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Sunday, April 5, 2026
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The FinePrint

India wasn’t always like this. Things have never been as bad as they are today

Was the system in India always so lax that politicians could watch citizens being poisoned, stranded, or burned alive and get away with it?

India’s long war with Maoists has a huge void — no number of dead bodies can fill it

Weak governance, corruption and poverty continue to define tribal life in India. The introduction of industrial and mining projects has benefited contractors, politicians and officials more than Adivasis.

Rust, rot & 2 dead athletes — Haryana’s sports powerhouse story has faultlines

From Rohtak to Jhajjar, rusted poles, broken courts and vanished accountability show how a sporting powerhouse is failing its youngest athletes.

Bhiwadi pollution nightmare is worse than Delhi. Nobody wants to talk about it

Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi has grown into an industrial and real-estate hub, but air quality and livability are collapsing. The pattern is repeating across India's industrial towns.

The silent crisis at Delhi’s CSDS. A fund freeze after show-cause notice

CSDS is India’s most influential research institute, known for larger-than-life thinkers like Rajni Kothari, Ashis Nandy, and Dhirubhai Sheth, who built an India-centric political theory.

From Bankim’s private musings to a war cry—the many lives of Vande Mataram

Idolatry is anti-science, was the private belief of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who wrote the song whose idolatry became one of the most divisive issues during India’s national movement.

Anime’s desi soul is in small-town India. Nagpur is its capital

Japan may be the anime capital of the world, but small cities such as Nagpur, Jaipur, and Bhubaneswar are among its most dedicated Indian outposts.

Indian states are competing to be the concert capital. Post Malone in Assam a turning point

After Coldplay performed last year in Ahmedabad, the phrase concert economy was suddenly in vogue. It has set off a competition among several states to become India’s concert capital.

How a Hindu murderer on parole became ‘namazi Rahim’ and evaded arrest for 36 years

Pradeep moved to a rented house in Moradabad, married Salma, a widow, and continued working as a truck driver all these years.

Anaemic mothers of Melghat & a silent emergency. 140 child deaths in 7 months bare chronic neglect

At least 140 children have died in 2 talukas of Melghat since April. ‘Problem is’, says a doctor, ‘how can you draw water if well is empty? Mothers themselves are in poor health.’

On Camera

The influencer war that took rural creator Pujarini Pradhan global

As social media debated whether audiences were consuming Pujarini Pradhan as a symbol, The Juggernaut turned her into a story that could circulate globally, with or without her participation.

SEBI proposes return of open market share buybacks to support stocks

Regulator seeks feedback on allowing firms to repurchase shares via exchanges after tax changes, as markets reel from war-led selloff and foreign outflows.

South Korea’s Cheongung-II missile system makes its mark in West Asia war. Here’s why

UAE has been using this defence system, which is similar to America's Patriots, against Iranian missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

China insulated itself against energy shocks. India is ‘all talk, no walk’

China patiently invested capital, skill and technology in coal gasification. Unlike it, we won’t move from words to action. As crude prices decline, we lose interest.