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The FinePrint

The afterlife of stolen antiquities when they are returned to India

Of 640 antiquities returned to India since 2014, only about a dozen are back in their place of origin.

Flogging, going barefoot—Annamalai must endure pain as Modi-Shah’s Tamil Nadu priorities change

Tamil Nadu BJP president whipped himself in public to protest against the sexual assault of a student. What must have hurt him though is neither Modi-Shah-Nadda nor national BJP tweeted about his pain.

Rationalists look for love in new India. Kerala’s Secular Matrimony swipes left on religion

Kerala-based Secular Matrimony champions interfaith love, atheism, and progressive values. Rationalist parents use it to arrange matches for their children.

‘A female director doesn’t mean no male gaze’—Kani Kusruti is so much more than All We Imagine

On Cannes red carpet, Kani Kusruti walked with a clutch that appeared like a watermelon. ‘I just wanted to be reminded that it is part of me. Solidarity to Palestine,’ said the actor.

A Sanskrit Bible story was written in Ayodhya. The patron was a Lodi, the poet a Kshatriya

Sanskrit poetry did not simply disappear under Sultanate rule: it continued to evolve, and was enriched by contact with Persian and Arabic literature and stories, both Christian and Muslim.

Karnataka’s Kodavas are fighting extinction—with gun festival and bamboo curry

A dwindling population, dilution of tradition, and diminishing national presence have fuelled urgency within the Kodava community in Bengaluru and the neighbouring Kodagu region.

‘Hinduphobia’, ‘oppressed Hindus’—enough with the bogus rhetoric even Modi doesn’t buy

The notion of Hindu victimhood is largely a 1980s creation, exploited for electoral purposes by LK Advani and passed down, in some garbled form, to the rabble.

Trump’s call to buy Greenland isn’t crazy. Makes perfect strategic sense

As geopolitical competition intensifies, Trump is determined to exercise more direct, physical control over America’s near neighbourhood.

India is confusing ‘standing strong’ with standing alone in international negotiations

India needs to figure out what kind of global player it wants to be while remaining uncompromising on its interests—hard-nosed and difficult, or cooperative and collaborative.

India’s first crewed deep-sea mission set for testing—‘We’re to oceans what ISRO is to space’

Matsya 6000 submersible will be tried in a harbour off Chennai with three crew members on board. If all goes as planned, in 2026, National Institute of Ocean Technology will send a crew 6,000 metres under the Indian Ocean.

On Camera

China’s Brahmaputra dam is also a military asset. It raises alarm for India

China didn't consult India over the Brahmaputra dam. It acted unilaterally over a transboundary river system that feeds millions downstream.

India-US set to ink mini trade deal soon, reach understanding on agricultural & dairy products

Mini deal will likely see no cut in 10% baseline tariff on Indian exports announced by Trump on 2 April, it is learnt, but additional 26% tariffs are set to be reduced.

Indian firm sets up titanium, superalloy plants to meet global need. Safran, Dassault, BAE line up

PTC Industries is investing Rs 1,000 cr in 4 manufacturing plants in UP, has already started supplying titanium parts to BAE Systems for its M-777 howitzers that India also uses.

Strategic partner one day, tactical nightmare the next: India’s learning Trumplomacy the hard way

Public, loud, upfront, filled with impropriety and high praise sometimes laced with insults. This is what we call Trumplomacy. But the larger objective is the same: American supremacy.