A recent report by the State Planning Commission of the Government of Tamil Nadu, titled “Regional Growth Pattern In Tamil Nadu” has revealed huge imbalances in growth between districts — the northern and western districts are doing significantly better than the eastern and southern ones —...
Kalaga Thalaivan is a taut thriller that could potentially work for multiplex audiences. It has a complex storyline and a grand ideological premise. It grandly declares that corporates rule Indian life and that includes all political parties. KT has Thiru, aka Udhayanidhi, as the rebel whose...
The Siddha system is often celebrated in Tamil Nadu just as Ayurveda is being upheld elsewhere in the country. Recently a few months back while we were limping back to normalcy from the epidemic, there was a judgement in Madras High court that went largely unnoticed. In the judgement given in...
The Wire and its editorial leadership is under a cloud. They first put out a story on Meta saying that Instagram posts by a satirical account critical of the BJP and Hindutva are being taken down rather too quickly by Instagram. A follow-up article said, based on a purported internal document...
Periyar is there on the bookshelves or as a statue on street corners. So all is right with the world, almost… That I think neatly sums up the Dravidian model. Going through the endless proclamations on the strides made by Tamil Nadu under the leadership of the Dravidian movement, one is struck...
Is MK Stalin more committed to secularism than his late lamented father? We can begin to believe so, though our own instincts might rebel against such ‘hasty’ judgments. Secularism is under existential threat in the entire country at the moment. Only a few opposition Chief Ministers stand...
The Internet has given new hope for news consumers and journalists. The entry barrier in terms of capital cost is low. Unlike in print and television, the investment needed to start and run an online news journalism operation needs to cover only salaries, largely. Unlike established media where...
Independent India’s founding fathers and mothers had envisioned that any social science research institution's efforts and its outcomes should reflect the ground realities and struggles of the people, translating into public policy debates to improve living standards across strata. The...
As the Supreme Court hears petitions against the Karnataka High Court judgement on the row over wearing of hijab in schools and colleges, it is time to review the fundamentals of the case since it has a bearing on education and civic life across India. The Indian Constitution is based on the US...
A three-judge bench of The Supreme Court of India, headed by Chief Justice M.V. Ramana, has been hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition, filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a member of the BJP, which sought a direction to deregister parties that promise irrational freebies in their...
