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  • Big Brother is Watching: How AI Glasses have caused a privacy backlash across India

    Big Brother is Watching: How AI Glasses have caused a privacy backlash across India

    During a trans-rights protest in Delhi, Shabnam, who identifies as trans-feminine, was secretly recorded by an Instagram content creator who specialises in ragebait content. The video, which went viral on social media, caused a huge avalanche of transphobic hate and was reposted several times on various right-wing accounts before being taken down. The tool that enabled this video to exist was Meta AI’s Ray-Ban Meta glasses, a device increasingly used by people on both sides of the fence. This device, which looks very much like a pair of sunglasses, lets the user record their surroundings from their point of view, removing the strain of holding a camera and enabling greater flexibility in filming. The glasses themselves have a very subtle sign of whether the camera is recording or not: a small LED light blinking on the frame, which is often not noticed. There has been a rise in popularity of videos that employ these smart glasses on social media; however, with their usage, there are also many questions being raised over their legality both in India and abroad.

    The usage of these glasses in public spaces raises many concerns over privacy and consent. In the case of the trans-rights protest, there are many individuals present who may not have come out to their friends and family, and their visibility in these “POV” videos may deeply affect their personal and professional lives.

    There is also a legislative black hole; the current Digital Personal Data Protection Act did not take into account technologies such as these. This makes taking action against unwanted recordings significantly harder, as social media sites are reluctant to take down videos, particularly Instagram and Facebook, and the lack of a legal precedent makes it difficult for any legal action to be taken. This issue isn’t just limited to India; it extends to the rest of the world as well. In Europe, smart glasses are facing possible bans, and various restaurants and concert venues in the United Kingdom are prohibiting them, as they are interpreted to be an invasion of the patron’s privacy.

    The public is not the only one making use of this technology; recently, the Delhi Police came under the radar for their use of Ray-Ban Meta glasses during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests at Jantar Mantar. Assistant Deputy Commissioner of police Sandeep Lamba, who was previously seen slapping a female protester, was seen wearing these glasses to record the protests. In an event clouded by controversy, the use of technology made for content creators being used for government surveillance raises questions about the end goal for Meta and how they want to see their products being used across the world. In temples and cinema halls across India, people are being checked on whether they are wearing these smart glasses or not. Large temples often have rules against recording inside the premises, and cinema halls have anti-piracy laws, both of which are threatened by an unassuming pair of glasses.

    Outside India, New York has enforced a blanket ban on smart glasses throughout their court system. The glasses have also been banned in SAT examination centres, while South Korea mirrored this move by enforcing the same ban in their country’s College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).

    Meanwhile in India, there is barely any legislation that stands up against the use of these glasses.

    The glasses were advertised to place privacy as their core value of operations, but reports have revealed that the video footage from the glasses was being routed to human contractors in Kenya to help train their artificial intelligence algorithms.

    Videos contained unknowingly captured intimate moments of people going to the toilet, changing clothes, etc. While Meta has stated that the usage of human contractors is well within their privacy policy, this has also raised questions about where exactly one draws the line in using this data, and whether privacy is actually being upheld in these technologies.

    Meta is not alone in commercialising this technology. Bangalore’s Sarvam AI has come up with its very own AI-powered smart glasses, “Sarvam Kaze”, at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, where the glasses were showcased with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These glasses were said to be trained on Sarvam’s own AI models as opposed to foreign AI models, and were trained on Indian languages, making it tailor-made for the Indian population. Kaze includes the same built-in cameras and microphones, allowing it to replicate the video capabilities of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The glasses were announced to be released in May 2026, although there haven’t been any updates since. Due to their made-in-India approach, Kaze was positioned to be a more affordable homegrown product, possibly making it more accessible to the general public.

    The biggest concerns that the country faces currently are not the glasses themselves, but rather the lack of legislation on how they are being used in public spaces.

    In today’s day and age, data privacy is one of the biggest issues plaguing the common public, and with the advent of unregulated technologies that allow for widespread surveillance, from both the government and private companies, questions are being raised on whether who benefits from the sales of these glasses, the people buying and using them, or the ones who are profiting from the data within these glasses.

    Image credits: CCadio, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

     

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  • Assam’s Worst Flooding in Decades Leaves Nearly 100 Dead

    Assam’s Worst Flooding in Decades Leaves Nearly 100 Dead

    Six weeks into the monsoon season, Assam is living through what officials are calling its worst flooding in more than sixty years. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), by Wednesday, the death toll since mid-July had climbed to 95, with over 1.6 lakh people across 14 districts still caught in the aftermath. Just days earlier, on 3 August, the toll stood at 87, with two more fatalities reported and over 1.28 lakh people across seven districts still affected by the deluge, a sign of how fast the numbers have kept moving even as floodwaters recede in some pockets.

    It began around 10 July, when days of nonstop rain over Nagaland and upper Assam sent the Brahmaputra’s tributaries surging well past their banks. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the region received roughly 500 percent more rainfall than normal, driven by sustained heavy rain rather than a single cloudburst.

