This month, the Readers’ Editor column is devoted to mail I have received over the last few months from readers.
Before I do so, here’s a piece of good news: Praveen Jain, National Photo Editor, ThePrint, has just received the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award, 2026. In a 44-year-long career, many of Jain’s news photographs have made news—or shown us what words don’t always convey as poignantly.
His RNG-winning photo essay, ‘Stuck in time — no mobile network, river & jungle only route to Indo-Nepal border villages’, is another example of his ability to convey a ground reality through his photographs.
Jain, along with Senior Assistant Editor Apoorva Mandhani, was on assignment to assess the conditions in villages adopted by members of Parliament. An informal conversation with a senior Uttar Pradesh police officer led Jain to Bharthapur village on the India-Nepal border.
“He told me about this village, and how cut off it was from the world,” recalled Praveen Jain. “I thought it made for an interesting story.”
It did indeed, but reaching Bharthapur proved to be a life-threatening experience. The reporters had to cross a river – the only route to the village. “We were told there could be crocodiles in it. Neither Apoorva nor I can swim, so we were relieved when we reached land,” added Jain.
Their relief was to be short-lived. The police warned them that wild elephants and tigers roamed along the route to the village. “It was pretty hair-raising,” Jain added.
Once they reached Bharthapur, they were astonished by what they found.
“The villagers live in a different world completely—no mobiles, I don’t think they had TV either. The nearest hospital was at least 40 km away—across the river, the children detached and oblivious of anything beyond their immediate surroundings,” said Jain.
Brides, grooms & WWII
Right, onto our readers.
I got mail in large numbers between January and March 2026. The majority of them were submissions of articles for publication in ThePrint. The subjects they have written on are wide-ranging, but what struck me is that there were not many on the current Middle East war.
Readers have chosen topics as different as, ‘When the Rivers Failed: Rethinking the Atharvaveda in Light of Climate Collapse’, ‘CAU Scientist Dr G.K. Dinesh selected as IPCC Lead Author for Global Climate’, ‘Beyond Questionnaires: The Human Limits of Survey Data’, ‘How Colonial Rule Changed How Indians Thought About Religion and Politics’, ‘Decolonising M. K. Gandhi: How Much of the ‘Mahatma’ and the ‘Rashtrapita’ Truly Belongs to Bharat?’, ‘Nehru’s Strategic Blunders: Decisions India Still Pays For’, ‘A Roadmap from Stalemate to Stability for Kashmir’, ‘Governance by Distraction. Many of these articles are academic and of interest to a targeted audience.
There were also a few topical submissions about disruptions in Parliament and one-year of the Trump presidency.
Some of these articles are submitted by regular mail. One wrote an article on the ‘Balak Sena of INA-Azad Hind Fauj’, and then another one on World War II, and then on ‘Of Brides and Grooms’.
I have replied to each of these submissions. As I have said before, we are unable to publish them. Most don’t fit ThePrint’s editorial profile; others are too esoteric. I thank all of you for thinking of ThePrint and regret our inability to carry them. Perhaps these would be better suited to more specialised websites or publications.
Reader insights
Several readers simply share their views, something they’ve been doing for the last year. One wrote—’ Airbnb Insights Reveals How Music-Led Experiences are Shaping India’s Gen Z Travel Culture’. Apparently, 62 per cent of India’s Gen Z plan to travel for concerts and music festivals in 2026.
A frequent writer had suggestions for the local administration in her part of Jaipur and followed it up with allegations of water scams in Haryana. She then proceeded to commend the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) for inviting actor Salman Khan to its meeting. “It’s strange that many organisations like VHP etc are not following what Mr Bhagwat is following,’’ she wrote.
Another regular correspondent to the Readers’ Editor wrote to warn us about “the ECI’s lovely choices of the controversial-oriented EVM-VVPAT-CU machines in the upcoming Tamil Nadu State Assembly Elections 2026.”
Some readers simply want publicity: a reader from Italy wanted ThePrint to write about his role as a torchbearer at the Winter Olympics Milano Cortina 2026.
Also read: ThePrint coverage of AI Summit went beyond goof-ups and shirtless protest
Praise and disagreements
We received some complaints as well. One reader was upset by an opinion article titled ‘Controversial dog-walker IAS Sanjeev Khirwar is back in Delhi. What happened to his wife?’
“The author…criticizes the punishment of a fellow IAS officer, calling it disproportionate by cleverly comparing his wrongdoing with ‘bigger defaults’ and administrative failures. The comparison is absurd. Defaults and administrative failures can’t be compared with blatant and arrogant misuse of position and authority,” wrote the reader.
Another reader was confused: “I am not sure how to decipher this article—https://theprint.in/opinion/how-neo-casteists-set-up-a-symphony-orchestra-to-make-ugc-equity-guidelines-fail/2844364/. It seems very one-sided and borderline hate towards Brahmin and other upper castes”. He suggested a Cut the Clutter episode on the subject by Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, ThePrint.
One annoyed reader complained about the Instagram links in bio. “They never take me to the story, just the home page, which also almost never features a story. Just post the link in the caption… and open link for those of us using Instagram through a browser.”
To access the complete versions of articles and videos posted on our Instagram page, tap on ‘lnk.bio/theprintindia/’ (third row of ThePrint’s bio section), and you will find the full list. Scroll through till you find the headline of the article/video you are looking for.
There were also some words of advice: one reader offered us “relevant content addition”, while a software engineer proposed “instant analysis: pre‑processed reports and visualizations available in minutes instead of weeks; historical trends; customizable intelligence; API integration; secure’’.
To end on a happy note, ThePrint does receive compliments – let me share just one. At the start of 2026, a reader enjoyed Senior Correspondent Tina Das’ feature story on desi animes in India.
“Thank you so much for covering it…. A lot of us anime fans have watched it Hidingly from friends and family and it is generally looked down upon. Funnily enough, I am from Nagpur but never knew about this Anime Club. So thanks for that as well. Also, I am a regular reader of ThePrint and you guys do really good work,” the reader wrote.
Well, thank you, dear reader. Appreciation always fuels our ambition to offer good, credible journalism.
Until next month.
Shailaja Bajpai is ThePrint’s Readers’ Editor. Please write in with your views and complaints to readers.editor@theprint.in
(Edited by Ratan Priya)