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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.

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

Praveen Swami - 30 April, 2024

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

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

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

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India and US went pro-choice around the same time. Only one strengthened its abortion laws

Abantika Ghosh - 29 June, 2022

India's Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 established women’s right to seek an abortion two years before US Supreme Court judgment in Roe vs Wade.

Somnath and Gyanvapi temples were rebuilt – long ago by Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar

+TFP Vandana Menon - 25 June, 2022

All major places of Hindu pilgrimage owe something to Ahilyabai. Her piety became her power in a world of men.

How Nehru’s friend Jayanti Dharma Teja went from Lutyens’ darling to international fugitive

+TFP Vandana Menon - 12 March, 2022

Before Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi, there was Jayanti Dharma Teja — scientist, shipping magnate, and alleged scamster who led the Indian government on a wild spin.

Hungry India, a nawabi US President, ‘Mexican blood’ — The real story of Green Revolution

Vandana Menon - 19 February, 2022

I don’t ever want us to have to beg for food again, Indira Gandhi said after a call with US President Lyndon Johnson. Science, Swaminathan and Subramanian made sure she didn’t have to.

Babri, Saraswati, Aryans – There are rival Indian histories now and campuses are the warzone

Vandana Menon - 19 December, 2021

What used to be ‘basement history’ is now mainstream in Lutyens’ Delhi. The ‘ivory tower' of the Left on academics is being contested by an ‘imaginative’ Right.

50 yrs of 1971 war: How forces, intel, politicians jointly made it India’s finest military hour

Snehesh Alex Philip - 16 December, 2021

On 16 December 1971, 93,000 Pakistani military and govt officials surrendered before Indian Army, ending the Bangladesh Liberation War that began on 3 December.

59 lives, 95 hearings, 60 crore — The Uphaar Cinema tragedy is a story of fire, fate and fight

Vandana Menon - 18 November, 2021

The 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire case in Delhi was behind a smokescreen for decades — evidence went missing, Ansal brothers suddenly turned ‘poor’, judges recused themselves. A verdict has finally come.

You are an OBC if you score 11/22 — We traced nearly 100 years of caste in Indian census

Vandana Menon - 7 November, 2021

Rajiv Gandhi called Mandal report a ‘can of worms’. India has tried to open it five times and shut it as quickly.

Mystery of 1966 Air India crash, that killed nuclear pioneer Bhabha, is unravelling bit by bit

Srijan Shukla - 27 July, 2020

Air India 101 crashed at Mont Blanc, at nearly the same spot as Air India 245 in 1950. Since the ’80s, big discoveries & bigger conspiracy theories have emerged.

The story of what really happened when Chinese troops ‘withdrew’ from Galwan Post 58 years back

Snehesh Alex Philip - 22 July, 2020

Months before the India-China war in 1962, an Army platoon held on to a post in Galwan despite being surrounded. The Chinese later moved back by about 200 m.

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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.

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

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

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

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

On Camera

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Economy

Strong showing by north, improved compliance — how GST revenue rose to record Rs 2.1 lakh cr in April

Defence

Army Dental Centre of Research & Referral celebrates silver jubilee

National Interest

Frontrunner is letting the challenger define this poll campaign. Modi still hasn’t found a big theme

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