- In the Indian Express, Khaled Ahmed explains how a case against a judge of the Pakistan Supreme Court has opened old political fault lines in the country.
- The Citizenship Amendment Act has done more than just undermine India’s democratic culture of pluralism: by enacting such a law, India has also lowered its reputation in the neighbourhood, says Kanak Mani Dixit in The Hindu.
- Bollywood star Deepika Padukone’s visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru University last week to stand in solidarity with students subjected to violence was a commendable act of courage for star from a status-quoist industry, Barkha Dutt writes in the Hindustan Times.
- Earlier this month, India created the new post of Chief of Defence Staff to act as a coordinating point for the armed forces. In the Print, Mavendra Singh argues that this move is not one to celebrate as a bureaucratic sleight of hand has put Bipin Rawat, the first man to hold this post, at a disadvantage.
- Joanna Berendt in New York Times profiles Polish judge Igor Tuleya, who has become the face of the battle of Poland’s judiciary against political onslaught on its independence.
- “In the faces of the bushfire victims we saw ourselves and our shared future,” writes James Bradley in the Guardian on the Australian bush fires. “We can no longer shy away from reality.”
- In the Times of India, historian Gyan Prakash draws a parallel between the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the pre-Independence Khilafat movement.
- Audiences wanted Disney to give Elsa in the Frozen franchise a girlfriend. She is the most magically powerful Disney heroine ever created, with her powers seeming to even outstrip some of the most famous villains, writes Jeanna Kadlec in Longreads.
- Nick Martin in Informant reports on curious developments in Michigan where a neo-Nazi was caught up in a case of mistaken identity. It has dragged the FBI into the net.
- Significant opposition to the Hindu nationalist project in India has recently emerged. But the Indian Left has to go beyond a “progressive” nationalism to build something bigger, writes Udeepta Chakravarty and Rohit Sarma in Jacobin.
Reading
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1
‘The arts need the youth’: Why two Kolkata-based entrepreneurs are hosting Bengal’s first Biennale
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2
Behind BJP’s stunning win in UP bye-poll, police coercion and dodgy voter slips, claim Muslim voters
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3
What did ancient Greek and Roman philosophers think about vegetarianism?
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4
The proposed Rs 36,000-crore port in Great Nicobar may be economically unsound, experts warn
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5
‘Ayodhya happened, now Sambhal’s turn’: How a court order sparked a deadly dispute over a mosque
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6
How an Indian monk contributed to the understanding of Buddhism in China
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7
How mystic poets Baba Farid, Namdeo, Kabir, and Rahim fostered secular sentiments in their poetry
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8
‘An inward demand to utter things’: How Prasanta Chakravarty wrote his new book of poetry
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9
Waste colonialism: The real reason why poorer countries are blamed for plastic pollution
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10
Did Indian culture recognise an independent field of study called philosophy?