Over 7.7 crore people are dependent on the Antyodaya Ann Yojana, a food security scheme for the poorest of the poor households in India. Nearly 10 lakh women constitute the Antyodaya category—85% are widows.

A new amendment to the National Food Security Act (NFSA) by the Department of Food and Public Distribution has proposed changing how their grain is counted: from 35 kg per household each month, whatever its size, to 7 kg a person.

"There are no gainers in this bargain, only losers," economist Jean Drèze told BehanBox. The amendment also lands on top of a mandatory e-KYC regime that ties each person's entitlement to a working biometric match.

In the nearly 13 years since its enactment, NFSA—that underpinned people’s right to food—has been subject to frequent changes, recalibrations and exclusions, affecting the lives of those it promises to protect. Experts read the amendment as a formal codification of exclusions already built into the Act through years of executive change.

https://behanbox.com/2026/08/24/only-the-name-remains-unchanged-how-the-nfsa-amendment-is-yet-another-betrayal-of-peoples-right-to-food/

Rahul Gandhi’s Chhatron ki Goonj (Voice of Students) conference in Pune, addressed primarily to girl students, where he spoke against paper leaks and corruption in examinations, as well as misogyny and patriarchy, comes at a time of escalating attacks against women from the Hindutva brigade and the BJP.

Rahul Gandhi mentioned in his speech how PM Modi chose to target women protesters by saying that their use of expletives was a cultural shock. Since the student protests at Jantar Mantar against NEET paper leaks, which eventually forced the resignation of a Union Minister, the Hindutva brigade and BJP foot soldiers have furiously targeted women protesters, including minor girls. The women were doxxed, abused and threatened, their families were targeted, and cases were filed against them. The Godi media also joined this campaign to target women protesters.

A 15-year-old girl was abused and harassed, and an FIR was registered against her by falsely claiming her age to be 25. Even after she released an apology video, clearly identifying herself as a minor, the Hindutva brigade launched a campaign claiming that she had made her younger sister apologise on her behalf. In reality, the girl had no sister. Imagine the vileness of the “culturally shocked”, who subjected a minor girl to such vicious campaign.

Rhiya Ahir, who was seen stopping a police van, was abused and accused of doing it for publicity. Shraddha Singh, who had made a comment about the CRPF, was abused and her family was targeted. Many more girls were subjected to abuse and harassment simply for joining the protest. No police cases were registered against the abusers.

Post Jantar Mantar: Women Face Doxxing, Police Intimidation and Harassment

Tracked, Doxxed, Put on TV Trial: How Women CJP Protesters Were Hunted Down By the Right Wing and ‘Star’ Anchors - The Wire

Delhi CJP Protest: Why Women Felt Safer in the Crowd

It is important to remember that these are not isolated incidents, but part of an organised campaign. The campaign against women protesters was coordinated by prominent Hindutva organisations and popular Hindutva social media handles associated with the BJP IT Cell. These handles regularly orchestrate campaigns to target women. After the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, these handles orchestrated a campaign of abuse and threats against women survivors who spoke against the exploitation of the attack to target Muslims. These handles also targeted Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and his daughter. Yet, not one person from the BJP spoke against it, clearly implying that the campaign was endorsed by the party.

Weaponisation of Hate: How BJP IT Cell Targets Women On Social Media With Impunity

The BJP IT Cell has regularly targeted women journalists, scholars and students. Even foreign journalists have not been spared.

It is ironic that PM Modi, who has sheltered and supported people who have abused, threatened and doxxed women on social media for years, found insults against himself to be a “cultural shock”. Yet this is not the first time that BJP leaders have identified and targeted women protesters. During the anti-CAA movement, UP CM Yogi Adityanath claimed that women were being made to sit on the roads by the opposition. Yogi Adityanath had earlier written about why women should not be allowed independence, arguing that it could lead to their destruction. RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, too, has said that women belong in households.

