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PastForward

PastForward is a deep research offering from ThePrint on issues from India’s modern history that continue to guide the present and determine the future. As William Faulkner famously said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Indians are now hungrier and curiouser to know what brought us to key issues of the day.

For now, this is available immediately to all ThePrint readers. Very soon PastForward will be among the premium offerings that go behind a paywall, only available to subscribers.

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Andhra is the intellectual home of Naxalism. How fire was lit in schools, farms & songs

Deepika Amirapu - April 2, 2026

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Saif Ali Khan to Gen Musharraf to Liaquat Ali Khan. A tale of ‘enemies’ and property

35 yrs of Mahalanobis model vs 35 yrs of Manmohan Singh. Two key moments of Indian economy

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Sambhal: A history of violence

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India’s beef with tallow is older than Tirupati scandal. Jain Shudh Vanaspati shocked Hindus

+TFP Antara Baruah - September 29, 2024

Beef panic reached Hindu kitchens in 1983. The upholders of purity, Jains, were accused of selling animal fat in 'shudh' ghee. Lok Sabha rocked. VP Singh was on the defensive.

Gun-toting IAS trainee vs academy director. 1981 scandal shaped dissent in civil services

+TFP Vandana Menon - August 17, 2024

In 1981, a drunk IAS probationer terrorised peers with a gun during a Himalayan trek. When Home Ministry didn’t act, academy head PS Appu quit in protest, setting off storm in Parliament.

1800s Kolkata is key to Modi’s Act East policy. It needs imagination, not just bureaucracy

+TFP Praveen Swami - June 29, 2024

A globalised India is a project of imagination. It must model itself after 19th century Kolkata, as it seeks to integrate with the economic powerhouses to its East.

George Mallory’s Everest climb was no macho heroism—It was rooted in racism, war, tragedy

+TFP Praveen Swami - May 31, 2024

In 1999, Mallory’s mummified body was retrieved from the ice, with signs of injuries suggesting he was killed in a fall. The body of his climbing partner Sandy Irvine was never found.

The spy who sold out Subhas Chandra Bose—he worked with Britain, Germany, USSR, Japan, Italy

Praveen Swami - April 30, 2024

The collapse of the Japanese in Burma and the death of Bose, brought the curtain down on Talwar’s incredible career—one that had seen him work for 3 Axis intelligence services & 2 Allied ones.

This is why Nehru-Liaquat Pact failed. Its ghost haunted Indian politics for decades

+TFP Apoorva Mandhani - April 8, 2024

It was either war or exchange of population—and Nehru wanted neither. So he devised a third option.

Indian politicians hit the jackpot with 1957 TISCO case. It set the tone for political funding

+TFP Apoorva Mandhani - November 25, 2023

Electoral bonds have done what past innovations in party funding couldn’t — they have sprung the issue of party funding onto the national stage.

Rabinder Singh spy scandal exposed R&AW’s ugly sides. But India hasn’t learned from its mistakes

+TFP Praveen Swami - November 14, 2023

Vishal Bhardwaj's Khufiya touches on the penetration of R&AW. The reel-world denouement, though, was quite different from the real-world ending.

1967 was the year politics changed. Modi wants to go back to the simpler times before that

Vandana Menon - October 24, 2023

Apart from One Nation, One Election, there is a strong similarity between 1967 and 2023—a dominant party at the helm, and a politics that’s bringing oddballs of opposition together.

Duties, duties, duties. Modi is going back to the Indira Gandhi Emergency era

+TFP Vandana Menon - September 21, 2023

Speaking in the Old Parliament for the last time, PM Modi said the Central Hall of Parliament inspires us to fulfil our duties. Earlier, he had changed Amrit Kaal to Kartavya Kaal.

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PastForward

For now, this is available immediately to all ThePrint readers. Very soon PastForward will be among the premium offerings that go behind a paywall, only available to subscribers.

Andhra is the intellectual home of Naxalism. How fire was lit in schools, farms & songs

Saif Ali Khan to Gen Musharraf to Liaquat Ali Khan. A tale of ‘enemies’ and property

35 yrs of Mahalanobis model vs 35 yrs of Manmohan Singh. Two key moments of Indian economy

Sambhal: A history of violence

On Camera

YourTurn

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Opinion

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Tax is now India vs Pakistan. Here’s where both sides get it wrong

Economy

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Defence

Warfare enters new dimension as Ukraine’s robot brigade records battle win against Russia

National Interest

The world’s in a flux. India must reform, consolidate & build a strong economy

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