers adjudicated about 60 lakh claims and objections. Voters who were removed during the adjudication process can appeal in 19 tribunals set up for the purpose.

However, as Monday was the last day for filing nominations for the first phase of Assembly elections, the voter rolls of constituencies going to polls on April 23 are locked. According to election rules, electoral rolls are frozen after the nomination deadline.

The second phase of the Assembly polls will be held on April 29. The votes will be counted on May 4.

Case of two other seats

In two other Assembly constituencies as well – Bhabanipur and Ballygunge – the share of voters put under adjudication was higher among Muslims as compared to non-Muslims, showed analysis published by AltNews on Friday.

In Bhabanipur, where Trinamool Congress president and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will contest against Adhikari, 51.8% Muslim voters were put under adjudication after the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. The share of their population is only 21.9% in the seat.

Ballygunge has 54.3% Muslim voters. A total of 76.1% of them were put under adjudication, according to AltNews.

The fact-checking website stated that it analysed the religious identity of the voters using their full name.

Details of 59.8 lakh cases under adjudication have been finalised and signed by judicial officers, The Statesman quoted the chief electoral officer’s office as saying.

Among them, more than 27 lakh voters were found “excludable” and have been removed from the voter lists.

District-wise, the highest number of deletions during the adjudications phase had taken place in Muslim-dominated Murshidabad, with 4.5 lakh names having been struck off the list. It is followed by North 24 Parganas with 3.2 lakh names removed and Malda with 2.3 lakh.

Voters from minority communities targeted, alleges CM

On Tuesday, Banerjee alleged that voters from minority communities had been deleted from the electoral rolls after the revision exercise, reported PTI.

“Names were being removed from the voter rolls by targeting specific communities…the Matuas, Rajbanshis and minorities,” the TMC chief reportedly said during a rally at Chakdaha in Nadia district.

The Matuas in West Bengal are Hindu Namasudras with roots in Bangladesh. The Rajbangshis are an ethnic Scheduled Caste group that has historically lived in the region of northern Bengal.

Banerjee said during the rally that the TMC will stand by those whose names were excluded from the voter rolls, reported PTI.

Also read:

• Millions of Bengalis may lose their vote. Not over citizenship but due to clerical errors

• Mehebub Sheikh was forced into Bangladesh – but still made it to the Bengal SIR voter list

The Union government on Monday doubled the daily allocation of 5 kg free trade liquefied petroleum gas cylinders for migrant labourers in all states and Union Territories, IANS reported.

Free Trade 5 kg LPG cylinders are designed for easy purchase without mandatory address proof and are primarily used by migrant populations in urban and semi-urban areas.

The revised allocation is based on the average daily number of cylinders supplied to migrant workers on March 2 and March 3, and goes beyond the earlier cap of 20% set in a March 21 order.

In a communication to chief secretaries, the Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas said that the cylinders would be placed at the disposal of state governments and their food or civil supplies departments, and are to be distributed exclusively to migrant labourers with support from oil marketing companies.

It comes amid disruptions in energy supplies to India since the conflict in West Asia broke out on February 28. Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of global petroleum liquids supply passes, for most commercial ships.

This has affected LPG supplies in India. The country imports about 60% of its LPG demand, most of it from Gulf countries.

However, the Union government has repeatedly said that there is no shortage of LPG in the country.

Amid the disruptions, the Union government also said that beneficiaries can obtain the 5kg cylinders by presenting a valid identity card, and submitting a self-declaration stating their place of stay and that the cylinder will be used only for cooking purposes, ANI reported on Sunday.

On Monday, the Union government said that about 6.7 lakh such cylinders have been sold since March 23.

The conflict in West Asia began after Israel and the United States launched an attack on Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran’s action posed an existential threat to Israel. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Iran has retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region and targeting major cities in Gulf countries.

Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance. Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.

Also read:

• Why the LPG crisis is reviving pandemic fears among migrant workers

• India’s push for clean cooking fuel goes up in smoke

Nearly 91 lakh voters have been removed from West Bengal’s voter lists as part of the special intensive revision of the state’s electoral rolls ahead of the Assembly polls, The Statesman reported on Tuesday citing data from the Election Commission.

The deletions represent nearly 11.9% of the state’s electorate of 7.6 crore that existed before the voter roll revision process began.

The exercise concluded after judicial officers adjudicated about 60 lakh claims and objections. However, voters who were removed during the adjudication process can appeal in 19 tribunals set up for the purpose.

Details of 59.8 lakh cases under adjudication have been finalised and signed by judicial officers, the newspaper quoted the chief electoral officer’s office as saying.

Among them, more than 27 lakh voters were found “excludable” and have been removed from the voter lists. This brought the total deletions as part of the exercise in the state to 90.8 lakh, an unidentified officer told the newspaper.

“The process of putting e-signatures of the judicial officers is yet to be completed for 22,163 cases,” the official said. “Once that is completed, some more names might be added to the current deletion figure.”

District-wise, the highest number of deletions during the adjudications phase had taken place in Muslim-dominated Murshidabad, with 4.5 lakh names having been struck off the list. It is followed by North 24 Parganas with 3.2 lakh names removed and Malda with 2.3 lakh.

This came days ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, which will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The votes will be counted on May 4.

West Bengal is also among the 12 states and Union Territories where the special intensive revision of the electoral roll was undertaken.

On February 28, the Election Commission published the final electoral roll for West Bengal, showing that more than 61 lakh voters had been excluded. However, the process continued with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases remaining under adjudication based on their objections to their exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered that judicial officers of the rank of district judge or additional district judge be appointed to help complete the revision exercise in the state.

On March 10, the top court ordered the formation of appellate tribunals composed of former High Court chief justices and judges to hear appeals against exclusions. A person whose claim for inclusion in the electoral rolls has been rejected by a judicial officer can approach the tribunal.

Also read: Millions of Bengalis may lose their vote. Not over citizenship but due to clerical errors

The appellate tribunal in West Bengal on Monday ordered the Election Commission to include Congress candidate Md Mottakin Alam’s name in the voter list after it was deleted during the adjudication phase of the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls.

The tribunal noted that the judicial officer adjudicating Alam’s case had said that the father’s name was different in the documents submitted during the process, and that the appellant’s age gap with the parents was too large.

It added that nothing had been submitted to show the power of the adjudicating authority to question the parentage of the appellant, adding that this cannot be the grounds to delete Alam from the voter list.

The order came amid Monday being the last day to file nominations for the Ratua Assembly constituency where Alam is contesting. The state polls will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29 and the counting of votes will take place on May 4.

The Congress candidate had approached the Supreme Court after his name was removed from the voter list during the revision process. On Monday, Alam’s plea was mentioned before the court, which directed the appellate tribunal to decide on the matter by 12.30 pm.

The tribunal then issued its order in an urgent hearing, after which Alam filed his nomination papers.

West Bengal is also among the 12 states and Union Territories where the special intensive revision of the electoral roll was undertaken.

On February 28, the Election Commission published the final electoral roll for West Bengal, showing that more than 61 lakh voters had been excluded. However, the process continued with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases remaining under adjudication based on their objections to their exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered that judicial officers of the rank of district judge or additional district judge be appointed to help complete the revision exercise in the state.