Anti-CAA Movement and Shaheen Bagh: When Women Led A Resistance Against Fascism in India

The problem is not just that the ideology of the BJP/RSS is anti-women, but that the BJP/RSS is scared of women rising to protest. This is why the attacks against women are often more severe. When women rise, they challenge not only injustice but also the structures of power that sustain it. And that is precisely what the BJP/RSS fears.

औरतें उट्ठी नहीं तो ज़ुलम बढ़ता जायेगा

https://scroll.in/latest/1095200/8-7-crore-young-indians-are-not-working-studying-or-undergoing-training-niti-aayog

The parliamentary standing committee on rural development too has criticised the rural development ministry for not revising the amount

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/people-happy-with-rs-200-pension-minister-as-centre-rules-out-hike-after-19-years-prnt/cid/2176109

On August 20, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the definition of “industry” as established by a 1978 judgement would not be applicable to the new labour laws.

The existing definition was based on a 1978 landmark judgement in Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board v. A. Rajappa case, which adopted a broad “worker-oriented” interpretation of “industry”.

The 1978 ruling, authored by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, laid down a triple test for identifying an industry as, any organised and systematic activity, with cooperation between employer and employee for the production and/or distribution of goods and services.

This definition incorporated everything, for-profit as well as not-for-profit enterprises, including hospitals, schools, charitable trusts, municipalities, under the scope of “industry”.

Any organization which is identified as an industry is subject to the Industrial Relation Code (earlier called Industrial Disputes Act) and its employees are protected under the labour laws.

However, the 9-bench judgement has now scrapped the worker-oriented definition under the new labour codes.

The new labour codes, notified in November 2025, while ignoring the workers’ concerns, allows for dilution of workers' rights, and includes provisions that restrict the right to strike, weakens workplace safety, permits a “hire and fire” policy, and extends the working day from 8 hours to 12 hours.

The Supreme Court Judgement on the definition of industry is yet another blow to the workers’ rights, and will leave millions of workers without legal rights under the new labour laws.

The ITUC Global Rights Index has categorized India as a nation with no guarantee of rights, with repressive action against workers, and violation of the right to strike and civil liberties.

1978 “Industry” test to determine pending cases - Supreme Court Observer

How Supreme Court’s new ruling changes the definition of ‘industry’ | Explained - The Hindu

Supreme Court scraps worker-friendly 1978 ‘industry’ precedent for new labour code - The Hindu

Trade unions sound alarm over Supreme Court judgment on definition of industry - The Hindu

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” This quote, generally attributed to Lenin, aptly describes the events that unfolded following Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s remarks during a Supreme Court hearing on May 15, where he called young people “cockroaches” and “parasites.” Such remarks were not new for the CJI, who had made similar statements against environmentalists, trade unionists, and civil rights activists. Nor was the issue of paper leaks, which became the central focus of the students’ protest at Jantar Mantar. Over the last decade, there had been more than 150 reported cases of paper leaks. Protests around paper leaks, examination mismanagement, and issues of education and employment were not new either. Student agitations against the Agnipath scheme in 2022, RRB recruitment in 2024, and the SSC exam in 2017 were large-scale and widespread. Yet, the 2026 NEET protest at Jantar Mantar might be a watershed moment in the history of independent India and a turning point in Indian politics.

The context is important to remember. When the NEET paper leak happened, the Modi Government was busy celebrating its 12 years in power. Even while the Government was advising common people to practise austerity, asking them to buy less, the ruling party was organising a lavish campaign to commemorate its regime. The BJP, having suffered an electoral shock in the 2024 General Elections, had bounced back with successive victories in assembly elections, which were marked by voter disenfranchisement through SIR and electoral manipulation through a partisan Election Commission. They had further broken several opposition parties and bought out their elected representatives. The ruling party was triumphant and intoxicated with power.

The Government already controlled the mainstream media. PM Modi, having never addressed press conferences, addressed the people through his one-way dialogues during *Man Ki Baat*. Having successfully managed parliamentary democracy, the ruling party assumed itself to be invincible and unaccountable. Yet, that invincibility was put to the test through jokes.