    None of this is new territory for the state. Close to 40 percent of Assam sits on land the National Flood Commission has long flagged as flood-prone. The Brahmaputra tumbles down from the Himalayas, picks up more than 50 tributaries along the way, and drops silt as it crosses Assam’s flatlands slowly narrowing its own capacity to hold water. Researchers have flagged the same culprits for years: upstream deforestation, aging embankments, and monsoons growing heavier as the climate shifts. Earlier, ASDMA figures from late July put the toll at 68, with more than 10 lakh people affected at that stage, a scale of displacement that’s only grown since.

    This year, the defenses simply couldn’t hold. At least seven major embankments gave way (five near Brahmajan in Biswanath district and two at Mangaldoi in Darrang) and a steel bridge in Charaideo came down, along with a footbridge in Udalguri. The flood emergency has also reached beyond the usual rural hotspots: urban flooding has persisted in parts of Kamrup Metropolitan district, with the Padumbari and Tetelia-Boragaon Service Lane areas still waterlogged, and Guwahati neighbourhoods including Lachit Nagar, Zoo Road, Rukminigaon, Hatigaon, and Jorabat were also hit. The Dhansiri river at Numaligarh has stayed above the danger mark for weeks now, and ASDMA has repeatedly warned residents living nearby to stay clear of the riverbank.

    Sivasagar has been among the worst-hit districts. Tens of thousands there have been affected, and roughly 8,500 livestock are reported to have been swept away by a gutting loss in a district that runs largely on farming and animal husbandry. At one point in late July, ASDMA put the toll even higher statewide: official figures showed more than 11,000 animals washed away and 17,000 head of livestock affected across the flood zone. Nearly 17,000 hectares of cropland remain submerged statewide, and the flood emergency has covered 437 villages across 21 revenue circles in eight districts at its widest point.

    For a lot of families, the weight of what has happened is only now settling in. On 19 July, in Seleng Sumoni Pathar village in Jorhat district, 18-year-old Saline Patro watched the Jhanji river, a tributary that floods her village nearly every year, but never like this, a rise with alarming speed. She got her parents and younger brother to higher ground in time. But when she went back for their belongings, the house was already gone. She lost everything, she said, right down to the glass they used to drink water from.

    Over in Sivasagar district, a mother and her seven-year-old son climbed a mango tree and waited out the night as water swallowed their neighborhood whole. Rekhamoni Gogoi later told local reporters she refused to give up hope even as darkness closed in around them. They were pulled to safety the next morning, one of countless similar stories now coming out of upper Assam, where rescue crews in boats have spent weeks hauling people off rooftops, out of trees, and off whatever scraps of dry ground they could find.

    The response effort has scaled up fast. As of late July, more than 16,500 displaced people were sheltering in 71 relief camps, while another 72,000 were being assisted through 30 relief distribution centres. Those numbers have since shifted as camps opened and closed with the water levels. 

    The severity of the crisis also drew national attention. Union Home Minister Amit Shah called Chief Minister Sarma to take stock of the flood situation. The central government has released an advance of over ₹2,117 crore from the State Disaster Response Fund to Assam and six other flood-hit states, and Sarma says the focus is now shifting from rescue toward rebuilding, including talks with insurers over homes, vehicles, and livestock lost to the water.

    Even so, it isn’t over. The India Meteorological Department has issued fresh heavy-rain warnings for neighboring Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, raising the odds of more flooding along Assam’s border rivers in the days ahead.

    For people like Saline Patro, the road back looks long. Her parents, both daily wage workers, spent years saving up for the home that vanished in a single afternoon. She says, honestly, she has no idea when or how they’ll manage to build another one.

  • India’s Race Against Superbugs: Can New Research and Policies Outpace Antimicrobial Resistance?

    India’s Race Against Superbugs: Can New Research and Policies Outpace Antimicrobial Resistance?

    What began as an ordinary and persistent fever and stomach ache turned into a life-threatening infection when a young man, instead of going to the doctor, took ciprofloxacin on his own. The antibiotic failed to work because the bacteria had become resistant. By the time the patient reached the hospital, he had severe intestinal bleeding and a perforated intestine that required surgery. 

    This is a documented case of Antimicrobial Resistance. In India, according to the most recent data,1.04 million deaths were associated with AMR between the years 1990-2021 and around 1 out of 3 sepsis deaths are linked to AMR, according to a 2024 Lancet Analysis 2024.

    WHY INDIA IS AT HIGH RISK

    There are a number of reasons why India is considered one of the countries most vulnerable to AMR. This happens because, in an Indian household, self-medication is common; instead of going to the doctor to get yourself checked, people treat antibiotics as quick fixes. For instance, some people, instead of taking the complete course, just take it until they feel better. One of the major issues remains cost; going to the hospital is still not accessible to low-income families. In this economy, health is not treated as a priority. One of the other reasons we are ahead of other countries is the over-the-counter access to antibiotics; without prescriptions, we can get medicines at the chemist.

    AMR SURVEILLANCE AND RESEARCH NETWORK (AMRSN)

    The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) launched the AMR Surveillance and Research Network in 2013, which every year publishes reports based on data from hospitals across India, and these consistently show that E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are among the most drug-resistant pathogens.