The court had on March 10 ordered the formation of appellate tribunals. A person whose claim for inclusion in the electoral rolls has been rejected by a judicial officer can appeal the decision in the tribunal.

While the cases under adjudication have been decided on, the Election Commission is yet to set up all the 19 tribunals it had constituted.

What Alam’s tribunal order said

In his order on Monday, TS Sivagnanam, a retired chief justice of the Calcutta High Court who was heading the tribunal hearing the Congress candidate’s plea, noted that Alam had in November submitted the enumeration form with the documents.

The name of Alam’s father can be found in the 1971 voter list from the English Bazar Assembly constituency and in the 2002 electoral rolls, the tribunal observed, adding that Alam had won the Manikchak seat in the 2016 Assembly elections.

The Election Commission had issued him a notice during the revision process, saying that there was a discrepancy in his father’s name in the documents. The poll panel had also stated that the age difference between Alam and his parents was more than 50 years, the order noted.

The tribunal added: “The adjudicating judicial officers in the speaking order has observed that the father’s name of the appellant are two names and way too different and have no similarity at all.”

Sivagnanam noted that Alam had contested the panchayat polls in 2013 and the Assembly elections in 2016, both of which he had won. “Hence it is arbitrary for the ECI to exclude the name of the applicant from the 2026 voter list,” the tribunal ruled.

The order said that the discrepancy in the age between the father and the son was “likely due to mis-linking”.

It added: “Nothing has been placed before this tribunal to show the power of the adjudicating authority to question about the parentage of the appellant. This cannot be the ground to exclude the applicant from the voter list of 2026.”

Allowing Alam’s appeal, the judge directed the Election Commission to include his name in the voter list by 3 pm.

The inclusion came a day after the tribunal restored Motab Shaikh, the Congress candidate from Farakka, as a voter. Shaikh’s was the first case to be decided by the tribunal.

In this order, Sivagnanam noted that the Election Commission had cited “technical reasons” for not providing the circumstances leading to Shaikh’s name being deleted during the adjudication process.

Sivagnanam directed the poll panel to declare Shaikh a valid voter of Murshidabad through an additional list by 8 pm on Sunday. He stated that the passport submitted by Shaikh was sufficient proof, pointing out that there was no discrepancy in his father’s name in any record.

Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday rejected notices submitted by Opposition MPs seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, without providing specific reasons for their decision.

The notices, submitted on March 12, were signed by 63 members of the Rajya Sabha and 130 Lok Sabha MPs, meeting the minimum requirement for such motions.

The Opposition, led by the Trinamool Congress, had accused Kumar of “partisan and discriminatory conduct” alleging abuse of constitutional authority, The Indian Express reported.

They also accused the poll commissioner of “obstruction of investigation into electoral fraud” and the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in several states and Union Territories.

The decisions rejecting the notices were communicated through parliamentary bulletins issued on Monday. The bulletins stated that the notices had been declined after “due consideration” and a “careful and objective assessment of all relevant aspects and issues involved”.

The presiding officers cited their powers under Section 3 of the 1968 Judges Inquiry Act, which allows them to admit or refuse the motions following consultation and review of available material.

The removal process for the chief election commissioner follows the same procedure as that for judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts.

An impeachment motion is required to be signed by 100 Lok Sabha MPs or 50 Rajya Sabha members. If the motion is admitted in both Houses, a three-member committee investigates the matter. A vote is conducted in Parliament on the impeachment if the panel finds misconduct. If the motion gets two-thirds of the votes, the president is advised to remove the election commissioner.

On Monday, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said on social media that no reason had been given for the rejection and accused the Union government of “mocking our great Parliament”.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “we know what happened to the last chairman of the Rajya Sabha who accepted a petition moved by Opposition MPs”.

In July, an Opposition notice seeking the removal of Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma was admitted, The Hindu reported. Jagdeep Dhankhar, the chairman at the time, had resigned shortly afterwards citing health reasons.

Several Opposition leaders had raised questions about the timing of Dhankhar’s resignation. Ramesh had said at the time that there were “far deeper reasons” behind Dhankhar’s decision.

The Opposition has repeatedly accused the poll body of operating as an extension of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s political machinery.

Dharmashwer Gogoi, a 70-year-old resident of Assam’s Jorhat district, reels off reasons to be disgruntled with the state government.

Not one woman in his family has been enrolled into the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s flagship Orunodoi scheme, which promises a monthly cash transfer of Rs 1,250 to lakhs of women in the state. Nor has he got a house under the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Then, there are the monthly expenses on buying drinking water because of a sharp drop in the water table in the village.

Gogoi said he was also disappointed that the Himanta Biswa Sarma government did not keep its promise of increasing the monthly pension for senior citizens. “It is difficult to survive with Rs 250 a month,” he said. “I am an old person and my health does not allow me to work anymore.”

But the elderly farmer, who was once a Congress voter, admits that the BJP government has benefitedhim on one count. Under the state’s land regularisation scheme, Gogoi was given ownership rights over 2.5 katha of his total 3 katha land. One katha equals 0.031 acre of land.

Gogoi added: “Like me, others did not get titles for their entire land. But we are hopeful we will get it in the next term.”

The Sarma government’s large network of cash benefits has reached a large chunk of residents of Nutunmati, from a Rs 1.5 lakh grant to the village prayer hall or namghar to a one-time assistance of Rs 2 lakh for 10 young entrepreneurs to the regular payouts to women. In March, the BJP government disbursed Rs 9,000 to each of the 40 lakh Orunodoi beneficiaries – this included a Rs 4,000 annual Bihu bonus, besides the payments from January to April.

For many voters in this village in Mariani constituency, the decision of whom to vote in the Assembly election might depend on the calculation of benefits received or not.

Gogoi’s neighbour, Biswaswar Gogoi, put it candidly. “People will vote for the BJP as Himanta Biswa Sarma holds out the temptation that he will provide more benefits and cash if he comes to power,” the 61-year-old farmer said. “Those who have been left out in the last term are unhappy but they are hoping their turn will come in this term.”

As Scroll travelled across five constituencies in Upper Assam, the BJP’s welfare schemes dominated conversations with voters, interspersed by rumblings of discontent about the rise in prices and lack of jobs. Strikingly, unlike in Central or Lower Assam, the chief minister’s polarising rhetoric against Bengal-origin Muslims appeared to have fewer takers.

The anti-incumbency has opened up opportunities for the Congress-led Opposition alliance, whose leaders are fairly popular in the region. “The Congress-led alliance seems to be posing a stronger challenge to the BJP in Upper Assam this time,” Chandan Kumar Sharma, who teaches sociology at Tezpur University, told Scroll.

But the parties’ weak organisational presence could prove to be a stumbling block, voters and party workers told Scroll.

The region sends 35 legislators to the Assembly. In the 2021 Assembly poll, the National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP won 29 of those seats.

The 3G challenge

The challenge to the BJP is being fronted by the “three Gogois” – Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress, Akhil Gogoi of Raijor Dal and former students’ leader Lurunjyoti Gogoi of the Assam Jatiya Parishad.