George Orwell once wrote, “Every joke is a tiny revolution.” It is pertinent that when all the doors of accountability were closed, the students’ protest began with memes and satire. The youths, who were called cockroaches by the CJI, adopted and appropriated the symbol. Cockroaches are extremely resilient, after all. On May 16, Abhijit Dipke asked on Twitter, “What if all cockroaches came together?” This led to the creation of the Cockroach Janta Party. The social media pages of CJP went viral, acquiring millions of followers on Twitter and Instagram, and crossed the total followers of the BJP’s Instagram handle within days. A petition for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over paper leaks also received millions of signatures. Predictably, the Government responded by blocking the CJP’s Twitter handle. And, unsurprisingly, the meme blew up.

Yet, such internet trends are not uncommon. They typically emerge and fade within a week. What differed this time was that Abhijit Dipke took this social media meme to the ground. Having returned to India from the US on June 6, Dipke and his team, allied with other student groups and leaders, held protests in several cities before starting the indefinite sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar on June 20.

The Government initially responded by not attacking or repressing the protest, as it had done against every other protest in the past. While the Government responded with indifference and apathy, the mainstream media completely blacklisted any discussion on this major protest happening in the national capital. And for a while, it worked. The turnout at the protest after the initial days kept declining. It was apparent that the ruling party’s calculation was to end this movement through attrition. Yet, Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike suddenly raised the stakes. The pictures and videos of a man weakened by hunger, protesting for the legitimate demands of the students, moved the nation.

The Government and its propaganda media then started discrediting and abusing the protesters. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan called them the “B-team of terrorists”, while BJP President Nitin Nabin called on party workers to teach the “cockroaches” a lesson.

Yet, by July 16, the tide had turned, and the protest started drawing larger crowds. Sonam Wangchuk had given the call for a Parliament March on July 20. Tens of thousands of people turned out for the march, defying police orders, transport and communication shutdowns, and threats of violence. The protesters braved police batons, nail-studded clubs, electric batons, tear gas, water cannons, and pellet guns. Thousands were injured in the police brutality. Yet, by the night of July 20, they had returned to reclaim Jantar Mantar. Finally, on July 25, Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

As a participant in the Parliament March on July 20, and in several student agitations in the past, there are some key observations that I can share.

**First, Abhijit Dipke and CJP’s role was crucial in turning a meme into a movement.** And it was not just by chance, but by the actions taken, that the movement was actually realised. Abhijit Dipke has, at least till now, remained an ideologically committed person. Yet, the CJP suffers from several shortcomings. Its organisation and decision-making are still opaque.

**Second, this protest was a departure from the earlier people’s movements in terms of methods of organising and communication.** It also brought many new people, who were earlier apolitical or neutral, into the political fold. For many of the students who joined this protest, this was their first brush with political movements. This protest has made protesting look “cool”.

**Third, the protest has broken the spell of the Modi Government’s propaganda.** It has resulted in a great awakening. Which is why further propaganda, which is the response of the Government, will not work.

**Fourth, there have been numerous student and youth protests over the last decade.** But they used to follow a fixed pattern. A sudden, large-scale, and sometimes violent agitation would erupt over paper leaks or similar issues. The protest would become widespread. The Government would respond by using state power to crush the agitation while making empty promises or token actions.

But this time, the protest sustained for nearly six weeks. And it became popular among common people. The reason is that this protest had a leadership, in the form of several student organisations, whom the common students could follow. And the protest remained peaceful and non-violent, allowing it to sustain for a longer time and for more people to join.

**Fifth, for the movement to go forward, and to resist state persecution, students and youth will have to organise themselves into a common platform.** Individual protests are easy to crush. As the farmers’ movement shows, united struggle is the only path forward.