    AMRSN has created the first national database on this issue. Instead of capturing one-time snapshots, the network continuously monitors resistance patterns; it supports genomic research by using molecular techniques and whole-genome sequencing to understand how bacteria develop resistance, how resistance spreads between hospitals and communities and whether outbreaks are caused by the same bacterial clones, helping scientists detect emerging superbugs earlier and design targeted interventions.

    NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON AMR 2.0 (2025-2029)

    This was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The National Action Plan on AMR builds on the first national action plan (2017-2021). It has been designed to be aligned with the WHO Global Action Plan and adopts a One Health approach.

    The One Health approach states that this issue is not just a hospital problem but rather something which involves other dimensions such as Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment by bringing in these ministries as well.

    NAP-AMR 2.0 encourages development of rapid diagnostic tests, research into new antibiotics and alternative therapies and greater collaborations between research institutions. Many supporting initiatives have also taken place, one of the major ones being the Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programme; these programmes review antibiotic prescriptions, recommend the most appropriate drug and dosage, restrict unnecessary use of last resort antibiotics and monitor resistance trends within hospitals.

    While these initiatives represent a moving trend and hope for a better future with controlled AMR cases, records of implementation suggest that the above statement might just be an overestimation of governments’ powers, as we see that certain rules like prescription-only rules are not always enforced, surveillance coverage in rural India remains a question mark, and public awareness about antibiotic use remains limited. So, in conclusion, these steps have given us some hope for betterment, but whether these policies will translate into measurable betterment or not is yet to be seen.

     

     

  • The Games No One Seems to Want Are Coming to India

    The Games No One Seems to Want Are Coming to India

    “People of Ahmedabad, be prepared, because the city is also going to welcome the Olympics in 2036.”

    Amit Shah made this promise last December at the closing ceremony of the Sansad Khel Mahotsav in Ahmedabad, only days after the city won the hosting rights for the 2030 Commonwealth Games. Funnily enough, this is still not officially guaranteed. The IOC has not opened any host race for 2036 and India has merely expressed its interest. Yet, this announcement was made to loud applause inside a sports complex the government had just built for Rs 800 crore.

    It’s not as if our ambition is futile either. Last Sunday night, at the closing ceremony of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Sport President Donald Rukare handed the flag to P.T. Usha and Neeraj Chopra, who passed it on to Gujarat’s Deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi. There was also a cultural showcase, with Scottish and Indian musicians performing a jugalbandi, that gave the world its first look at Amdavad 2030, the branding for the centenary edition that India will now host.

    But the question is, if hosting these Games is such an honor, why did no other country seem to want them?

    Well, one country did want them once. Victoria in Australia had signed up to host but backed out in 2023 once estimates crossed AU$6 billion, which left Glasgow as the backup plan. They had to pay AU$380 million in compensation. So, in one of the stranger arrangements we’ve seen, it was this exit payment that largely funded Glasgow’s Games. Scotland agreed to step in only if its own taxpayers paid nothing. Naturally, the event had to be shrunk to ensure affordability, going from nineteen sports to ten across four venues. All of it was to be accommodated within a budget of about £160 million, where Birmingham had spent £780 million on the previous edition. The cuts effectively removed shooting, wrestling, badminton, hockey and cricket from the scheduled roster. These happen to be the five sports most of India’s medals have always come from.

    Through the two weeks of competition, British newspapers repeatedly asked whether the Commonwealth Games are dying, and it is pretty difficult to argue with them. It is true that Britain has hosted twice in a row just because no other country came forward. It’s also true that the edition that just concluded was running on money paid by a host that fled.

    Suddenly, in the middle of all this uncertainty, India volunteered. When Commonwealth Sport confirmed Ahmedabad as the centenary host last November, ours was the bid chosen over Nigeria’s Abuja, the only other city in the race. Nobody is hiding what this is really about either, with a letter of intent already sent to the IOC for the 2036 Olympics and our sports minister linking the 2030 Games with India’s plans of becoming a sporting powerhouse by 2047. In fact, Harsh Sanghavi ran an “Ahmedabad Experience Centre” in Glasgow itself, promoting the next edition before these Games got over.

    Now while this sounds alright, there is a valid concern. Ahmedabad intends to stage seventeen sports on a budget that the BBC reports as nearly double Glasgow’s, the exact opposite of the formula that just kept these Games alive. If we were to go by our own record, the last time India hosted was back in 2010. And that event in Delhi became infamous for delays, inflated costs and corruption inquiries that carried on for years after the closing ceremony, all of it paid for with public money. Perhaps Ahmedabad will turn out differently. So far, though, what exists on record is a cost estimate still being worked out and assurances that lessons have been learned.

    Then there is the question of who this big audition is even for. The IOC, under its new president Kirsty Coventry, has paused the entire 2036 host race while a committee reviews how hosts should be chosen. The same body has raised concerns about the way the Indian Olympic Association is governed. Glasgow, unfortunately, proved its point, since doping violations during the qualification period cost India weightlifting quota places that the rules did not let us refill. The IOA itself sounds careful these days. Asked by the BBC about delivering 2030, its chief executive Raghu Iyer replied, “I don’t think one can give any guarantees.” Odd, right, when you think about it? The home minister guarantees an Olympics that does not exist, while the Olympic association will not guarantee the Games we already have.