The Raijor Dal and the Assam Jatiya Parishad, among the last to join the six-party alliance, were born out of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019.

Gaurav Gogoi, the Assam Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP, told Scroll: “All three of us are united for a nutun bor Axom (a new greater Assam) and against the politics of Himanta Biswa Sarma who stands for personal wealth, greed and power.”

Three Ahom leaders fighting together has resonance in a region where the Ahom community is dominant, even among voters who think that the BJP is headed for a win. “Even if they can't form the government, they can raise our issues in the Assembly,” said Bijay Kakati, a 48-year-old resident of Mautgaon village in Sivasagar district. “They can act as a check on the government, which won’t be able to take unilateral, anti-people steps.”

‘We don’t like Hindu-Muslim politics’

Several voters were uncomfortable with Himanta Sarma’s allegations about Gaurav Gogoi’s “Pakistan links”, his communal politics and belligerent behavior as head of the state.

“Mukhor lekam nai,” said Ridib Bora, a 26-old taxi driver in the Teok assembly seat. “He has no control over his tongue. He says whatever comes to his mind. It makes people angry.”

Bora, who voted for the BJP-led alliance in the last elections, is unwilling to give it another chance even though he admitted that the government built roads and brought development. “But where are the jobs?” he asked. “Even after graduating from college, we get a salary of Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000. Our expenditure is more than our income.”

Debajit Bora, a 26-year-old businessman from Bilimusa Changmai village in Sivasagar district, said the constant Hindu-Muslims politics will affect the ruling party.

“People in Sivasagar don't like Hindu-Muslim politics,” Bora said. “I do business with Muslim people. Inter-faith relations have thrived here for centuries.”

Sivasagar, once the seat of the Ahom kingdom, is also home to Assamese Muslims, many of whom settled in the region in the 16th century.

Bora added: “This kind of hate politics has hampered our businesses and causes anxiety.”

Voters also brought up the “disproportionate increase in wealth and properties” of the chief minister’s family, echoing the Opposition campaign against Sarma. (Four days ahead of the election, the Congress doubled down on its allegations, accusing Sarma’s wife of possessing three passports and owning property in the United Arab Emirates and the United States.)

“His family now own tea gardens, resorts and land,” said Bijay Kakati, a voter in Teok assembly constituency. “But he has sold Assam properties to companies run by outsiders.”

The wide popularity of the cash transfers was offset by worries about the rising prices. “The price of oil, dal and rice has shot up drastically,” said Bharat Dutta, a 53-old-farmer of New Sonowal village in Jorhat. “As women get benefits, there is an illusion that this government is doing good work. But we spend double that money because of inflation. Compare the prices when the Congress was in power and now.”

Others questioned the development claims of the BJP. “How many industries have been opened? Instead, our land has been given away to outsiders and tea gardens are being sold,” Pradyot Bora, a resident of Bilimusa Changmai village in Sivasagar district, said.

Debajit Bora, the businessman from Sivasagar, said the cash transfers were meant to “buy votes”. “But many will not be tempted.”

On the ground

Congress leaders claimed that the unhappiness with the ruling party will lead to close contests in several seats in Upper Assam. “Our campaign over the last few weeks shows there is high anti-incumbency against BJP MLAs over local issues,” Gaurav Gogoi said.

However, the Congress has been hamstrung by exits of high-profile leaders like former Assam Congress president Bhupen Bora and sitting Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi to the BJP.

A Congress spokesperson from Upper Assam said though Congress has managed to put up a fight in Sivasagar and Jorhat districts, their organisational strength is still not strong in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia.

The delay in stitching together an alliance has also chipped away at its gains.

In Mariani, for instance, the Congress has decided to make way for the Raijor Dal, even though the seat is one of its traditional strongholds.

The Raijor Dal has pitted a former college teacher and anti-CAA activist, Gyanashree Bora, against Rupjyoti Kurmi, the five-time MLA.

Kurmi, one of the few Congress leaders from the tea tribe community, won the seat in the last election but soon switched to the BJP, dealing a big blow to the party in the region.

A senior leader of the Raijor Dal told Scroll that the Mariani seat has become a contest between Assamese-speaking people and the tea tribe community. “Politics in Upper Assam is always based on ethnicity,” he said.

But Raijor Dal’s weak organisation is a hurdle, party leaders admitted, as is the fear that the alliance took too long to come together.

“Though there is a huge anti-incumbency in a number of seats, we are not in the driver’s seat because of the lack of organisation and weak management,” another Raijor Dal leader said. “We are banking on Congress workers in many seats like Mariani, Margherita and Sissiborgaon. The transfer of votes may be an issue.”

Wooing the tea tribes

Faced with voter unhappiness, the BJP’s moves to cement its support of the tea tribe community may prove to be a deciding factor.

The tea tribes – Adivasis from central India who had been brought by the British on tea plantations for cheap labour – account for over 20 per cent of the electorate in 20 of the 35 seats in Upper Assam. They also have a significant presence in five other seats.

Once known to vote for the Congress, the community’s support shifted to the BJP around 2016.

Ahead of this election, too, the party moved to secure the group’s vote, by increasing the wages of tea workers and distributing land titles.

“The government has increased our wages from Rs 250 to Rs 280 a day,” said Sulandur Nayak, a 31-year-old who lives and works at Tyroon tea estate in Titabor, explaining why he would vote for the BJP.

Madhav Ghatowar, another tea worker in Meleng tea estate in Jorhat, said that apart from his wife getting the Orunodoi grant, the family received a one-time financial aid of Rs 5,000 under a scheme for tea plantation workers.

Nayak added: “The BJP has also given us land.”

Just days ahead of the imposition of a model code of conduct, on March 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed land titles to tea-garden workers. The BJP manifesto claimed “it has given land pattas to 3.5 lakh garden families,” though it has distributed land deeds to over 28,000 tea workers families so far.

Bimol Ravi Das, a 38-year-old worker of Dholi tea estate in Titabor, was one of those who got a land deed. But he said that not all tea workers will vote for the BJP. “We have got titles for only 50% of our land,” he said. He pointed out that the hike in wages was far less compared to the party’s promise to pay Rs 351 a day to tea plantation workers.

Das added: “We have not given Scheduled Tribe status as well.”

The tea tribes are one of six communities in Assam that had been agitating for a Scheduled Tribe status. In November last year, the government proposed to accommodate the Adivasi tea tribes by creating a new category – ST (valley) – which has not been met with much enthusiasm by the community.

Nevertheless, Horen Goowala, the first college principal from the tea community in the state, said the BJP continues to enjoy mass support in the tea gardens.

“The quota for tea tribes in state government jobs and the land pattas will be the game changer,” Goowala said.

He was referring to the Assam cabinet’s decision in February to reserve 3% of the Class I and Class II government jobs for the “tea tribes” and Adivasi community.

Political scientist Dhruba Pratim Sharma, who teaches in Gauhati University, agreed that the BJP had an advantage when the state goes to poll on April 9. “There is little chance of a significant shift of any of the communities away from the ruling coalition,” he said.