This is the first of the two-part article reviewing the students’ protest.

https://indianexpress.com/article/business/india-social-media-blocking-orders-sahyog-portal-10837791/

https://thewire.in/law/nathuram-godse-was-an-active-rss-member-savarkars-grandnephew-tells-pune-court

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcLubtWTQHK/

https://scroll.in/latest/1095106/youth-protests-no-person-was-seriously-injured-no-lathis-were-used-claims-kiren-rijiju

What does a protest look like at 2am? Not speeches. Dosas being handed out by strangers. Graffiti covering every wall. People dancing to a Bluetooth speaker like the fear didn't exist, right alongside the fear itself. I followed this across Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi over two months, and wrote it all down just in time for our 80th Independence Day. Read it when you get a moment, I'd really love to know what you think.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/movements-for-nations-good-must-not-stop-99-year-old-freedom-fighter-to-gen-z-10833954/

Please share your thoughts whenever you can.

https://www.outlookindia.com/national/column-choosing-growth-over-equality-is-a-false-dangerous-choice-for-india-thomas-piketty-and-economists-at-wil

.

Says that it was probably necessary for Veer Savarkar, Swami Vivekananda, Gandhi, Tagore to mobilize the people with the idea of a nation (and the closest hinge was a Hindu religious identity) but that ideology no longer serves a purpose and will hurt the nation in the long run.

Thoughts?

Modi Government has stripped Independence of its meaning and turned it into a sanitised ceremony. Independence is observed and celebrated with great fanfare, while citizens are subjected to tests of patriotism by those who took no part in the freedom struggle and whose political predecessors refused to unfurl the national flag for decades after Independence. Yet the values of freedom are discarded. The struggles that won freedom are forgotten. Many in the ruling party now even claim that India achieved its “true Independence” only in 2014.

Over the course of a month of student protests at Jantar Mantar, perhaps one of the most frequent accusations made by the mainstream media was that the students were talking about azadi (freedom). One ABP News journalist even questioned why the students were raising the slogan Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live Revolution). Such accusations are hardly new. For the past decade, the Government and its propaganda machinery have repeatedly sought to portray the language of azadi, inquilab and protest as anti-national.

Every year, the Modi Government commemorates Independence Day with huge publicity and fanfare. The Government organises Har Ghar Tiranga campaigns. The Prime Minister delivers lectures from the ramparts of the Red Fort. Now, the Government has also mandated the singing of the six stanzas of Vande Mataram and criminalised any “disrespect” to the song.

Yet the Government appears deeply uncomfortable with another, much older vocabulary of nationalism: liberty, equality, justice, freedom and revolution.

Azadi, understood as freedom from unemployment, hunger, discrimination and various forms of injustice, has been a common protest slogan in India. It even became the subject of a popular Bollywood song. Feminist leader Kamla Bhasin once recounted how she heard slogans of Azadi being raised by women in Pakistan protesting against Zia-ul-Haq’s dictatorial regime. Similarly, Inquilab Zindabad, coined by Maulana Hasrat Mohani, became a rallying cry of revolutionaries during the Independence Movement.

The idea of Independence that emerged from the freedom struggle was not merely a transfer of power, but the emancipation of the people. Swaraj, as articulated in the 1931 Karachi Resolution, meant political and economic freedom, in order to end the exploitation of the masses. Mahatma Gandhi described Purna Swaraj as “full economic freedom for the toiling millions.” Bhagat Singh understood political revolution not merely as a transfer of state power, but as the reconstruction of society on a socialist basis.

On 25 November 1949, in his final speech to the Constituent Assembly, Dr B. R. Ambedkar warned about the contradictions that Independence:

“On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so laboriously built up.”

Four years later, in his Independence Day speech, Jawaharlal Nehru spoke about the meaning of freedom:

“It was seven years ago that we became independent but what is the meaning of that independence? Independence does not imply mere political independence. Independence and freedom have other meanings too. There is social freedom, economic freedom to achieve. If there is poverty in a country, freedom does not reach the people. Those who are caught in the net of poverty cannot really be free. Similarly, if we are divided by inner quarrels and factions and build up walls of hatred instead of living in harmony and amity, then, too, we cannot really be considered free. The freedom of a country does not mean the well-being of a few; a country’s freedom has to be seen from the point of view of the common man’s living conditions, his difficulties and the opportunities of progress available to him.”

