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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: 2 | History Defined

‘Jail within a jail’: Death row and the impact on mental health

When Asif Khan was arrested in Belgaum in October 2006 in connection to the Mumbai blasts in July of that year, he did not think it would be the beginning of a 19-year prison ordeal involving physical torture, terrorism allegations and “mental torture”.

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11 years later, Swachh Bharat progress mired in weak verification

Eleven years after India launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the Union government’s flagship rural sanitation programme, it has missed its target of ‘Sampoorn Swachhata’ by 2024-25, exposing gaps in waste management, untreated sewage, and behavioural change that challenge the sustainability of India’s sanitation progress.

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Why are dowry-related crimes underreported

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Mapping India’s 10 million teachers in six charts

India’s teaching workforce crossed 10 million in 2024-25, latest publicly available data show. Government schools continue to employ the largest share, even as private unaided schools are increasing their teacher strength.

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Why wetlands need dry days

It was May and the Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh was blooming with pink lotus. The wetland had water pumped into it from Sharda Canal – one of the oldest and largest irrigation systems in the state – to ease the nesting of open-billed stork and black-necked ibis.

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India’s health systems need to prepare better for rising climate risks

Diarrhoea in October, heat stress in April, and malaria and dengue year-round are part of a new pattern that Suvarna Kamble (46), an accredited social health activist (ASHA) in Palghar district in Maharashtra, has identified in recent years.

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The challenges in UP’s wetland conservation

Sanjaya Singh knew that most bureaucratic decisions last only until a transfer order is issued, or a new official takes charge. So, when it came to the conservation of Uttar Pradesh’s 1.24 million hectares of wetlands, Singh – then principal chief conservator of forest and chief wildlife warden – led with an…

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How industries, chemicals ministry influenced India’s plastic rules

As diplomats from 175 countries convene for a plastics showdown in Geneva, India’s negotiators arrive armed with a playbook shaped less by environmental urgency and more by industry whispers.

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Explained: Why India’s inequality is underestimated

India’s consumption gap appears to shrink, but income inequality is rising fast, as per analysis of India’s consumption data by the World Bank.

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India’s unregulated bidis harm workers, consumers

On a busy street near Patna’s Rajendra Path, 11-year-old Sanjay* watches his elder brother roll up tendu leaves stuffed with tobacco flakes. Within minutes, a fresh bundle of bidis is ready to be sold for one rupee (Re 1) to eager customers that have lined up outside his paan shop.…

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Why are tribal students dropping out after primary school?

Nearly every tribal Indian child aged six to 10 years is enrolled in school, but by the age of 14, only three in four go to school, while fewer than half the children aged 16-17 remain enrolled, data from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+) for 2023-24, the…

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Why India needs to urgently address gender gap in digital skills

As India’s mobile phone ownership increases, the country’s digital divide is showing up not in usage but in the digital skills that her citizens possess in order to leverage the devices, according to data from the Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom 2025 (CMST 2025), under the 80th round of the National…

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Queer Indians forge alternative careers amid workplace discrimination

With a brush in his hand and eyes focused on a 2.5 x 4 ft canvas, Suvajit, also known as Rony, is making intricate designs on his newly commissioned Gond painting.

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India’s gender divide in domestic, care work is deeper than you think

Indian men spend less time on unpaid domestic and caregiving work compared to the women, and the little time they do spend is also concentrated in outdoor activities such as shopping, travelling, moving and transporting for family needs, and playing with children, an analysis of data from the Time Use…

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India’s fight against bonded labour: A tale of delayed rehabilitation

Manoj Kumar Anant and his wife Shakuntala Bai were rescued from bonded labour at a brick kiln in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar in 2022. He had told IndiaSpend in September 2023 that he was waiting for rehabilitation assistance under the Union government’s Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour, 2021.…

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Why interest in multi-cropping is declining in Kachchh

In the semi-arid landscape of Kachchh in Gujarat, farmers have traditionally practised Ram-Mol, or multi-cropping, to sustain through the harshest times.

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Why the media must stop using the phrase ‘mystery disease’ in health reporting

Seventeen people in Kachchh, who developed fever and respiratory distress towards the end of August 2024, died in quick succession between September 3 and 9, prompting authorities to rush teams to the affected area – villages Bekhada, Sanhrovand, Medhivandh and Morgar in Lakhpat taluka, and Bharavandh and Valavari in Abdasa…

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Census delay cuts access to subsidised foodgrain for 120 million Indians

The Census is now four years overdue, and the budget for the exercise has been slashed indicating further delays. This is even as millions of Indians are left without access to subsidised foodgrain, pushing them to the brink of food insecurity. Evidence shows that entitlements under the Public Distribution System…

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How Ayushman Bharat fails India’s transgender population

The Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was launched in 2018 to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable to everyone in India. In August 2022, the government announced that AB-PMJAY would also cover transgender individuals and offer them additional access to gender-affirming procedures such as sex reassignment surgery (SRS)…

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Mental health-linked suicides on the rise in India

Between 2018 and 2022, suicides in India linked to mental health rose by 44 percent, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. Three in five such suicides were reported among the 18-45 age group. The NCRB classifies suicides linked to mental health under ‘insanity’ or ‘mental illness’.

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India has 564 inmates on death row, highest in over two decades

Following the uproar and the widespread protests after the August 2024 rape and murder of a medical professional in Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital, there were demands for death penalty for the accused. The state government passed the Aparajita Woman and Child [West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment] Bill 2024 [awaiting presidential…

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India’s 11 richest states allocate only 4% of budget for police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid

India’s 11 richest states allocated Rs 1.97 lakh crore in 2024-25 for the functioning of their justice systems – including the police, judiciary, prison and legal aid – which was 36 percent more than the spending in 2022-23, according to a new report by India Justice Report, a collective that…

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Newslaundry’s Prateek Goyal shortlisted for Vishwa Nath-Delhi Press Award for Fearless Journalism

Newslaundry reporter Prateek Goyal is among the five journalists shortlisted for the Vishwa Nath-Delhi Press Award for Fearless Journalism for 2024. The award will be presented at a ceremony on March 21 in Delhi, where Justice S Muralidhar will deliver the BG Verghese memorial lecture.

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High pendency in fast-track special courts set up for child sexual abuse cases

In 2022, as many as 239,188 cases out of 268,038 cases filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO, 2012), were awaiting trial, a pendency rate of 89.2 percent, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

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Keeping Rohingya children out of schools is a denial of basic rights

As India grapples with the Donald Trump government’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the Supreme Court is hearing a writ petition to grant a stay on a December 2024 circular from the Delhi government refusing admission to Rohingya children who the government categorises as ‘illegal migrants’.

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