Chandan Sharma, the sociologist from Tezpur University, offered a caveat. He said a section of Ahom voters and those from the tea tribes and other smaller communities, appear to be shifting away from the BJP because of local issues. “But this may not represent a majority within these communities, given the continued impact of development initiatives and the series of beneficiary schemes implemented by the BJP,” he said.

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the National Investigation Agency to take over the probe into the gherao of judicial officers in West Bengal’s Malda by a group of persons protesting against alleged mass deletion of voters during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, Bar and Bench reported.

There were “serious allegations” against the state police, a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant said while passing the order.

The incident took place on April 1, when a group of protesters held hostage seven judicial officers, including three women, for several hours. Stones were thrown at their vehicles while they were returning to their homes. They were released from the mob after midnight following the intervention of Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul.

A day later, the Supreme Court directed the deployment of central forces to provide security to judicial officers helping complete the revision of the electoral rolls in the state.

The exercise is underway ahead of Assembly polls to be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.

On Monday, the court noted that the Election Commission had sought an inquiry by the NIA, which had submitted a preliminary status report in a sealed cover, Bar and Bench reported.

“We find that FIRs [first information reports] mentioned was registered by state police and there are serious allegations against state/local police,” the legal news outlet quoted the Supreme Court as saying. “We direct NIA to take over the FIRs irrespective of reasons therein.”

The bench added that the agency could register additional FIRs if required and directed that reports be submitted before an NIA court in Kolkata.

“However, before chargesheet is filed, status report shall be submitted before [Supreme Court]...giving report of investigation from time to time,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.

During the hearing, the bench also criticised the state chief secretary and director general of police for allegedly failing to respond to the calls of the Calcutta High Court chief justice when the judicial officers were being gheraoed.

In response, the chief secretary claimed that he did not receive a call from the chief justice and added that he was on a flight to New Delhi between 2 pm and 4.30 pm, Bar and Bench reported.

Kant also noted that the home secretary was also not reachable during the incident.

“The way these officials are being pampered,” Bar and Bench quoted the chief justice as saying. “Please apologise before the [High Court] chief justice and redeem what was done.”

He added: “It was motivated, pre planned and deeply instigating in nature. We also want to see this to the logical end.”

On Friday, Moffakkerul Islam, a lawyer from Uttar Dinajpur, was arrested for allegedly organising the gherao of the judicial officers. He had contested the 2021 Assembly elections as a candidate of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. Police said 35 persons have been arrested so far in the case.

The West Bengal Police is currently functioning under the Election Commission as the Model Code of Conduct is in force ahead of the polls.

West Bengal is also among the 12 states and Union Territories where the special intensive revision of the electoral roll was undertaken.

On February 28, the Election Commission published the final electoral roll for West Bengal, showing that more than 61 lakh voters had been excluded.

However, the process continued with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases remaining under adjudication based on their objections to their exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered that judicial officers of the rank of district judge or additional district judge be appointed to help complete the revision exercise in the state.

On March 10, the top court ordered the formation of an Appellate Tribunal composed of former High Court chief justices and judges to hear appeals against exclusions from voter lists in West Bengal.

A person whose claim for inclusion in the electoral rolls has been rejected by a judicial officer can approach the tribunal.

With days to go for the Assembly polls, the Election Commission is yet to physically set up the 19 tribunals it had constituted,

The Election Commission has also published several supplementary voter lists following adjudications.

Three academics barred by the Supreme Court from all government projects for drafting a chapter about “corruption in the judiciary” in a now-withdrawn textbook on Monday sought a hearing in the matter, Live Law reported.

In personal affidavits filed in the court explaining the context in which they wrote the chapter, the three academics – Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar – also told the court that they are no “fly-by-night academics” and command “street cred”, The Hindu reported.

The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a suo motu case taken up by the court regarding the chapter.

The chapter was part of a Class 8 social science textbook published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training. The educational body on March 10 apologised for the chapter, and said that the entire book has been withdrawn.

The apology came two weeks after the court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and banned the publication and re-printing of the textbook.

An affidavit by NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani said that Danino, a visiting professor, had supervised the drafting of the chapter, while Diwakar, an educator, and Alok Prasanna Kumar, a legal researcher, were also involved in the process.

On March 11, the court directed the Centre and state governments to ensure that the three academics who were involved in the drafting of the chapter are not associated with other curriculum projects.

It also directed the Centre, state governments, Union Territories and universities to not assign the three of them “any responsibility which involves public funds”.

The court said that either the three academics did not have “reasonable knowledge about the Indian judiciary”, or they knowingly misrepresented facts. “There is no reason why such persons [should] be associated in any manner with the preparation of curriculum or finalisation of textbooks for the next generation,” it added.

On Monday, advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Kumar, said that the comments of the court had caused prejudice against them, adding that their applications had been filed to explain their stance, Live Law reported.

In response, the chief justice asked: “Are you defending your actions?”

Sankaranarayanan added that the applications were filed to provide context and show the court the new pedagogy that has been adopted after the 2020 National Education Policy.

“Class 6, Class 7 textbooks do deal with issues faced by the legislature, executive and the Election Commission,” Live Law quoted the advocate as saying. “The argument was that the judiciary was singled out. Those issues [affecting other institutions] have also been dealt with.”

Advocate J Sai Deepak, representing Diwakar, said that “the sum and substance of the application is that this was a collective process and no individual had the sole say or authority”.

“We definitely propose to hear the three of them,” The Hindu quoted Kant as saying.

The chapter had listed “corruption at various levels of the judiciary” among the challenges that the judicial system faces, according to The Indian Express. It was part of a textbook titled “Exploring Society: India and Beyond”.

During a hearing on February 26, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, had apologised to the court. However, the bench had said that the press release issued by the NCERT at the time did not have a “single word of apology”.

A Madurai court on Monday awarded the death sentence to all nine police officers convicted in the custodial deaths of a father and son at the Sattankulam police station in Thoothukudi district in June 2020, The Hindu reported.

On March 23, the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai found the nine officers guilty of the deaths of P Jeyaraj (58) and his son J Benniks (31).

Judge G Muthukumaran had convicted inspector S Sridhar, sub-inspectors P Raghu Ganesh and K Balakrishnan, head constables S Murugan and A Saamidurai, and constables M Muthuraj, S Chelladurai, Thomas X and S Veilumuthu.

A tenth accused in the case, special sub-inspector Pauldurai, had died after contracting Covid-19.

On June 18, 2020, police arrested Jeyaraj and Benniks in Sattankulam for allegedly violating the Covid-19 lockdown rules. They were taken to the police station, where they were beaten and tortured overnight.

The next day, they were remanded to judicial custody and sent to jail. Both developed serious health complications and were taken to the hospital. Benicks died on June 22, 2020 and Jayaraj died on June 23, 2020.

Their deaths triggered widespread protests and outrage about police brutality.

On March 23, the court observed that the injuries on Jeyaraj and his son were unnatural, while noting that the post-mortem reports said they were caused by repeated assault.

