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Saturday, April 18, 2026
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The FinePrint

Should India talk to the new Pakistan govt? Imperfect peace is better than a crisis

PM Modi is skilled at communicating by not picking up the phone. Even as panic grew in Pakistan during the Balakot crisis, he declined a midnight call from his counterpart Imran Khan.

Three-gen corporate rule in Indian politics—How dynasts conform & how they can break free

Jayant Chaudhary is not the first. In the past decade, the BJP has attempted hostile takeovers of dynast-ruled parties by either appropriating their vote bank or minority shareholders.

Surat’s Swachh sweep—how diamond city went from plague to podium in 30 years

Surat Municipal Corporation keeps the city sparkling with a high-tech war room, 3,300 CCTV cameras, and a dedicated app. ‘Cleanliness is not just about sweeping,’ says SMC commissioner.

Will saffron bring new riches to Arunachal? Women in Menchukha betting big on purple flowers

Women in Arunachal Pradesh's Menchukha town are sowing a saffron revolution. They are eyeing a piece of the world's most expensive spice.

Scientists are studying insect eating in Arunachal. They want to put them on global plates

A fridge filled with thousands of insects would be the stuff of nightmares. But Jharna Chakravorty and her team have a dream to take traditional practice of eating insects out of the inaccessible villages of Arunachal.

Kuki-Zomi women have left home to protect the homeland. They’re patrolling the ‘frontline’

The ethnic conflict that’s ripping Manipur apart is changing the rules of the tight-knit patriarchal Kuki-Zomi society. Now, the women are protectors, protesters and planners.

Vijayanagara was the Indian Renaissance State. It contains memories of older empires

Just like Europe’s neoclassical monuments, Vijayanagara’s temples reformulated memories of the older Chola and Chalukya empires.

Rahul Gandhi is conquering the margins like Shivaji did. Is this marginal politics?

The so-called ‘middle class’ is not the fat middle but a thin crust in Indian society. Politics of the margins is mainstream politics as the mainstream flows through the margins.

US colleges are now raging battlegrounds—hitting cash flow, student culture & campaign

US campuses are not just seeing a rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. They're in the middle of a cultural war, where a broader political attack is aimed at ‘woke’ ideology.

PSE policy is dying a slow death. More than half are non-operational or loss-making

Nobody is calling for haste in the disinvestment process, but there’s no reason for the current pace. Perhaps for political reasons, govt can’t take back the policy—it's admitting defeat.

On Camera

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán was defeated by his own system. Magyar has to clean up the mess

Even out of power, Viktor Orbán has built a system to protect his legacy and make it difficult for any successor to govern.

US ends oil waivers but Russian crude flows to India ‘likely to remain steady’ amid Hormuz disruption

India will need to recalibrate crude sourcing strategy as US ends waivers for Russian & Iranian oil, energy experts say. But Russian crude will likely remain central to energy basket.

Why Siliguri Corridor is strategically important for India & how it is being secured | Cut The Clutter

This special edition of Cut The Clutter, straight from the Siliguri corridor, details the strategic importance of the narrow strip of land in West Bengal, and how it’s a vital link connecting the Northeast to the rest of India.

Trump, Netanyahu’s Iran gamble: The regime change rebound

American objectives are unmet. They neither have muscle nor motivation to resume the war. As for Iran, the regime didn’t just survive, it’s now led by more radical individuals.