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Tuesday, March 10, 2026
HomeGround Reports

Ground Reports

Grown in Karnataka, sold as American — Inside India’s gherkin empire

The humble gherkin ties Indian farms to a global pickle trade of $200 million. As buyers look beyond the US market, the tiny cucumber that built India into a global pickle supplier faces its most uncertain moment in years.

DU protest ban has united rival student groups. ‘ABVP, NSUI, Left are all together’

DU students are sidestepping the protest ban. Tea stalls are brimming with students divided into small groups. Pamphlets continue to circulate, handed discreetly across corridors.

Sex, spa and two Muslim women. The Bhopal crime drama that’s in every WhatsApp chat

Local newspapers in Bhopal initially ran wild stories about 'love jihad' and Muslim women running sex racket, but have stopped the follow-up coverage. Some are calling it a “perfect” plot line for Anurag Kashyap’s next film.

Assam went to war on Kaziranga poachers. Rhinos are winning

Rhino poaching at Kaziranga National Park dropped to zero in 2025. Its conservation model includes 253 anti-poaching camps, drones, ‘Van Durgas’, and shoot-on-sight orders.

A day with the Dehradun women who sprayed anti-Muslim graffiti. They are also Meerut stars

The days of Shradha Rajput and Sandhya Rajput revolve around enquiring about Muslim-owned shops, locating 'target areas', and 'rescuing' Hindu women.

How Lucknow’s DNA lab is decoding Indian cheetah’s genetic history from 200-yr-old samples

For the first time in the world, BSIP and ZSI are attempting to sequence the whole nuclear genome of this extinct Indian big cat.

Bengaluru’s badminton boom. Powered by techies, app, thousands of courts

Badminton is Bengaluru’s primary source of feel-good endorphins. In the city that produced Prakash Padukone and Ashwini Ponnappa, techies are now carrying the torch.

‘I am not afraid of death’—one woman’s war on child marriage in Rajasthan

Kriti Bharti has annulled 53 child marriages in Rajasthan. She's battled death threats, families hiding weddings, and panchayats that fine dissenters Rs 20 lakh.

After ‘no blanket to Muslims’, something shifted in Rajasthan village. ‘Now we have to be wary’

At Kareda Buzurg village in Rajasthan's Tonk district, religion is not a daily fault line. But a routine blanket distribution drive by BJP leader Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria turned into a public sorting of loyalty.

Meet new Noida CEO Krishna Karunesh—Yogi’s man navigating RWAs, builders, buyers

IAS officer Krishna Karunesh’s earlier job as Gorakhpur District Magistrate was full of political, administrative, social challenges, but somehow Noida beats all that.

On Camera

Balen wave marks the second coming of democracy in Nepal

The Gen Z movement was a serious wave that RSP and Balen together managed to capture—the first milestone reflecting the relevance of issues-based politics.

Centre invokes Essential Commodities Act to regulate gas supply as Iran and US-Israel conflict rages on

Gazette notification prioritises household fuel, transport gas and fertiliser sector as West Asia tensions raise concerns over energy supplies

India and Indonesia finalise BrahMos deal, contract to be signed early next fiscal

One battery of the BrahMos missile is to be procured in the initial phase. The plan is to scale up the procurement in phases.

Trump brings the Age of Humiliation for friends. Modi needs stoicism abroad, humility at home

Trump has ushered in the age of humiliation. His method is to push around America’s friends rudely and publicly. He knows none of them can afford to fight back.