The judge had also rejected the arguments that the injuries were self-inflicted. It could not be said that the death was caused by illness, despite Jayaraj’s history of heart ailment, the court had held. It had concluded that the two men were murdered,

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had taken suo moto cognisance of the case, ordered a judicial inquiry and began monitoring the matter. The state government later transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI had also prosecuted the nine police officers.

What does Mark Carney make of the Israeli-American killing of the late Iranian head of state, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? The Canadian Prime Minister proclaimed at Davos on January 20, 2026 that the existing rules-based international order had been killed by the great powers, particularly the US, who had weaponized interdependence, using it as leverage to coerce less powerful states and undermine their sovereignty.

He has supported the war on Iran but with “regret”, claiming the “conflict is another example of the failure of international order.” In the Davos speech, Carney asked the middle powers to build a new rules-based international order. But less than two months later, he has supported actions that run contrary to the new order he hopes will come into existence.

And what about India? As we had written in 2024, India’s policy of supporting the rules-based international order was marked by inconsistency. That feature continues to hold. While India has not condemned the killing, it did send the country’s Foreign Secretary to condole Khamenei’s death. India has, in the past, added its weight to American support for a rules-based international order. Does it think that a head of state’s killing had dealt the rules-based international order its biggest blow yet?

Neither the Canadian prime minister nor New Delhi is likely to become candid on the question, but the bind in which they find themselves illustrates the challenges before the rules-based international order as an idea and the reality of international order that it seeks to describe. The rules-based international order is a difficult idea to live with, and that is a good reason to attempt a status update on how it is poised in these times of great flux.

Liberal or rules-based?

First, what is the rules-based international order?

In 2022, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken described the rules-based international order as “the system of laws, agreements, principles, and institutions that the world came together to build after two world wars to manage relations between states, to prevent conflict, to uphold the rights of all people.” However, for decades, that international order was not called rules-based international order.

Although the postwar order was indeed based on rules, the term “rules-based international order” itself began featuring in foreign policy discourse in the 2000s, initially in the Anglosphere. It was likely first invoked in 2008 by then-Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was likely the first American official to use the term in 2010.

However, rules-based international order rose to prominence during the administration of US President Joe Biden, whose officials used it often to warn against what they held to be threats to the international system from Russian and Chinese geopolitical revisionism. Indeed, the Blinken speech, where he defined the phrase, was about the Biden Administration’s approach to China.

The choice of rules-based international order to describe the postwar order was deliberate. The objective likely was to get non-Western states to look at Russian and Chinese foreign policies from an American and, more broadly, Western point of view.

If America said that Moscow and Beijing posed a threat to liberal democracy or to a democratic world order, it was unlikely to find sympathy in the non-West because of the controversial and bloody history of Western “democracy promotion,” particularly in West Asia and Afghanistan, and non-western countries’ unease with Western liberalism. “Rules” was a neutral term. European leaders, extensively familiar with rules as part of the EU project, too, began using the term to describe the postwar order.

The rules-based international order is sometimes conflated with the controversial term “liberal international order”. Many commentators on Western foreign policy – both critics and agnostics – do not make a distinction between the rules-based international order and the liberal international order. One analyst implies that Carney had announced the death of liberal international order whereas Carney had not used the phrase. The international historian Marc Trachtenberg uses them interchangeably and writes, when discussing G John Ikenberry’s scholarship on international order, that the “exact terminology does not matter.” But it does; why else did the West switch to rules-based international order?

Furthermore, the distinction is a substantive one, for the rules-based international order does not entail promotion of liberal democracy and human rights, the key characteristics of the liberal international order, which accurately describes the American approach to international order from the early 1990s through the administration of US President George W Bush. One way to settle the debate is to say that rules-based international order does capture the essence of the postwar international order provided one avoids the myth that it was an exclusively Western creation.

Rejections and limited endorsement

Beyond the scholarly controversy lie policy questions that reveal contemporary geopolitical fractures. As Western targets, Russia and China have expectedly rejected the concept. For instance, in 2020, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that the “term was recently coined” by the West “to camouflage a striving to invent rules depending on changes in the political situation so as to be able to put pressure on disagreeable States and even on allies”.

As for India, as we had noted in a 2023 paper, it had endorsed and used the term in a restricted fashion. While it agreed with the West that the rules-based international order was indeed threatened, it considered that threat limited to China and the Indo-Pacific.

This became evident when Delhi refused to echo the Western argument that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine constituted a threat to the rules-based international order. Not only did India not use the term, its criticism of Russian actions was indirect, and it thought that Ukraine’s war was Europe’s war and not really a threat to the international order, rules-based or otherwise.

The tacticality of India’s commitment to rules-based international order becomes clear from the fact that while it featured regularly in India’s official discourse during the Biden years, it has hardly been used since Donald Trump’s re-election, given that the latter’s administration does not like it at all.

Russian and Chinese rejection, as well as its limited endorsement by India, exposed two of the concept’s central problems: that it did not have universal appeal and that it was viewed with considerable scepticism within the non-West.

The rules-based international order was further weakened when observers in the so-called Global South juxtaposed Western framings and responses to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. In their assessment, Israel’s military behaviour in Gaza was marked by the same excesses that the West had charged Russia with: disregard for international law, deliberate targeting of civilians, crimes against humanity, indeed genocide, which not a few in the West thought Russia was committing in Ukarine. If Russia had violated the rules-based international order, then Israel had done much worse. To take just one category of facts, civilian deaths and the scale of suffering from Russian violence were nowhere near those caused by Israel’s campaign, and yet, argued critics, the West had given Israel a “free pass”.

This criticism nearly hit home; it landed in Europe when it should have landed in the US. At the 2025 Shangri-La conference in Singapore, the French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the problem, saying that the perception that the West had double standards for Ukraine and Gaza could “kill [the West’s] credibility in the rest of the world.” He asked the West to “reject double standards” and warned that inconsistency in applying “our own principles, our rules” had put the global order at risk: “What is at stake is our credibility to protect this global order”.

Macron’s exhortation has had no takers in the US. It is no exaggeration to say that the Trump Administration holds the idea of rules-based international conduct in utter contempt.

Less than a month after Carney’s Davos speech at the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio associated what he called a “rules-based global order” (notice that he used “global” and not “international,” implying that the rules-based international order is a “globalist” project) with the West’s “dangerous delusion” that liberal democracy and cosmopolitanism had permanently won their contest with national interest after the Cold War.

Vice President JD Vance has said that he does not “give a shit” if America’s killing of civilian alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea amounted to a war crime. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has called “rules of engagement” in war “stupid.” The Trump administration views rules-based behavior as a sign of weakness and inconsistent with the laws of nature.

Defending America’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, Trump aide Stephen Miller spoke of the “iron laws of the world” governed by strength, force, and power, adding that “Under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower.” And at Munich, Rubio claimed that the optimism underlying the rules-based international order “ignored both human nature and … the lessons of over 5,000 years of recorded human history.”

These sentiments have been matched by action, including abduction and killing of heads of state, withdrawing America from over five-dozen multilateral organisations, treaties, and conventions, as well as sanctioning the International Criminal Court.