    The whole display becomes ironic when you consider how well this year’s smaller, humbler Games treated us. India sent 122 athletes, nearly half of Birmingham’s 210, yet finished fourth on the table with 39 medals. Almost one in three of them came home with something around their neck. Neeraj Chopra and Yash Vir Singh took silver and bronze together in the javelin final. Asmita Dey and Harsh Singh became India’s first ever judo gold medalists at these Games, in the very sport that had lost an athlete to a doping suspension before the contingent even left. Mirabai Chanu defended her weightlifting title, while every single one of our ten boxers who entered the semifinals fought through to the finals. Stripped of half its spectacle, missing our strongest sports, this was still among the most capable runs India has had at the Commonwealth Games.

    That, then, is the peculiar inheritance India carried home along with the flag. These Games survived by becoming modest. Modesty, it turns out, suited our athletes far more than anyone expected. Nonetheless, the ambitious plan for Ahmedabad is to make everything ‘wow’ again, on a promise our own history argues against, for a prize whose selection process currently stands suspended. Hopefully, somewhere between the showcases and the countdown, those in charge will spend as much time answering the hard questions as they have spent applauding themselves for the easy ones.

  • Everyone Watches Something Different. So, What Still Connects Us?

    Everyone Watches Something Different. So, What Still Connects Us?

    “Have you watched this?” was once a question that everyone knew how to answer.

    It might have been about a favourite TV series, blockbuster movie, or a cricket game, but the point is that people from millions of households watched the same thing at more or less the same time. They gathered around one TV set, talked about their favourite scenes with classmates the following day, and large cultural events became topics that everyone could discuss.

    Nowadays, however, everything has changed.

    Launch a Netflix account or an Instagram page with your friend. The chances are high that the two of you will find yourself watching something totally different – one person will have a feed full of K-pop videos, another one will be watching Formula 1 highlights, and the third one will spend the whole day watching anime or videos about cooking. Online streaming services and social networks personalise the content of every online session according to your preferences and interests.

    That is why many people think that a shared culture has gone extinct. But has it?

    The Age of Endless Choice

    Contrary to the television that existed in the early 2000s, nowadays’ audience has access to virtually endless entertainment opportunities through streaming, YouTube, and social media, offering the ability to watch millions of videos, listen to music, or watch movies without being tied to the schedule of television.

    Chris Anderson, in his 2004 article for Wired magazine, ‘The Long Tail,’ had anticipated such development when he claimed that people would be able to get rid of blockbuster movies and discover their niches due to online services that would not be limited by shelf capacity (Anderson, 2004).

    To some extent, Anderson was right about it.

    Today, people are willing to label themselves as K-pop fans, Formula 1 fans, anime fans, Swifties or gamers. It has become easy for people to find like-minded people in the online world thanks to online communities despite the place they live in.

    However, there is another story.

    Do We Really Watch Different Things?

    Despite an increase in the range of entertainment programs that people can access, audiences prefer watching a few extremely popular programs.

     

    As reported in Luminate’s 2025 Year-End Music Report, streaming music accounted for 253 million tracks at the end of 2025. However, nearly 120.5 million songs have been listened to ten or fewer times during the entire year, whereas only 29 songs achieved the level of one billion streams across the globe (Luminate, 2026).

     

    It means that although there is a lot of different content available today, only a few pieces become extremely popular.

    The same conclusion was made by Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse, who argued that the era of blockbuster entertainment did not end and audiences are concentrated around a few extremely popular movies, songs, and TV shows (Elberse, 2008).

    Are Algorithms Really to Blame?

    One can easily come to the conclusion that the algorithms are building their own worlds. But research says this is only one of the reasons.

     

    A paper that was published in the journal Science examined how more than 10 million Facebook users consumed political news. Scientists discovered that even though there was an influence of the Facebook algorithm on what people consume, the influence of users themselves was much bigger (Bakshy, Messing & Adamic, 2015).

    It can be explained by the fact that algorithms always react to our interests and not invent new ones for us.

     

    It means that our feed is personalised, but it is not isolated from the general cultural trends; and these trends definitely do not disappear.

    No matter whether it is a World Cup football game, a movie or a meme on social media, there are some events that gather millions of people in one place at once.

    So, the claim that we live in an age without shared culture could be false.

    It seems like the culture just has changed its form.

    What Still Brings Us Together?

    If our everyday entertainment is becoming more personalised, what still creates shared experiences?

    The biggest answer is live events.

    There are certain events that need to be experienced live rather than watched afterwards. It could be the Cricket World Cup, an IPL final, or a large-scale music concert that people want to experience live. The live watching will also involve the social media conversations and interactions that will happen around it.

    One of the strongest examples of shared culture in India is cricket. As per the International Cricket Council (ICC), the India vs. England semi-final during the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup gathered 65.2 million live audiences on JioHotstar and created a world record for the highest-ever live digital sports viewing event globally (ICC, 2026).

    Similarly, blockbuster films continue to unite audiences despite the rise of streaming. Ormax Media’s India Box Office Report (H1 2026) found that the first half of 2026 recorded ₹6,398 crore in box office collections, the strongest performance since the pandemic. The report also showed that the top 15 films accounted for 58% of the total box office revenue, proving that audiences still gather around major releases (Ormax Media, 2026).

