Why Workers Are Leaving Delhi

Why Workers Are Leaving Delhi: When Policy Needs to Align With Ground Reality

What emerges from this moment is not a singular crisis but a layered one, shaped by global disruptions, local cost pressures, and structural vulnerabilities. Workers are leaving Delhi not because the city has stopped offering work, but because it has become increasingly difficult to live sustainably in the capital city while working.

Price Tag of Deception: How Fast Fashion Exploits South Asia’s Supply Chain

It is high time South Asian countries not only pass stricter environmental regulations but also strictly enforce them, making sure that there is no factory releasing waste water without adequate treatment. Besides, upholding legally binding labour standards must also be a priority together with ensuring safety of the workplace environment.

How Korean Noodle Brands Captured the Indian Market

The Korean noodle story is not really about noodles. It is about what happens when cultural influence travels faster than commercial infrastructure and faster than regulatory awareness. India's Gen Z - and possibly that of other South Asian countries - did not wait for brands to tell them what to eat. They watched K-dramas, did spice challenges, and built market demand that brands, regulators, and consumer education campaigns have simply not kept up with.

Security for Whom? Needed a Human-Centred Approach to ‘National Security’

If “security” is to have real meaning, it must be grounded in the lived experiences of those it is intended to protect. This requires a shift from state‑centred metrics to civilian‑centred measures of stability; where continuity of daily life, equitable protection, and psychological well‑being are integral to how we define security.

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Indian Armed Forces at the forefront of COVID-19 war

India’s Armed Forces and Defence Ministry production units continue their countrywide assistance in combating the effects of COVID-19, a dirty and deadly biological 'weapon', which allegedly emanated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China and spread infection worldwide, though there has been no authoritative corroboration of this so far

1918 flu pandemic killed 12 million Indians, and British overlords' indifference strengthened the anti-colonial movement

In India, during the 1918 influenza pandemic, a staggering 12 to 13 million people died, the vast majority between the months of September and December. According to an eyewitness, “There was none to remove the dead bodies and the jackals made a feast.”

Communal profiling and media hate-mongering may have grave consequences

Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian British author, and journalist, once observed that “Man's deadliest weapon is language. He is susceptible to being hypnotized by slogans as he is to infectious diseases

In India's cities, life is lived on the streets – how coronavirus changed that

India’s coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people is unprecedented in size and scope, particularly in a country where city streets are so thronged with life in all its guises

The wrath of the gods

The frenzy that we see around
The trepidation and the terror,

India should use its temple gold reserve to lift economy

Extreme times call for extreme measures. India is reeling under a chronic economic crisis. If the Indian government takes these measures then it will go a long way in mitigating the economic fallout of the COVID-19

The Ashok Desai I knew: A tribute

On 13 April 2020 Supreme Court advocate Ashok Desai, a legal luminary and former Attorney General of India, passed away in Mumbai. He was 77

Sermons and substance: Did the Indian state abandon all responsibility towards the poor?

The novel coronavirus is causing havoc worldwide.  For a country like India,  on top of the creaky public healthcare system and scanty health care data, lies a widespread social media campaign recommending yoga, inhaling cannabis and consuming cow urine and dung as measures to prevent infection has made the battle against COVID-19 even more challenging

When I feel ashamed to be a Muslim

I had penned articles under the same agonising title in 2006, followed in 2007, in the spate of terrorist attacks by some wayward Muslim youth, who, totally misinterpreting Islam, took innocent lives either as murderers or as suicide bombers

Lockdown musings: When elephants return and peacocks fly away

I cannot remember when it came to invade our mind. Whether it was in the early hours of the morning or late evening or perhaps, at night. I ought to because it announced its arrival with fanfare and drums

Islam at crossroads: Moderates need to assert themselves

Islam and Christianity are two religions that are well entrenched in all countries in the world. However, other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism have only a marginal presence in most countries

India's stark inequalities make social distancing much easier for some than others

With the coronavirus pandemic continuing its spread around the world, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced a three-week complete nationwide lockdown of 1.3 billion people on March 24. The government advised people to observe social distancing even before the lockdown came into place – but it was only partially effective.

Our new-born mind

I am learning many things anew

SAMDEN protests actions against Mir Shakilur Rahman and The Wire

Leading editors and media professionals from South Asia today protested actions against the media in Pakistan and India - the detention of Pakistani editor and publisher Mir Shakilur Rahman in Lahore and legal action against the independent Indian online portal, The Wire

We will win, surely

Invisible virus, invading all over, at the speed of light,