-Scroll.in Erendro Leichombam’s father said he had been in detention for 40 days on flimsy charges. The father of Erendro Leichombam, an activist from Manipur, on Monday moved the Supreme Court against his detention under the National Security Act, Bar and Bench reported. Leichombam and journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem were charged under the stringent Act in May, reportedly for Facebook posts they made after the death of Manipur Bharatiya Janata Party chief Saikhom Tikendra...

-The Hindu Mamata Banerjee’s assumption that Bengali nationalism could block anti-incumbency and Hindutva may be optimistic The Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal is a unique specimen in understanding anti-incumbency. Welfare schemes that usually make incumbents popular have added to the anti-incumbency woes of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, as the workers of her party made those the easy and only option for rent-seeking. ‘Cut money’, or the cut for TMC local...

-The Hindu Labourers from West Bengal, Assam have gone home to exercise their franchise Kochi: Kabir Ahmad (name changed), a migrant worker in Perumbavoor, had to spend a small fortune on a flight ticket to return home to Hojai district of Assam last month following his parents’ anguished plea to get back in time for voting. Their desperation was borne out of the perceived danger posed to the community by the National...

-Newslaundry.com Year after year, flooding in the Jiadhal ruins homes and fields. Year after year, Politicians make promises that aren’t kept. The electoral heat is soaring in Assam with the three-phase assembly election kicking off on March 27. But for Kalpana Bora, 60, this frenzy means nothing. It’s a dusty March afternoon and Kalpana is sitting in her home next to the busy NH-15 highway in Kekuri gaon. Her face is lined with...

-The Hindu Business Line/ NetworkIdeas.org The world has been preoccupied with the Covid-19 pandemic, and this has also affected policymakers everywhere. There is much more recognition today of the terrible effects of underfunding public health over decades and how this affects the resilience of economies and societies. Yet this official preoccupation with addressing the spread of infectious disease appears to have had an unanticipated negative effect: less policy attention to concerns...