The smartphone that freed a generation is now being used against it. The platforms that carried the protest are now carrying the smears. The digital spaces where young Nepalis found their political voice are today flooded with manipulated images, fake audio, and AI-generated lies targeting the very candidates their movement made possible. The weapon and the wound are the same object.
Politicians, who were silent, complicit, or even instigative during last September’s tragedy, are trying to rebrand themselves on social media to be palatable to “Gen Z” - Nepal’s youth population that was instrumental in overthrowing the last government, leading to comparisons with Bangladesh’s ‘Monsoon Revolution’ of 2024 and Sri Lanka’s Aragayala of 2022.
What links these cases — Pakistan, Britain, India, the Netherlands — is not geography or faith, but backlash. ‘Honour’ is used as a pretext to kill not because women are obedient, but because they are not. It is activated when women seek education, choose partners, leave abusive homes, testify in public, or simply insist on being treated as full human beings.
How do our regulators allow a university to function with almost every leadership position, academic and administrative, occupied by a member of the promoter family? How does patent filing become a game, as alleged in this case, or how does a paper authored under the university on banging vessels to kill the coronavirus get written? The incident brought to sharp light how India has slipped into an education system run on high fees by private institutions with questionable credentials.
The rupee’s fall reflects a convergence of factors—a strong global dollar cycle, foreign capital outflows, and a high import bill—playing out simultaneously. Given India’s underlying fundamentals, analysts expect the exchange rate to remain range-bound rather than experience an unchecked slide.
As India aspires to become a knowledge superpower, internationalisation must be embedded at the heart of our higher education strategy. This journey transcends state boundaries. It is a national mission with global consequences. If pursued thoughtfully and inclusively, it can transform not only our universities but also our economy, society, and global standing.
The only way out for Bangladesh, the only way forward, the only way to deliver us from the current instability is to hold the elections as scheduled. This is what the Bangladeshi people want and this is what the country needs. We must all come together to make sure that it happens. The only people who benefit from elections being delayed are the enemies of the Bangladeshi people.
The Indian freedom struggle was inherently multi-religious, multilingual, and multi-ethnic, with women and men participating across communities to forge a united nation. While the Muslim League demanded Pakistan in Muslim-majority areas, the Hindu Mahasabha and RSS pursued the idea of a Hindu nation. The Constituent Assembly, however, embodied the collective will of an inclusive India and resolved symbolic questions such as Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana through dialogue and compromise.
The airline brought national disaster. The nightclub hotel was a more localised story. But both mock the nation and its growth story in their own ways, highlighting the hidden costs of a faster growth that has beaten the “Hindu rate of growth” but has brought us a disaster that unfolds at periodic intervals to shock the nation and ridicule its governance structures.
In such a world, the greatest danger is not that AI becomes alien. The danger is that humans start behaving less humanly by outsourcing thinking, surrendering responsibility, and hiding behind the machine while letting it make decisions we should be making ourselves. Leaders may find it convenient to blame the algorithm. Companies may find it profitable to exploit it. Ordinary citizens may find it easier to trust AI’s shortcuts than to cultivate patience and understanding.
IndiGo’s meltdown, telecom’s flip-flop policy history, the fragility of airport PPPs, the helplessness of education regulators—all point to one truth: India’s regulatory state is not yet strong enough to discipline the giants it has created, nor can they rein in monopolies. Until regulators regain independence, authority, and credibility, India will continue to oscillate between private excess and public helplessness. Rogue companies will be blamed, but the deeper fault will lie in a system where rules are flexible for the powerful and rigid for everyone else.
India does not need political rhetoric around its elections. It needs independent, bipartisan, and technically competent audits of its electoral infrastructure. It needs transparent review of data partnerships. It needs clear legal boundaries for foreign political consultancies and digital firms. And above all, it needs to rebuild public confidence that government is derived from consent, not calibration.
Many respected organisations in India have already achieved notable success in CSR and ESG initiatives. They lead impactful programs in renewable energy adoption, community health improvement, environmental protection, gender inclusion, education and ethical governance. Their experience and leadership are invaluable assets for the country.
The problem in the Indian context is not about the legal codes but about the on-ground working conditions that remain markedly at odds with what is professed from the corridors of power and from the boardrooms of owners and directors. When this market reality meets with a government that has not built capital with the workers and is further seen as working in favour of business lobbies, then in effect trust disappears and the government has hurt itself and the so-called reforms by pushing through measures that could trigger fierce resistance.
The real taste of the pudding, the real measure of progress, will be revealed only when the average Indian experiences opportunity, fairness and security as everyday realities. When a dispute is resolved in weeks instead of years, when a farmer receives fair price directly, when a start-up gets clearance swiftly, when a citizen is treated with respect in a government office, then only the transformation will have occurred deep down.
क्या अंग्रेज़ी ने क्षेत्रीय भाषाओं को दबाया? इतिहास इसके विपरीत संकेत देता है। शिक्षा के विस्तार ने क्षेत्रीय भाषाओं को भी मज़बूत किया। लोकमान्य तिलक ( केसरी, महारत्ता ) और गांधी ( नवजीवन ) ने क्रमशः मराठी और गुजराती में प्रभावशाली अख़बार शुरू किए। रवींद्रनाथ टैगोर (बंगाली) और मुंशी प्रेमचंद (हिंदी) जैसे साहित्यिक दिग्गज इसी दौर में फले-फूले।
Did English suppress regional languages? History suggests otherwise. The expansion of education strengthened regional languages as well. Lokmanya Tilak (Kesari, Maratha) and Gandhi (Navjivan) launched influential newspapers in Marathi and Gujarati respectively. Literary giants such as Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali} and Munshi Premchand (Hindi) flourished during this very period.
Within the Muslim community, such marriages often occur among extended families due to cultural acceptance of cousin marriages. With maternal aunts, uncles, and cousins living across the border, arranging these alliances is relatively easier. Hindu cross-border marriages, however, are far less common due to the dwindling Hindu population in Pakistan, driven by its theocratic state policies.
Once I asked him why Pakistan did not stop terrorism against India, the biggest roadblock in the peace process. He replied quite candidly that some in the Pakistani establishment believed that if the terrorism tap was closed, India would never talk about Kashmir. Then he said something which left me stunned, “You see, even if orders are given to close the tap, some amount of terrorism may continue..
