-
6 days ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Gowhar Geelani |Vaishna Roy
The Union government’s announcement on April 20, 2025, that the decadal Census exercise would include caste enumeration took both supporters and opponents of the government and ruling party by surprise. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had never made a secret of his opposition to the idea of a caste census. When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made it one of his main campaign planks in 2024, Modi had dismissed it as an “urban naxal plot”.
-
2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Ilangovan Rajasekaran |Vaishna Roy
Jyoti Nisha is a young filmmaker from Mumbai whose new documentary, Dr. B R Ambedkar Now and Then, looks at the many complex and interesting dimensions of Ambedkar and his contributions to shaping contemporary India. Frontline spoke to Nisha about her thought process behind the documentary and how relevant the Dalit icon stays even today. Excerpts: Congratulations on this wonderful documentary on Ambedkar’s life and his relevance in today’s India.
-
2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Ilangovan Rajasekaran |Vaishna Roy
A video of a woman climbing down into a well in Maharashtra went viral on April 20, 2025. She was supported by several other women standing along the well’s wall. The video, from Borichi Bari village in Peth tehsil of Nashik district, showed women from the tribal community struggling to access water. Although Nashik is considered a comparatively developed district, the scene brought renewed attention to the severe water scarcity affecting parts of Maharashtra.
-
2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Ilangovan Rajasekaran |Vaishna Roy
Somnath Waghmare, a young researcher and filmmaker, is best known for his documentary Chaityabhumi (on MUBI) that explores a place called Chaityabhumi where Babasaheb Ambedkar was laid to rest in Dadar, Mumbai. The film explores the Ambedkarite movement while marking the death anniversary of Ambedkar when people gather at Chaityabhumi from all over India. The son of a mill worker, Waghmare is from Malawadi village in Maharashtra’s Sangli district.
-
2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Ilangovan Rajasekaran |Vaishna Roy
Somnath Waghmare, a young researcher and filmmaker, is best known for his documentary Chaityabhumi (on MUBI) that explores a place called Chaityabhumi where Babasaheb Ambedkar was laid to rest in Dadar, Mumbai. The film explores the Ambedkarite movement while marking the death anniversary of Ambedkar, when people gather at Chaityabhumi from all over India. The son of a mill worker, Waghmare is from Malawadi village in Maharashtra’s Sangli district.
-
2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Ilangovan Rajasekaran |Vaishna Roy
On April 16, 2025, Maharashtra’s School Education Department issued a Government Resolution (GR) mandating that Hindi be taught as a third language from Classes 1 to 5 in all Marathi and English medium schools. The policy, scheduled for implementation in the upcoming academic year starting June 2025, aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 adopted by the Centre. The announcement triggered immediate backlash, especially from the State’s literary circles.
-
4 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Meena Kandasamy |Vaishna Roy
A “pothole-free” city: That is what Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India’s richest civic body, plans for the metro. The city administration has excavated 525 km of roads—or one-fourth of Mumbai’s roads—in an ambitious bid concretise them. As a result, the populous city grapples with the massive traffic congestion, dust, air pollution; the project has upended the delivery of basic civic services.
-
1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Meena Kandasamy |Vaishna Roy
The long-overdue process of reforms in the Grand Old Party appears to have begun. Clearly sensing an aggressive demand for organisational change by Congress party workers across the country, Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced the party wants to “empower” district presidents, “give them greater responsibilities”, and make them “the foundation of the party”.
-
1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Meena Kandasamy |Vaishna Roy
One of India’s leading public intellectuals and an authority on the Dalit movement, Anand Teltumbde, has been in the news across the country for his book on Ambedkar, Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The book offers a deep analysis of not just Ambedkar’s philosophy, but also the man he was— complex, visionary and tenacious.
-
1 month ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Amey Tirodkar |Divya Gandhi |Vaishna Roy
On the first day of 2025, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was in Wangeturi, a village in Gadchiroli district that is known for its dense tropical forests covering 70 per cent of its area and for its strong naxal presence. He flagged off a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation bus that would ply between Wangeturi and remote Gatta via Gardewada, the first bus service on the route.