    These numbers show that while people have more entertainment choices than ever before, they still come together for cultural events that feel significant.

    Shared Culture Looks Different Today

    However, shared culture has not vanished; instead, it has become even more varied.

    In today’s world, a person can be a fan of K-pop, Formula 1 racing every weekend, enjoy watching anime, and at the same time feel happy about the Indian team’s victory in a cricket tournament. Nowadays, our interests are not confined to one type of entertainment only.

    Moreover, social media has changed how we take part in culture. Once upon a time, the audience could just watch. Today, however, it also creates. Memes, fan edits, movie reviews, theories, and discussions about them all are posted on the internet. Reels and audio files become part of the global discussion in several hours.

    For example, there is the Spotify Wrapped service. Each December, millions of users post their personalised summaries on the internet. Even though every summary is individual, the process itself becomes an online event where everyone compares their playlists and listening behaviour. According to the researchers Taylor Annabell and Nina Vindum Rasmussen, it becomes an “algorithmic event” (Annabell & Rasmussen, 2025).

    Therefore, personalisation does not necessarily separate people.

    So, Is Shared Culture Disappearing?

    Culture is constantly evolving rather than disappearing.

    It would seem that the problem here is not whether shared culture exists or not; the issue here is the accessibility of its current form.

    One cannot say that one type of culture exists for everybody. On the contrary, modern people are part of many different groups, and while their entertainment might be personalised, important experiences have the power to attract millions of viewers.

    In a world in which it seems like every person watches his/her own content, there is still connection among people. It does not happen due to the uniform consumption of entertainment but because people keep coming together for important moments in the same way as before.

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    Image credits : Museu Valencià d’Etnologia, sala Secà i Muntanya, carro de televisions by Joanbanjo | Own work, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons

  • Justice on the Streets: A Look Into the CJP Protests

    Justice on the Streets: A Look Into the CJP Protests

    In the wake of the alleged paper leaks in NEET and other competitive examinations, deaths of at least twenty students have been reportedly associated with examination-induced distress. Against this backdrop, protests have been organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)  demanding systematic changes in the education system and the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Education Minister of India. 

    Sonam Wangchuk, who is an engineer, educator and an activist from Ladakh,  joined the protest on 29 June, and started an indefinite hunger strike to further support the cause of the movement. Alongside him, multiple CJP members also joined the hunger strike, holding out until their demands were met. 

     

    The protests that started on 29 June intensified after Sonam Wangchuk was forcibly moved to a hospital on 18 July in hopes to end his hunger strike. On 20 July 2026, India saw a revolutionary youth movement called ‘Chalo Sansad’, a march to the Parliament, led by Abhijeet Dipke, leader of CJP. Thousands of protesters gathered at Jantar Mantar, and took to the streets of New Delhi, infuriated with the government and determined to secure concrete reformation.

     

    Protesters continued to set up tents at the protest site. The tents brimmed with posters, expressing the displeasement of the civilians. The names of those on hunger strike were stuck on boards, along with the number of days that they have been protesting. 

     

    After 21 long days, Sonam Wangchuk decided to continue his fast even at the hospital and refused to stop until the students received the justice they deserve, even after exhibiting clinical signs of dehydration and severe health deterioration. 

     

    However, as days passed the events at Jantar Mantar spiralled out of the control of the CJP leaders. On July 20, during the ‘Chalo Sansad’ movement, the use of force by Delhi Police against the protesters ended up severely injuring them. Among these were also children and youngsters who arrived at the site with peaceful intentions. This incident spread online quickly, and sparked widespread anger amongst the youth of India. Following this, protests were initiated in different parts of India as the youth stood in solidarity with all those injured at Jantar Mantar. 

     

    In Patna, Bihar, hundreds of student demonstrators gathered at Gandhi Maidan and marched toward Dak Bungalow and Bailey Road; as police deployed water cannons and tear gas, leading to viral moments where students danced under the water spray. 

     

    In Kolkata, West Bengal the unified student march commenced in the Sealdah Station area and continued till the Esplanade area. Another solidarity rally was witnessed as thousands of citizens, students, and youth groups walked from the Jadavpur 8B area to Golpark.

     

    Mumbai-based activists and citizens gathered at the Azad Maidan, echoing the voice of youth all around India. Mumbai Police registered eight First Information Reports (FIRs) in connection with the protests held across the city with the largest case being registered at Shivaji Park Police Station with over 600 protesters booked. 

     

    In Pune, the march began at Shaniwar Wada and concluded at the Collector’s Office, as participants arrived with placards highlighting their demands, deterred by the intermittent rain. They peacefully carried forward their march to the Collector’s Office while the Pune Police showed complete cooperation and handled the event with utmost precision. 

     

    Following these events, Sonam Wangchuk on 24 July, during the early hours of the morning, broke his indefinite hunger strike after twenty six long days, in the presence of two Union Ministers only on the condition that the government will take into account the compensation for the NEET aspirant students who lost their lives. He also demanded the cases of students present in the protest be taken back. He successfully got a written agreement for both his demands and finally broke his fast. 

