Indian Word of The Year 2025
In this opinion column for The Indian Express, P. Chidambaram reflects on 2025 by identifying “Hate” as the defining word for India. He reviews other prominent but fleeting terms of the year—such as Sindoor, tariffs, GST, and the idea of a “Goldilocks economy”—arguing that none captured the country’s deeper reality. He points to economic stress, joblessness, and the erosion of secular values, noting a rise in religion-based hostility, particularly against Muslims and Christians.
He writes: "Nothing can be more abhorrent to the Constitution of India than the idea of Hindu supremacy. The idea of India is built on the cornerstone of citizenship, not religion or race or caste or language. The vast majority of the Indian people celebrate Dr Abdul Kalam and Mother Teresa but a small number spreads hate against Muslims and Christians."
Two Cosmopolitans
Mukul Kesavan, in his opinion piece for The Telegraph, highlights Two Cosmopolitans — Zohran Mamdani and Umar Khalid — to show why majoritarian sectarians dislike them.
Mamdani’s empathetic letter to Khalid, jailed without trial under the UAPA, contrasts with the BJP’s harsh reaction, revealing deep political divides. Both men, despite different circumstances, embody cosmopolitan, inclusive politics that transcend narrow communal labels. Their very existence challenges majoritarian narratives and unsettles those who prefer rigid, exclusionary identities.
"The twinning of Mamdani and Khalid on the front pages of Indian newspapers is a moment for reflection. They are both politically engaged men in their thirties. They are both, after a fashion, Indian Muslims. They both belong to religious minorities and that identity has often inspired suspicion amongst the political establishments of their respective countries. That is where the similarities end," Kesavan writes.
Night at Parliament: When an MP Lived on Campus to Evade Arrest
This opinion piece in The Indian Express recounts a little-known parliamentary episode from 1964, when Socialist Party MP Mani Ram Bagri lived overnight on Parliament premises to avoid arrest during a protest case.
Using this incident, Chakshu Roy traces the history of late-night sittings and legislative privilege, explaining how parliamentary precincts were declared sacrosanct. Bagri’s tent on the lawns sparked debates on MPs’ immunity, parliamentary authority, and the limits of legislative protection.
He writes: "Late-night parliamentary sittings have a long history, with the most famous being the midnight session of August 14-15, 1947, when India marked its Independence. But perhaps the first time an MP stayed overnight in Parliament had nothing to do with a momentous occasion, discussing national issues or debating critical legislation — it was to avoid arrest by the police in 1964."
A Middle Road to AI Copyright
This opinion piece by Rahul Bajaj in Deccan Herald argues for a balanced approach to AI and copyright in India. It highlights concerns that journalists’ work is being used to train AI systems without permission or compensation, and discusses a DPIIT working paper proposing a framework that protects creator rights while still enabling responsible AI development.
"The tussle between law and technology is hardly new. Generative artificial intelligence has brought this conflict into everyday life: when an AI tool writes a news-style summary in seconds, mimics a well-known author’s voice, or generates artwork strikingly similar to an illustrator’s style, a question arises: whose creativity is being used and who should be paid for it?"Rahul Bajaj, Deccan Herald
The Age of Anxious Peace
In The New Indian Express, Ajai Sahni argues that although overt violence in India’s insurgencies and terrorism has sharply declined, people increasingly feel insecure due to episodic, high-visibility incidents like lynchings, lone-actor attacks and communal confrontations.
This subjective anxiety, he says, is amplified by social media, eroded trust in institutions, political polarisation, economic stress and heavy-handed policing. The result is a pervasive sense of vulnerability despite objectively reduced conflict.
"Crucially, this overlaps with dramatic erosion of institutional trust. Even where violence is declining, citizens increasingly doubt the neutrality, responsiveness, or effectiveness of state institutions. Delayed justice, selective enforcement, perceived political interference, and visible impunity in high-profile cases weaken confidence that the state will protect individuals impartially," he writes.
Neo-Orientalism 2.0: The Digital Recolonisation of Knowledge
In the Deccan Herald, Aakash Singh Rathore argues that AI systems like large language models are not neutral democratisers of information but risk digitally recolonising knowledge by amplifying dominant perspectives while marginalising others.
He warns that these technologies can perpetuate cultural and epistemic biases, reinforcing existing power imbalances in whose knowledge is valued and circulated, and calls for more inclusive frameworks in AI development and governance.
Rathore writes, "What will unfold now, short-to-mid-term, is the digital recolonisation of the Indian mind. As LLMs flood academia, generating student essays, research papers, and even policy briefs, whether we call it plagiarism or augmentation, the humanities and social sciences will be swamped with content moulded by orientalist paradigms."
Stop Treating Approval Like Oxygen, Watch Her Grow
In this reflective opinion piece, Tvarita Iyer Vemuri explores how many women grow up internalising expectations and seeking approval as a form of safety, often mistaking compliance for identity.
She describes the quiet but profound moment when a woman stops performing to please others and begins to recognise her own desires, anger and voice. This process, though unsettling and marked by grief, allows her to reclaim authenticity, choosing inner peace over social approval and rediscovering herself beyond imposed roles.
"Somewhere along this unfolding, she reaches an almost cinematic moment. She meets herself. A self that feels both new and deeply familiar. Maybe that is the secret of womanhood that nobody teaches us. Becoming yourself isn’t a grand transformation but a quiet reunion with the person you were before the world edited you."Tvarita Iyer Vemuri, The Indian Express
Brahmin Wars Beneath Vande Mataram
In The New Indian Express, Devdutt Pattanaik contrasts the origins of Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana through the caste backgrounds of their poets, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Rabindranath Tagore.
Bankim’s song reflects hierarchical, goddess-oriented Brahminism, while Tagore’s anthem arises from a more inclusive, reformist ethos shaped by caste marginality.
For a long time, Bengal was a fluid world of Brahmin landlords, Muslim rulers, and Muslim peasants. Historians have noted that Bengal witnessed relatively few communal tensions during this long period, until the British census and administrative categories of the 19th century hardened religious identities that eventually culminated in the partition of Bengal in the 20th century. During this period, the Brahmin lobby split: those who imagined Bengal primarily as Hindu, and those who imagined it in broader, more inclusive terms.Devdutt Pattanaik, The New Indian Express
Measuring Aravallis & immeasurable damage
In his column for The Tribune, Avay Shukla highlights the severe environmental degradation of the Aravalli Range due to rampant mining, illegal construction, and deforestation. It warns that the ecological damage—loss of groundwater recharge, biodiversity decline, and increased pollution—is widespread and devastating, yet hard to quantify precisely.
The piece urges urgent conservation action, stricter enforcement of environmental laws, and long-term planning to protect the fragile ecosystem and the region’s future.
"This trend of ignoring science first became noticeable with the twisted logic in the Ram Mandir judgment where architectural and historical evidence were jettisoned in favour of faith and religious bias," he writes.