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Wednesday, October 29, 2025
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The FinePrint

Arikomban is a wayward son of Kerala and a mini-celebrity. But where does he really belong?

Every video of him — whether napping, eating, or lolling in grasslands — goes viral. His social media fame has led to a renewed debate on human-animal conflicts.

Pakistan is being run by its very own Ayatollahs. But this time, Jihadists aren’t to blame

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan’s Generals can’t risk opening a fourth front. Their surrender to the Tehreek-e-Labbaik last week demonstrates just how fragile the foundations of the State itself have become.

Nehru was the patron, not architect of economic ideas. He had to take on complex negotiations

Popular discourse on Nehru’s premiership varies from hagiographic to critical, and has been reduced to slogans. India’s post-independent history is far more nuanced.

Hindu pride hip-hop: Indian rappers are now singing about Kaali, Shiva, Kashmiri Pandits

Anubhav Shukla aka Panther calls himself a proud Sanatani. And he is a big fan of Yogi Adityanath’s development model in Uttar Pradesh. His song UP Se reflects on that.

Manipur CM Biren Singh survives because PM Modi must remain infallible

PM Modi's silence on Manipur can only be explained in the late mystic Meher Baba's philosophy and Bobby McFerrin's song.

For OBC students in UP-Bihar, studying abroad remains a dream—even after getting admission

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had long-running govts led by OBC leaders. But it's Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra that provide scholarships to OBC students going abroad.

In Manipur govts have manufactured dystopia for decades, not peace. It’s showing now

Learning all the wrong lessons from the British empire, independent India chose to rule the northeast through cash and coercion.

Pune reviving reading culture. Not libraries or cafes but park is the new book club

From P. Sainath’s Everybody Loves a Good Drought to Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Gene, readers carried a variety of books with them. It gives them much-needed 'me time'.

How do you spot a fake ‘finfluencer’? Red flags include penny stocks, get-rich-quick schemes

Admitting to rise of fake influencers indulging in practices that lead to followers losing money, finfluencers say consumers must be 'alert' but also feel govt needs to regulate the space.

Bengali cinema has an addiction problem—Now, Byomkesh, Feluda detective-verse about to expand

When Dibakar Banerjee tried to contemporarise Byomkesh merging 3 stories to make the 2015 Hindi film starring Sushant Singh Rajput, it wasn’t stomached easily.

On Camera

Russia’s super-missile test shows a new, expensive technological race—with dire outcomes

The test raises a question. Why have Russian nuclear strategists now invested in the Burevestnik, when the US abandoned nuclear ramjet propulsion in 1964?

Karnataka, Telangana, TN, Maharashtra power 40% of services output, pan-India growth uneven—NITI Aayog

Report on India's services sector examines state-level dynamics, maps disparities and suggests ways to tap into the sector’s potential.

India pulled out of Tajikistan’s strategically important Ayni air base in 2022. Here’s why

Tajikistan did not want to extend the lease because of apparent pressure from Russia & China over non-regional military personnel at the air base, it is learnt.

Deepfake on duty: when I asked AI to read Op Sindoor citations

On 21 Oct, a buzz went up that the govt had released full list of gallantry award recipients along with Op Sindoor citations. I put an AI caddy on the job. It took me into a never-ending rabbit hole.