‘Mortal blows’

The irony here is that, for years, American leaders claimed that China and Russia were the key threats to the rules-based international order. But as it turns out, America – in collaboration with Israel – is dealing it what look like mortal blows.

The crisis of contemporary international order is both a crisis of the word and the world. The reputation of the phrase “rules-based international order” as an American or western artifice – or a “fiction,” to quote Carney – is now firmly secured. At the same time, the notion that international affairs must be regulated by rules, norms, and international law is struggling against the appeal of the idea that force, strength, and power are – or ought to be – the only sound bases for relations amongst nations.

We are thus faced with two different models of international order. The first entails a division of the world into spheres of influence of the great powers. Within days of the inauguration of the second Trump Administration, Rubio claimed that the world had become multipolar and America shared the world with China and “to some extent” Russia as the other great powers. In fact, Rubio used an imagery that is a necessary condition for spheres of influence: “multi-great powers in different parts of the planet.”

This model is already partly a reality. Hegseth has delineated a new sphere of influence for the US, which he calls “Greater North America.” In blaming NATO’s eastward expansion for Russia's invasion, as well as asking Ukraine to cede territory to Moscow, the US has effectively endorsed the Russian claim of a sphere of influence along the vast frontier regions of eastern Europe straddling Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. And finally, it has shown no enthusiasm for Quad and the wider Indo-Pacific, thus ceding strategic space in the Asia-Pacific, which China could claim as its own sphere. Note that this model does not consider India as a “great power,” regardless of the Indian establishment’s domestic messaging.

The model is not as neat as the Cold War arrangement between the US and the Soviet Union, or those of European imperial powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The US is the most powerful of the three players and would like to maintain its overall primacy. But note that it has officially declared that “The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over” (recall Rubio’s imagery). When these ideas and American actions – or inaction – are brought together, what we get is something like a graded model where the US is fine with other great powers having their own spheres of influence but still sees its own interests as paramount regardless of what it has agreed to for other great powers.

This model may produce stability in relations amongst great powers, but whether it would produce global strategic stability is unclear. It could make certain regions of the world more unstable and crisis-stricken as great powers and/or their regional allies go unchecked, as is currently the case in West Asia.

The second model is of a radically new rules-based international order, perhaps an approach that New Delhi would prefer. It must retain and reform key global institutions, especially the extended UN system. It must address the representation deficit by giving non-Western states their fair share in global governance, and it must have a buy-in of the great powers.

The absence of this last element is one reason why Carney’s proposal of a new rules-based international order led by the middle powers is unlikely to succeed. And to speak of a new order along these lines when we may not have seen the end of the destruction of the old order is premature. The rubble, after all, is still falling.

Atul Mishra is an Associate Professor and Head at the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR.

This article was first published in India in Transition, a publication of the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal order declining to stay the proposed takeover of the now-insolvent Jaypee group’s assets by Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises, PTI reported.

On March 25, mining group Vedanta Limited moved the top court seeking a stay on the proposed bid.

On Monday, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked the NCLAT to decide on the matter expeditiously.

The petition by Vedanta was filed a day after the NCLAT declined to grant an interim stay on the National Company Law Tribunal’s approval of Adani Enterprises’ resolution plan.

The National Company Law Tribunal is the first-level quasi-judicial body established under the 2013 Companies Act to adjudicate corporate disputes and insolvency cases, while the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal is the higher authority that reviews appeals against these orders.

The dispute revolves around the approval granted to the Adani bid by the Committee of Creditors, which is a decision-making body in the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process formed under the 2016 Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

The bid was subsequently cleared by the National Company Law Tribunal.

Vedanta, led by industrialist Anil Agarwal, has argued that its offer for Jaiprakash Associates Limited was higher. It has also questioned the fairness and transparency of the bidding process.

During the hearing on Monday, the Supreme Court restrained the monitoring committee of Jaiprakash Associates Limited from taking any major policy decision without approval from the NCLAT, PTI reported.

The bench also asked Vedanta and Adani Enterprises to raise contentions and counterclaims before the NCLAT, which will commence final hearing on the row on April 10.

The dispute

The dispute centres on the debt resolution process of Jaiprakash Associates Limited, which was declared insolvent in June 2024 after defaulting on loans exceeding Rs 57,000 crore, The Economic Times reported.

Competing bids were submitted by Vedanta and Adani Enterprises. Vedanta offered Rs 16,726 crore, higher than Adani Enterprises’ Rs 14,535 crore, The Economic Times quoted submissions before the appellate tribunal as having said.

However, the Committee of Creditors approved Adani’s plan, which proposed about Rs 6,000 crore upfront and a faster repayment timeline of around two years, compared to Vedanta’s payout period of up to five years, the news outlet reported.

Moneycontrol reported that Vedanta’s initial bid was Rs 17,000 crore, including roughly Rs 4,000 crore in upfront cash, with the remaining amount payable over six years.

On March 29, Agrawal on social media said that his company was declared the highest bidder during the insolvency proceedings and was informed in writing that it had won, before the outcome was changed.

He added that Vedanta had “no attachment” to the asset and would place the facts through due process.

However, creditors have maintained that under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, bids are not assessed on value alone but also on factors such as “upfront cash, execution feasibility, and payment timelines”, The Economic Times reported.

They also reportedly rejected Vedanta’s revised offer, saying that it was submitted after the bidding deadline and could not be considered without restarting the process.

Jaiprakash Associates Limited holds a significant portfolio, including real estate developments in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida and Greater Noida, infrastructure assets, cement capacity and projects such as Jaypee Greens and the Jaypee International Sports City near the Jewar airport, The Economic Times reported.

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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged that the documents cited by the Congress to claim that his wife holds passports of three foreign countries had been supplied by a Pakistani social media group. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader added that his wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma had filed a first information report in response to the claims.

The chief minister claimed that the Congress had used details from an allegedly lost passport that had been uploaded to a Pakistani social media group to frame his wife.

The BJP leader said that anyone could register a company by paying $199. “After yesterday’s press conference, they created another company in the name of Riniki...” he alleged. Read on.

The Supreme Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to carry out a preliminary inquiry into allegations of favouritism in allotting government contracts in Arunachal Pradesh to companies linked to the family members of Chief Minister Pema Khandu. The order came on public interest litigations by two non-governmental organisations, Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Senaa.

The petitioners alleged that contracts and tenders worth more than Rs 1,200 crore had been awarded to companies linked to the BJP leader, his wife Tsering Dolma and nephew Tsering Tashi. Read on.

The Delhi High Court ordered to restore two satirical X accounts – @DrNimoYadav and @Nehr_who – that were withheld in India since March 18 on the Centre’s directions. However, the allegedly objectionable posts mentioned in the blocking order should remain withheld, the bench said.

Prateek Sharma, the operator of @DrNimoYadav, and Kumar Nayan, who runs @Nehr_who, were directed to appear before a review committee of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to examine whether the posts will have to continue to be blocked.

The accounts were among 12 that the Centre had ordered to be withheld on March 18. In a challenge against the order, the Centre claimed the decision was taken as the accounts were spreading “false narratives” about the prime minister and portraying him “in bad taste”. Read on.