     

    This, however, did nothing to help the protests die down. Abhijeet Dipke, along with many CJP members, was still on a hunger strike and the protests carried on in full force until the demands were met. Crowds still gathered at protest sites in respective cities, civilians were still waiting for answers and the youth was still hopeful. In support of those spending nights at Jantar Mantar, Indians from all around the country sent food, water, medicines and other necessities at the site as a symbol of silent support. 

     

    Those who could not join the protests, helped spread awareness about the situation on digital platforms. Social media played a significant role in amplifying and spreading awareness about the protest. Social media covered the information on the protest that mainstream media did not broadcast. Students used platforms like Instagram and X to share updates and document events in real time. Celebrities and public figures also shared posts expressing solidarity and helping the movement gain momentum. Renowned personalities like Shabana Azmi, Imran Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Huma Qureshi and Prakash Raj also joined the protest and stood with thousands of students for their cause. 

     

    Fortunately, their efforts and struggles did not go unnoticed because on July 25, Dharmendra Pradhan announced his resignation as the Education Minister after serving five years of his term. In his letter, Dharmendra Pradhan mentions that more than his ‘individual prestige’ he was disturbed to see the series of events that took place over the last ten days.

     

     This development prompted the CJP to call off the protests at Jantar Mantar after a prolonged 36 days. President Droupadi Murmu accepted his resignation letter. Later, on the advice of the Prime Minister, she appointed Pralhad Joshi as the new Education Minister of India. Ultimately, the protests transformed public outrage into a coordinated movement for change. While the immediate demands remain contested, they succeeded in significant structural reform in the education system.

  • Education Mafia in India : Does Merit Even Matter Anymore?

    Education Mafia in India : Does Merit Even Matter Anymore?

    An editorial from 2010, named “The decay in Indian education and society: Are we responsible for it?” tactfully examines popular trends in medical and educational institutions and puts forth the term “education mafia” to describe the motley crew of powerful people who puppeteer students according to their whims. The education mafia then springs into conversations here and there sporadically until the paper leaks of 2026 NEET exams. Rage spreading like wildfire about the corruption in the noble field of education consumes students who have piously devoted their life to the pursuit of erudition. 

     

    This education mafia refers to the nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and private entities who profit off the education system by exploiting it. This network involves rigged examination processes, faulty admissions and hyper-commercialized coaching culture which boosts a toxic environment for students and other individuals entrenched in this culture. One of the most prominent fields of their influence are the examination and paper leak rackets. The integrity of some high participation exams like the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and other central and state examinations have been compromised by organised paper leaks and paper solver gangs. Though there have been strict legislations passed against the act with 10-year jail term and a fine of up to ₹1  Crore, the mafia still continues to operate with negligible conviction cases. 

     

    The mafia is also secretly providing individuals with degree certificates without actually going through coursework through Degree Mills. “Degree Mills” are counterfeit institutions that exist only on paper and provide degrees to teachers to certify them as a pupil of B.Ed and D.El.Ed. This hampers the quality of educators of the country therefore, making the foundation of the whole system weak. The government has conducted various crack downs and undercover operations pertaining to this issue but was unable to eliminate the problem from its roots.  

     

    Another kleptocratic practice includes the huge hole that remains unaddressed by the government. The government of India provides top tier colleges for students pursuing engineering and medical but the student-to-seat ratio is highly disproportionate with students competing with thousands for their opportunity and this is capitalized heavily by coaching institutes. These conglomerates create a hegemonic system – dictating curriculum, draining the middle class families and creating a stressful and extremely competitive environment for students which is not at all conducive to them. 

     

    The cartel also works at K-12 level where alliances between state officials and private school management results in exorbitant school fees, hidden charges, mandatory overpriced books and school stationery from specific vendors and subversion of regulations. These are all the different scope of the mafia’s clout. The education mafia is also involved in the hundreds of cases of mass copying and providing employment to thousands of incompetent job seekers. But the question is – what happens to those affected by the deliberations of this syndicate when the government’s efforts seem to be ineffective? Do they deserve to go through the rigmarole of these exams again and again till their faith in merit is completely shattered? Or do they take a backseat in their own life and see where others’ decisions take them? Hopefully in the following years, it’s neither of these choices and students are allowed to participate in a system that works for them and not against them. 

     

    Image credit – Wikimedia Commons

  • Green Fuel, Dirty Air? Inside the Industrial Pollution Crisis of Byrnihat and the Hidden Cost of India’s Ethanol Push

    Green Fuel, Dirty Air? Inside the Industrial Pollution Crisis of Byrnihat and the Hidden Cost of India’s Ethanol Push

    Byrnihat, a town lying on the border of Assam and Meghalaya, has ranked number 1 as world’s most polluted city, recording an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 μg/m³, according to a study which was conducted by a Swiss air quality monitoring company IQAir in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). As we see India has been promoting ethanol blending programme as a key step towards reducing carbon emissions and dependence on imported crude oil, but the recent documentary on Byrnihat have sparked a debate over whether the environmental costs of producing green fuel have been adequately calculated or not.

    The issue came into spotlight after a documentary by journalist Sarthak Goswami went viral on YouTube and clips made it to Instagram, which questioned whether the environmental impact of ethanol production has been overlooked ,but it didn’t make any strict claims , but it did challenge the claims made by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari that ethanol blending significantly reduces India’s carbon footprint, arguing that emissions generated during production deserve greater scrutiny and it also questioned whether carbon footprints are just being replaced by water footprints.

