V.O. Chidambaram: an advocate of women’s education and quota based on strength of each caste

Naan Yaar is part of the special issue brought out by the Tamil Nadu government to mark the 150th birth anniversary of V. O. Chidambaram. It presents VOC as a thinker and a Tamil scholar, who has penned commentaries on Sivagnana Bodham, Tholkappiyam, and Tirukkural. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Caste census has become a … Read more

Thiruparankundram row: early references to usage of ‘Sikkandar Malai’ by the Mohamedans

An aerial view of Thiruparankundram in Madurai. File | Photo Credit: R. Ashok In recent weeks, certain Hindu outfits and some BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu have accused sections of Muslims of attempting to rename the Thiruparankundram hills as ‘Sikkandar Malai’. The remarks were made against the backdrop of some Muslims making such oral references … Read more

A legal ‘remedy’ that perpetuates survivor trauma

‘Justice must not be diluted by societal norms or convenience’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto The Allahabad High Court, in Atul Gautam vs State of Uttar Pradesh (2025), recently granted bail to a man who has been accused of raping his inter-faith live-in partner on the ‘promise of marriage’. The bail was granted on the … Read more

A role for India in South-South climate cooperation

COP29, at Baku, Azerbaijan, aptly referred to as the ‘Climate Finance COP,’ has played a crucial role in operationalising core elements of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (PA). The adoption of Article 6 at Baku represents a renewed focus on the market mechanism which could help countries that are often constrained by limited resources … Read more

Letters to The Editor — February 12, 2025

Trump and the world Nations across the world appear to be transfixed by the idiosyncratic announcements flowing one after another from Trump 2.0. The 47th U.S. President’s imperialistic proposal to own the Gaza Strip and relocate its population to other countries deserves an instant and outright response from the Arab world and countries such as … Read more

Struggling with poor cyber security

Kaveri 2.0, a web portal that was launched in 2023 to streamline property registrations in Karnataka, came under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack carried out through Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered bots recently. A denial-of-service (DoS) attack occurs when legitimate users are unable to access information systems, devices, or other network resources due to the … Read more

Addressing the growing threat of forest fires

As wildfires swept throughout Los Angeles last month, destroying homes and causing casualties and displacements, the urgency of addressing and preventing forest fires took centre stage once again. Unfortunately, forest fires become a point of conversation only when some major incident causes irrevocable damage and captures media and public attention. The fires are a stark … Read more

From The Hindu, February 12, 1925: Slavery in Burma

London, Feb. 10: Commenting on Sir Harcourt Butler’s journey to Naing Kwan, The Daily Telegraph says it may be that the sullenness with which Sir H. Butler’s speech was received by the Nagas may have been mitigated by the Burmese Government’s intention to grant advances enabling slaves to buy their freedom. The sum involved will … Read more