The Delhi High Court issued notice to the CBI on a petition by Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal seeking recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma from hearing the central agency’s challenge to his discharge in the liquor policy case. Sharma is hearing the petition filed against a trial court order on February 27 discharging Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia and several others.

The CBI objected to Kejriwal’s submission, stating that it had received seven applications seeking the judge’s recusal. “There are allegations against the institution and we will support the institution,” it said. Read on.

The Supreme Court refused to interfere with a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal order declining to stay the proposed takeover of the now-insolvent Jaypee group’s assets by Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises. The bench asked the NCLAT to decide on the matter expeditiously.

The petition by the mining group Vedanta Limited was filed a day after the NCLAT declined to grant an interim stay on the National Company Law Tribunal’s approval of Adani Enterprises’ resolution plan. Read on.

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The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation on a petition by Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal seeking the recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma from hearing the agency’s challenge to his discharge in the liquor policy case, Live Law reported.

The plea was mentioned as Sharma was hearing the CBI’s petition against a trial court order of February 27 discharging the former Delhi chief minister, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and 21 others.

During the hearing, Kejriwal, accompanied by his wife, told the court that he intended to argue the recusal application himself, The Times of India reported.

Sharma noted that a petitioner could do so only after discharging their counsel.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said he had received seven applications seeking the judge’s recusal and called the matter “very serious”, Live Law reported.

“Some people in this country make career out of making serious allegations,” the legal news portal quoted Mehta as saying. “There are allegations against the institution and we will support the institution.”

Mehta also said that there was no objection to Kejriwal appearing in person, but added that if he chose to do so, his counsel could not continue to represent him.

The High Court then asked Kejriwal if he was going to argue his application himself, to which the Aam Aadmi Party chief responded that he would.

Issuing notice, Sharma permitted Kejriwal to appear in person and listed the matter for April 13.

The case

The CBI had alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s liquor excise policy, which has since been scrapped. Based on the CBI case, the Enforcement Directorate also launched an investigation into allegations of money-laundering.

The policy came into effect in November 2021. It was withdrawn in July 2022 with Vinai Kumar Saxena, the Delhi lieutenant governor at the time, recommending an investigation into the alleged irregularities of the policy.

The two central agencies alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government at the time modified the liquor policy by increasing the commission for wholesalers from 5% to 12%. This allegedly facilitated the receipt of bribes from wholesalers who had a substantial market share and turnover.

On February 27, the trial court discharged Kejriwal and 22 others accused by the CBI in the case. There was no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy, the Rouse Avenue Courts had ruled.

The trial court also criticised the central agency for implicating Kejriwal without any cogent material.

It said that the chargesheet had several gaps not supported by any witnesses or statements.

However, the High Court on March 9 stayed the adverse observations made by the trial court about the Central Bureau of Investigation. The matter was heard by Sharma, who prima facie observed that the trial court’s findings were erroneous.

Later, Kejriwal wrote to the chief justice of the High Court seeking the transfer of the case from Sharma to another judge, but the request was declined, Live Law reported. He said no specific reasons had been recorded for commenting against the trial court’s order.

Kejriwal also noted that the judge had earlier denied bail to several accused persons in the liquor policy case who were subsequently granted relief by the Supreme Court.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief sought the transfer on the ground of a “grave, bona fide, and reasonable apprehension that the matter may not receive a hearing marked by impartiality and neutrality”, Live Law reported.

The Chhattisgarh High Court has sentenced Amit Jogi, son of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, to life imprisonment in a 2003 murder case, reported The Hindu on Monday.

He had been convicted on Thursday for conspiring to kill Nationalist Congress Party treasurer Ramvatar Jaggi. The NCP leader had been shot dead in Raipur on June 4, 2003, when Ajit Jogi was chief minister.

Jaggi was killed ahead of a massive rally by the NCP, which was said to have been posing a challenge to the incumbent Congress government.

On Thursday, the High Court directed Amit Jogi to surrender within three weeks.

On Monday, he moved the Supreme Court against his conviction, reported The Indian Express. The matter has been listed for hearing on April 20.

On May 31, 2007, a trial court convicted 28 persons for the murder. Amit Jogi, however, was acquitted.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had challenged the acquittal in 2011. However, the High Court had rejected the application on the grounds of delay. It had also rejected appeals by the Chhattisgarh government and Satish Jaggi, son of Ramavtar Jaggi.

At the time, the CBI had moved the Supreme Court against the order.

In November, the top court referred the case back to the High Court, directing it to consider the investigating agency’s application afresh. The Supreme Court had held that although the CBI filed the application after a significant delay, it was equally true that “the charges against respondent Amit Jogi were very grave, involving a conspiracy to murder a member of a rival political party”.

In the verdict on Thursday, the High Court described the trial court’s acquittal of Amit Jogi as “palpably illegal, wrong, perverse, contrary to the evidence available on record and without any concrete basis”, reported The Indian Express.

“It is pertinent to note that the learned trial judge has unnecessarily attempted to distinguish the role of accused Amit Jogi from that of the other co-accused/convicts,” The Hindu had quoted the High Court bench as saying.

It added: “The finding that the co-accused acted independently to please Amit Jogi, without his knowledge, and in a manner not contemplated by him, is unsustainable.”

The Appellate Tribunal set up in Kolkata, to hear applications of those deleted from West Bengal’s voter lists, on Sunday restored the name of Motab Shaikh, the Congress candidate from Farakka for the upcoming Assembly elections, reported The Indian Express.

Shaikh’s is the first case to be decided by the tribunal.

In his order, TS Sivagnanam, a retired chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, noted that the Election Commission had cited “technical reasons” for not providing the circumstances leading to Shaikh’s name being deleted during the adjudication process, reported the newspaper.

This came days ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal, which will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The results will be announced on May 4.

West Bengal is also among the 12 states and Union Territories where the special intensive revision of the electoral roll was undertaken.

On February 28, the Election Commission published the final electoral roll for West Bengal, showing that more than 61 lakh voters had been excluded.

However, the process continued with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases remaining under adjudication based on their objections to their exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered that judicial officers of the rank of district judge or additional district judge be appointed to help complete the revision exercise in the state.

On March 10, the top court ordered the formation of an Appellate Tribunal composed of former High Court chief justices and judges to hear appeals against exclusions from voter lists in West Bengal.

A person whose claim for inclusion in the electoral rolls has been rejected by a judicial officer can approach the tribunal.

With days to go for the Assembly polls, the Election Commission is yet to physically set up the 19 tribunals it had constituted, reported The Indian Express.

The order in Shaikh’s case “proves how genuine voters’ names have been deleted from electoral rolls”, his lawyer Firdaus Shamim told the newspaper.

What the tribunal said

Sivagnanam directed the Election Commission to declare Shaikh a valid voter of Murshidabad through an additional list by 8 pm on Sunday.

He stated that the passport submitted by Shaikh was sufficient proof, pointing out that there was no discrepancy in his father’s name in any record.

