2026

Abstract
The bilateral interim trade framework between the India and United States of America (USA) is the talk of the nation since its official statement made on 6th February, 2026. The India-US trade deal is labelled as historic and the reduction of reciprocal tariff from 25 to 18 per cent is described as a significant move in deepening the trade relations with USA. The reading of the text gives an impression that India acceded more with little gains in terms of expanding its export (…)

Within educational research, much attention has been given to studies at scale that attempt to gather data and analyse the relationship of caste, education and social reproduction. In “Government Brahmin”—Caste, the Educated Unemployed, and the Reproduction of Inequalities, however, A.R. Vasavi (2014) examines these ideas through new forms of ethnography, drawing on observations, diaries and discussions with the interlocutor to study the impact of policies, processes and institutions at the (…)

Introduction
Violence against women and girls has been called the shadow pandemic of the current times (UN Women, 2020). While there has been an increasing attention on gender-based violence globally in the wake of the #MeToo movement, we still lack a consistent theoretical framework to capture the multiplicity of forms and their complex embedding in different social, economic and cultural tourism contexts. This might be partly due to the elusive character of violence, which emphasizes the (…)

The Union Finance Commission is a constitutional body established under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution. Its primary task is to recommend the distribution of net proceeds of taxes between the Union and the states, and also to suggest measures to enhance the fiscal health of states. Over time, the criteria used by successive Commissions have shifted in response to economic developments, national priorities, and the need to ensure both equity and efficiency in resource allocation. The (…)

Abstract: This essay examines violence against doctors in contemporary India through the Marxist concepts of alienation and reification. While conventional explanations focus on infrastructural failures and emotional distress among patients’ relatives, the essay argues that these alone cannot explain why physicians become targets of violence. It proposes the idea of ‘hyperidentity’, where doctors become so reduced to their professional role that their humanity fades from social perception. (…)

Introduction
“My message is that you have to study history in depth and in detail and look at particularities” stated William Dalrymple in an interview with Vrinda Gopinath last year . The interview has been doing the rounds lately again. In this light, are you also among those who associate Sufism with just Raqs (dance) and Sama (music) and the peripatetic Darveshis (wandering Sufis) aloof from this world busy in finding solace in the remembrance (zikr) of God? If so, then you may need to (…)

June 2026
Abstract
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, is widely described as a regression, a reversal of the rights framework established in National Legal Services Authority v Union of India (2014). This article concurs, but contends the regression has a distinct character that existing commentary has not been fully articulated. Drawing on B.R. Ambedkar’s distinction between constitutional morality and social morality, it argues that the Amendment does (…)

When Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin warned that the expansion of Hindi was threatening smaller Indian languages, he listed several languages struggling for survival. Buried somewhere near the end of that long list was Khortha, my native language. It was one of those rare moments when I encountered Khortha in a national political debate. Despite being spoken by millions of people across Jharkhand, the language rarely features in discussions on language policy, linguistic rights, or (…)

1. Introduction: The Scientist-Theoretician in a Newtonian Trap
Dr. Gangadhar Adhikary was not merely a political organizer; he was a Berlin-trained PhD in Chemistry, a man who viewed the social world through the rigorous, albeit rigid, prism of the natural sciences. As a scientist-revolutionary, he approached the chaotic landscape of 1940s Indian politics with the mindset of a laboratory researcher. His 1942 thesis, Pakistan and National Unity, was an ambitious effort to distil the (…)

Thomas Piketty is a world famous economist known for his emphasis on justice. Srijana Mitra Das of The Times of India is a famous journalist known for her detailed interviews with famous academics and thinkers. So it is nice to see a full page carrying the interview with Thomas Piketty titled ‘India’s growth ambition is valid—99% can get richer without climate disaster’ (see The Times of India, Chandigarh edition, June 10).
This detailed interview has a lot of valuable information for (…)