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Sunday, November 23, 2025
HomeGround Reports

Ground Reports

The story of Bihar’s two mafias—sand and booze

The sand and liquor mafias have corroded Bihar’s economy, fuelled criminal politics, brought in a rural rot, and rendered its youth unemployable for at least a decade.

Karnataka struck a blow to disability aid. Students waiting for Braille kits, talking laptops

Karnataka reduced the budget for providing hearing aids, Braille kits, and ‘talking laptops’ for students by 80%—from Rs 53 crore last year to Rs 10 crore for 2024-25.

Indian gaming is a boys’ club. Women gamers are turning to Twitch & YouTube

Women gamers like Shagufta Iqbal, Saloni Pawar, and Payal Dhare are building a strong presence on streaming platforms. But women are still shut out of competitive gaming.

Vaishno Devi ropeway plan throws up a question for Katra. Is it a picnic spot or pilgrimage?

Unlike the past initiatives such as battery-powered cars from Ardhkunwari to Bhawan and helicopter rides, the ropeway project is being seen as the biggest killer of local businesses.

An IIT Madras team is working on manufacturing in space. It’s planning 20 yrs ahead

Using IIT Madras’ Institute of Eminence funds and access to microgravity, 7 departments collaborated in 2021 to open India’s first research centre dedicated solely to Space 2.0 research.

Cleared UPSC in 2008, appointed 2024—visually impaired candidate’s 15 yr fight with the system

New Delhi: “Congratulations, Papa.” For a 100 per cent visually impaired candidate who cleared UPSC way back in 2008 but never entered the service,...

Varanasi’s Great Temple Hunt—Hindu groups are combing gullies, mosques, Muslim homes

Freelance Hindu groups are on a mission to ‘find’ temples in Varanasi. Mosques, Muslim homes, or often tense Hindu-Muslim neighbourhoods are their hunting grounds.

Now Haryana has a drug problem too. And unique ways of fighting it

Haryana villagers have taken the fight against drugs into their own hands. Vigilante groups across the state are naming and shaming users and peddlers, but caste plays a part too.

The afterlife of stolen antiquities when they are returned to India

Of 640 antiquities returned to India since 2014, only about a dozen are back in their place of origin.

Rationalists look for love in new India. Kerala’s Secular Matrimony swipes left on religion

Kerala-based Secular Matrimony champions interfaith love, atheism, and progressive values. Rationalist parents use it to arrange matches for their children.

On Camera

In Tejas Dubai crash, the harm goes beyond the loss of an aircraft and pilot

Airshows are thrilling spectacles of aviation skill and engineering marvels. But they carry inherent risks as the crew is pushing the aircraft, and themselves, to perform at the edges of the envelope.

At Charcha 2025: Local entrepreneurship, not just big IT, will drive next wave of distributed AI work

While global corporations setting up GCCs in India continue to express confidence in availability of skilled AI engineers, the panel argued that India’s real challenge lies elsewhere.

From a small Kangra village to Tejas cockpit: IAF fighter pilot Namansh Syal’s journey cut short

Wing Commander Namansh Syal is survived by his wife, their 6-year-old daughter and his mother. Back in his native village, relatives and neighbours wait for his remains for last rites.

A tribute to Tejas. India’s delay culture is the real enemy in the skies

It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.