“The appellant also placed before the tribunal his family tree and submitted that, except the appellant, all the family members, which include his six siblings, their respective spouses and children, have been included in the voters’ list and no discrepancy has been found,” The Indian Express quoted the retired judge as observing.

He also stated that he “could not peruse the reasons given by the adjudicating judicial officer for excluding the appellant’s name”.

This came days after the Supreme Court, on April 2, told Shaikh to approach the tribunal against the deletion of his name from the voter rolls, reported Live Law.

The Congress candidate had moved the court seeking restoration of his name to the electoral roll and permission to file his nomination papers. He had also sought directions for the Appellate Tribunals to be immediately operationalised.

The Election Commission has published several supplementary voter lists following adjudications.

Till Saturday, 57 lakh of the 60 lakh cases had been processed, The Indian Express quoted the West Bengal chief electoral officer’s office as saying. However, the poll panel had not clarified how many of these cases resulted in deletions.

When judicial officers had decided about 49 lakh cases, the poll panel said that nearly 22 lakh, or 45%, resulted in deletions, reported the newspaper.

Also read: Millions of Bengalis may lose their vote. Not over citizenship but due to clerical errors

The deeper problem is that India has normalised a linguistic hierarchy in which people slowly learn to distrust their own languages, through everyday corrections, quiet embarrassment and the constant pressure to sound more “proper”, more “educated”, more “acceptable”. (“A Hindi professor responds: English is the real bottleneck stifling other Indian languages”).

It is true that in large parts of North India, speakers of Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Braj, Magahi and other languages encounter this hierarchy first through Hindi. Standardised Hindi becomes the language of respectability, of school, administration, and mobility.

But this is where the current debate misses an important dimension. Language hierarchy does not affect all speakers in the same way. For many women, especially those entering education from non-elite and non-metropolitan backgrounds, language becomes a site of constant scrutiny.

A man negotiating between languages may still claim space despite errors. A woman’s language becomes evidence of education, upbringing, belonging. In this context, the question is how linguistic power operates at different levels and shapes who feels entitled to speak and in which language.

The current debate assumes that the solution lies in choosing the right dominant language. But Hindi’s expansion produces hierarchies that render neighbouring languages inferior. Access to English is shaped by privilege. Regional pride can often be confined to sentiment instead of building intellectual and institutional space for those languages.

India has linguistic diversity but not linguistic equality. A meaningful, multilingual framework would not force speakers to abandon one language to enter another world and nor would it reduce mother tongues to intimacy, Hindi to functionality and English to aspiration.

This requires changing how knowledge, education and opportunity become an interlocked linguistic network, and strengthening Indian languages as languages of thinking. The debate between Hindi and English will continue. But unless we recognise the hierarchy that binds them, we will keep misidentifying the problem.

The danger lies in a system that turns language into a process of self-correction, in which one is always moving away from something to become someone else. A multilingual future can only emerge when speakers no longer feel that their first language is something they must outgrow.

Namrata Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hindi at Vivekananda College, University of Delhi.

The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered the restoration of two satirical accounts on social media platform X that were withheld in India since March 18 at the Union government’s directions, reported Live Law.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav held that while the accounts, @DrNimoYadav and @Nehr_who, should be restored, the allegedly objectionable posts mentioned in the blocking order should remain withheld.

Prateek Sharma, the operator of @DrNimoYadav, and Kumar Nayan, who runs @Nehr_who, were directed to appear before a review committee of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to examine whether the posts will have to continue to be blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

Under Section 69A of the Act, an authorised official in the Union government, not below the rank of a joint secretary, can send content removal orders to social media platforms if the content is deemed to threaten national security, sovereignty or public order.

On March 18, the Union government directed X to withhold 12 accounts, including popular profiles such as @mrjethwani_ and @Doc_RGM. The account of journalist and activist Sandeep Singh was also withheld.

Hartosh Singh Bal, the editor of The Caravan, said that a March 14 post by the magazine that promoted a 2022 article had also been blocked.

The post had featured the cover of the April 2002 issue of the India Today magazine, which had Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat at the time, on it. The headline on that cover read “Hero of Hatred”.

Sharma challenged the order on March 25, and demanded that the Union government produce the blocking order.

The Centre told the court that the account was blocked after the government found that it was “spreading false narratives involving the prime minister” and “portraying him in bad taste”, reported Bar and Bench.

In an affidavit, the Union government also claimed that the accounts had used photographs, videos and artificial intelligence-generated content to “defame” the prime minister. Spreading such false information may affect public order, leading to internal security threats, it further said.

On April 1, The Indian Express reported that X had told the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology that recent orders to block profiles “excessively and disproportionately restrict the account holder’s rights”.

It added that this is concerning “as the account holder will be unable to use X in India permanently”.

X said that the blocking order issued on March 18 failed to comply with Section 69A of the IT Act.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday refuted allegations by the Congress that his wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, holds passports of three foreign countries.

He described the allegations as “malicious, fabricated and politically motivated lies”.

He also said that he would initiate legal action against Congress leader Pawan Khera, who claimed in a press conference that he had documentary evidence showing that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma possesses passports of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda.

“These are three passports…there may be more, we do not know,” Khera alleged.

In a post on social media, the Assam chief minister claimed that the documents being shared showed “multiple glaring inconsistencies, suggesting a crude and poorly executed attempt at digital manipulation”.

Busting Congress’ propaganda — serious discrepancies exposed.

The documents being circulated show multiple glaring inconsistencies, suggesting a crude and poorly executed attempt at digital manipulation:

1️⃣ Surname mismatch — “SARMA” used instead of the official “SHARMA”
2️⃣… https://t.co/rZ1Xrp6i4g

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) April 5, 2026

He claimed that there was a mismatch in the spellings of his wife’s surname, mismatch in passport numbers and expiry dates and other such errors in the three passports shown by the Congress during the press conference.

“These inconsistencies strongly indicate possible fabrication or digital manipulation,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said. “Truth will prevail. Those spreading misinformation will be held accountable”

In a separate social media post, he added: “My wife and I will be filing both criminal and civil defamation cases within the next 48 hours.”

Khera would be “held fully accountable for his reckless and defamatory statements”, Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Riniki Bhuyan Sarma also alleged that Khera had circulated “poorly fabricated images of imaginary passports and documents”.

The allegations came ahead of the Assembly elections that will be held on Thursday. The votes will be counted on May 4.

Congress’ claims about US firms

In addition to the passport claims, Khera claimed that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma owned a firm in Wyoming, United States, named Rinikibhuyansarma Asset Collective LLC, which had allegedly approved a budget of $3.4 billion in an annual meeting in December.

The Congress leader claimed that the firm paid $5.6 billion to Riniki Bhuyan Sarma and a company, Hrinikinandi LLC, allegedly named after the chief minister’s son that is also registered in Wyoming.

The claims were based on a document shared by the Congress with reporters, which contained the minutes of the annual meeting. The document was undated, unsigned and did not contain a letterhead.

Scroll checked Wyoming’s business registry and found that there was no firm named Rinikibhuyansarma Asset Collective LLC registered there. Moreover, Hrinikinandi LLC was registered on Friday, just two days before the Congress held the press conference.