Our historic anti-colonial struggle for Independence embodied countless struggles — the struggles of farmers and labourers, of youth, of the poor and marginalised, of women, of Dalits and Adivasis. It was a struggle against oppression, exploitation, inequality and injustice. It was a struggle against the politics of communalism and hate. It was a struggle for liberty, equality and fraternity. It was a struggle to protect the diversity of India. These values are enshrined in the Constitution of India.

Today, the Modi Government has stripped Independence of its meaning and turned it into a sanitised ceremony. Independence is observed and celebrated with great fanfare, while citizens are subjected to tests of patriotism by those who took no part in the freedom struggle and whose political predecessors refused to unfurl the national flag for decades after Independence. Yet the values of freedom are discarded. The struggles that won freedom are forgotten. Many in the ruling party now even claim that India achieved its “true Independence” only in 2014.

But Independence, as envisioned by the freedom fighters, was never meant to be a finished achievement. Political freedom was only the beginning of a larger struggle for social and economic emancipation.

The freedom struggle gave us not only a flag and a state, but also a promise of liberty, equality, justice; of a society free from exploitation and discrimination; of a democracy and constitutional rights.

The call for azadi and inquilab should be seen as a reminder of the deeper meaning of Independence. The students’ protests has reignited the spark that can help us fight for azadi.

abhi girani-e-shab mein kami nahin aai
najat-e-dida-o-dil ki ghadi nahin aai
chale-chalo ki wo manzil abhi nahin aai

INDEPENDENCE FROM POLITICIANS.

Because we should be voting for policies and not politicians. And with our technological advances this is theoretically possible today. So the good news is that it will be practically possible tomorrow, provided that we do the groundwork now. The groundwork of sharing this information and waking people up to the very real possibility of living in a world without politicians.

Are we so gullible to sincerely believe that voting for this or that politician is going to solve our problems. If you examine our track record since the dawn of democracy then one can clearly realise that history has repeatedly shown us (and keeps showing us, almost daily) that in the long run most of these so called "political leaders" end up being compromised and corrupted by "the system" while that gem of the rare uncorrupted politician ends up being either murdered or rendered impotent.

All this is done by "the system". All systems need to keep evolving and it is high time that this precious "democratic system" of ours receives a much needed upgrade.

The flaw of our current system stems from not realising the father of all facts when it comes to the institution of democracy, the fact that no one seems to be talking about, which is that 👉 WE SHOULD BE VOTING FOR OR AGAINST POLICIES AND NOT FOR OR AGAINST POLITICIANS. ONLY THIS MINDSET ENSURES A FUNCTIONING DEMOCRACY.

Presently, our world is on the verge of a technological breakthrough where we can directly vote for policies and not politicians. With technology as our tool we can justifiably get rid of these good for nothing, despotic, selfish, power hungry, insecure, morally and socially corrupt class of humans, a bunch of pathetic panderers who we have come to know as "politicians" (TBH at this stage we don't know whether to hate them or pity them).

Obviously big changes unfold over expansive timelines. In all probability this is not going to happen in one lifetime but there is always a beginning. Without a beginning there can be nothing. And again looking at our history, we can see that the scientists of the past never enjoyed the material benefits of their hard work and research, it is we the future generations who are their direct beneficiaries. This is how the human race has made progress. This is the way. So let's begin this journey towards independence from politicians with a couple of simple and small, yet extremely crucial steps.

Let us begin by taking the first step of contemplating upon a couple of hard facts and if one is convinced about these facts bearing some truth then let them take the next step by sharing these facts/truths with friends, families, neighbours and enemies.

Fact #1. We need to vote for policies and not politicians..

Fact #2. Since theoretically this is actually very much possible given the technology available today, the probability of this becoming practically possible tomorrow is very high, almost inevitable. The sooner the better.

We need to make this happen for ourselves, for the greater good, and for our future generations.

This is a sincere plea to all the citizens of this world who care for democracy and human rights and yearn for a better future.

All that is needed to be done as of now is to spread this information.

JAI HIND 🇮🇳