    By 28 June 2026, the Meghalaya Health Department stated that it had not received any formal complaint regarding the alleged health impacts of the ethanol unit in Byrnihat and later also stated by Mr. Gadkari in an interview with AjjTak. The government clarified that while the allegations circulating online would be examined if its supported by evidence, no official complaint had been filed at the time.

    Fuel ethanol production in Byrnihat commenced on 1 September 2024. Coincidentally, 2024 was also the year in which Byrnihat emerged as one of the world’s most polluted urban areas in global air quality rankings. However, this timing alone does not establish a relationship between the two. Byrnihat has been an industrial hub since a long time, it is housing a number of cement hubs, distilleries, ferroalloy units in and around it, more recently in 2024 ethanol manufacturing facilities as well.

    Residents interviewed in the documentary told Sarthak Goswami and the team that emissions from factories have left their homes coated in black dust, leading to them washing vegetables multiple times before consumption and also making it difficult to breathe. Several villagers also claimed that respiratory illnesses, skin conditions and even cancer cases have increased over recent years.

    Importantly, the documentary itself acknowledged that there is currently no scientific evidence directly linking any individual illness or death to a specific factory or to ethanol production alone. However, government health data cited in the investigation indicates that reported respiratory disease cases in the area rose from 2,082 in 2022 to 3,681 in 2024, showing a 77% rise, highlighting a worsening public health situation consistent with growing industrial pollution.

    The debate also extends beyond air pollution. Ethanol continues to offer an important climate advantage over petrol by producing lower lifecycle carbon emissions, making it a cleaner transport fuel from a greenhouse gas perspective. Yet environmental experts have also bought the point that water footprints should also be part of the discussion about ethanol,

    According to Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra, producing one litre of ricebased ethanol requires approximately 10,790 litres of water, raising concerns that while ethanol may reduce carbon footprints, it could simultaneously increase water footprints, particularly in a country like India where groundwater depletion is already a big crisis. According to the experts, Ethanol production also generates a high-strength wastewater known as vinasse, which requires proper treatment before disposal to prevent contamination of rivers and groundwater but minister Gadkari refuses to agree this wastewater problem in his recent interview.

    The documentary by Sarthak Goswami further noted that although Meghalaya

    Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa

    Sarma announced plans last year to establish a joint committee to tackle Byrnihat’s pollution crisis, little visible progress has followed. As India’s ethanol blending targets continue to expand, Byrnihat raises a broader policy question:

    can India’s transition to cleaner fuels succeed if the environmental costs of production remain concentrated in industrial towns already struggling with severe pollution?

    Photo: Janak Bhatta / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

  • The Dark Web Beyond Stereotypes: Privacy, Crime and Regulation

    The Dark Web Beyond Stereotypes: Privacy, Crime and Regulation

    The Dark web is a deliberately hidden segment of the internet that is accessed daily via specialised anonymising software by millions of users, ranging from citizens seeking privacy to cybercriminals hiding illegal trade. While many see the Dark web merely as a space full of cybercrime and obscenity operating beyond the reach of law enforcement, experts maintain that this depiction fails to represent its full scope. A recent report by the cybersecurity research institution RAND Corporation noted that the Dark web “may be used for legitimate purposes as well as to conceal criminal or otherwise malicious activities.”

    Public attention toward the Dark web has grown in recent years because of increased ransomware attacks, along with ongoing discussions about digital privacy. Governments argue that “warrant-proof encryption” creates obstacles for police investigations, but digital rights organisations argue that strong encryption should be used to safeguard people’s right to private communication. For many internet users, the Dark web enters public discussion only when a major arrest, ransomware incident or large-scale data breach makes headlines.
    The takedown of major Dark web marketplaces such as Silk Road and AlphaBay has changed public perceptions of the Dark web as lawless.
    At the same time, these events have highlighted the Dark web’s growing political and technological importance by demonstrating how anonymising technologies can empower both illicit networks and activists seeking to bypass restrictive censorship. As governments expand online monitoring and civil society groups push back against censorship, the Dark web has increasingly become a subject of debate where issues of security, privacy, and control come into conflict.

    What is the Dark web?
    The internet is often explained using the iceberg theory, a popular visual metaphor that builds upon the work of computer scientist Michael K. Bergman. In his 2001 seminal white paper, “The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value,” Bergman originally compared searching the internet to “dragging a net across the surface of the ocean,” noting that while much is caught in the net, a wealth of deep information is missed. This concept naturally evolved into the widely used iceberg analogy. Just like the tip of an iceberg, the surface web, which accounts for roughly 4–5 per cent of the internet, includes websites that can be accessed through regular search engines. Below this lies the deep web, which makes up most online content and includes private databases, academic portals, subscription platforms, and medical records.
    The Dark web is a smaller and deliberately hidden part of the deep web, accessible only through specialised software.
    Most of these hidden sites function through an anonymous network, which includes Tor (The Onion Router) and I2P. Tor, developed in the early 2000s with the support of the US Naval Research Agency, uses multiple layers of routing to hide a user’s identity and IP address. These tools are designed to provide anonymity. Usage data states that millions of people use Tor worldwide, with hundreds of thousands of daily users in the United States alone.

    Concerns and risks
    The Dark web is perhaps best known for its association with illegal activities. Dark web marketplaces have long been used to trade drugs, weapons, forged documents, stolen data, and malware. Furthermore, the network’s anonymity is notoriously exploited to facilitate severe human rights abuses, including human trafficking, sex rings, and the distribution of child exploitation material. International law enforcement agencies have conducted joint operations to eliminate major platforms, which resulted in both arrests and asset confiscation.
    Anonymity presents major challenges for investigators. Many transactions on the Dark web involve cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or privacy-focused alternatives like Monero, making financial tracing difficult. Authorities argue that encrypted communication tools create a safe environment for organised crime. However, law enforcement agencies have developed new methods, including undercover operations and monitoring concealed platforms, to identify offenders.
    In recent years, hidden forums have increasingly supported wider cybercrime networks. Ransomware groups and fraud rings, together with data brokers, frequently use hidden platforms to plan their attacks and sell stolen information. Companies now depend on Dark web monitoring tools, which help them identify both leaked credentials and initial indicators of data breaches. However, the hidden sites still pose significant dangers to individual users because they use scams, malware and phishing attacks as their main methods of operation.

    Alternative uses
    Despite these risks, the Dark web also serves vital non-criminal purposes. In countries with restrictive media laws and widespread online monitoring, anonymising networks help activists and dissidents to bypass censorship and organise securely. Journalists use Dark web platforms to establish source communication, which protects their sources from potential backlash. Major news organisations operate .onion versions of their websites, which enable whistleblowers to submit information without revealing their identities.

    Government and expert responses
    At the policy level, responses remain divided. Proposals that would give governments special access to encrypted communications have faced strong opposition from technology companies and rights groups. The European Union and United Kingdom court systems, together with their data protection authorities, have issued warnings that any reduction of encryption strength will endanger both free speech rights and individual safety. Monitoring organisations such as Freedom House have observed a worldwide increase in governmental restrictions that control online anonymity, which they believe makes it harder for people to maintain their privacy and obtain information.
    Experts increasingly argue that large-scale monitoring measures are unlikely to eliminate Dark web activity and may instead weaken trust in digital systems. Many call for more targeted enforcement, improved technical capacity, and stronger international cooperation rather than blanket regulation.

    The ongoing debate
    The ongoing Dark web debate shows how digital tensions between different forces in society create their own problems. Governments seek to protect national security while fighting crime, but civil society organisations emphasise the need for people to have the right to privacy and freely express themselves. Both sides continue to debate workable long-term solutions. In some cases, attempts to control the Dark web may push operations into more secretive areas, but the practice of unregulated anonymity creates dangerous situations.
    The Dark web functions as both a criminal space and a space that provides freedom to users. It has developed alongside the policies and technologies designed to regulate it. As surveillance capabilities expand and internet freedoms fluctuate worldwide, the Dark web is likely to remain both a refuge and a regulatory challenge.

    Image Credits: David Whelan/ Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication

  • The Threat of El Niño 2026

    The Threat of El Niño 2026

    A potentially historic “Super” El Niño is currently developing in the Pacific Ocean. The latest World Meteorological Organisation update suggests a high probability of El Niño conditions emerging between June and August 2026. According to the forecasts, this event could be very similar to the 1876–78 El Niño in terms of intensity, the strongest on record, which led to severe droughts and widespread famines across several affected regions.

    What is El Niño?

    El Niño is a natural phenomenon that affects the climate by increasing the temperature of the surface layer of the tropical Pacific Ocean along the equator. 

    This phenomenon occurs every 2 to 7 years, and causes a disruption of weather patterns globally. Despite having varying levels of intensity from year to year, El Niño has a widespread climate effect as it is commonly associated with warmer-than-average temperatures across the globe. Southeast Asian countries often suffer from decreased rainfall and droughts, whereas North and South American regions tend to have heavy rainfall that causes floods and landslides. 

     

    What Happens When a Natural Cycle Meets a Warming Planet

    Australia and Indonesia have drier climates that affect the availability of water resources and agriculture. In recent years, researchers have become increasingly concerned about the direct link of El Niño to the rapid change in climate. Though a natural phenomenon, human-induced climate change may have an inordinate impact on El Niño. For instance, if an El Niño event occurs during a period of already high global temperatures, it can further contribute to record-breaking heat, as experienced in 2026. 

    Climatologists point out that this rapidly growing phenomenon is causing unprecedented warming of the planet and putting the year among the hottest years ever recorded, while 2027 may see even higher temperatures.

    “El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world.  Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed.  The only effective response is climate action equal to the crisis – ending the addiction to fossil fuels, accelerating the shift to renewables, protecting the most vulnerable, and delivering early warning systems for all.”  warns UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his WMO press release.  

     

    To conclude, the emergence of El Niño serves as an alarming indicator that climate-related catastrophes are no longer distant possibilities. The scale of its impact on weather conditions highlights the urgent need for stronger mitigation measures and preparedness for the future. Ignoring these signals could leave communities increasingly exposed to possible climate extremes, making them more vulnerable to such future events.