NEWS BRIEFINGS: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Manipur on September 13, more than 28 months after the outbreak of violence, offered development schemes worth over 73 billion rupees (7,300 crore). What he did not offer was the one thing most needed in the state. Justice. This reveals the Centre’s unwillingness to confront the failures of governance that enabled the violence in the first place.

Indian households in large cities and nearby suburbs are feeling the strain of higher food prices even as they adapt in creative ways, according to a report. About six in 10 households can pay their bills and save a little, but roughly four in 10 say they are either barely coping or financially insecure. Food inflation and volatile vegetable prices have made cost of living the top risk Indians see for the coming year.

Prime Minister Modi marked the 75th birthday of Mohan Bhagwat, head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), with a newspaper tribute calling his tenure the most transformative in the RSS’s 100-year history. This links the authority of the Prime Minister’s office with an unelected ideological group, and therefore raises concerns about political neutrality, ethical conduct and the symbolism of state alignment with a single worldview.

The Rajasthan Assembly passed the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2025, on Sept. 9. One of its most troubling features is how it redefines religious conversion, saying that returning to one’s “ancestral religion” is not considered a conversion at all. This definition, also found in similar laws in other states, creates an uneven legal standard that protects some religious identities while exposing others to state scrutiny, criminal charges and harsh punishment.

Nineteen young protesters were killed in Nepal on Sept. 8 after security forces opened fire during demonstrations sparked by the government’s shutdown of major social media platforms. Their deaths have marked a turning point in Nepal’s politics, as a generation that has already seen good governance in action from younger public servants is now rising to remove a ruling class it no longer trusts.

Heavy rains and swelling rivers have unleashed devastating floods across Punjab, leaving 48 people dead and displacing hundreds of thousands. More than 2,050 villages in 23 districts have been inundated, affecting nearly 390,000 (3.9 lakh) residents. Restoring farmland productivity is now the state government’s most urgent task, while the Centre must move quickly to release relief funds.

A video has emerged in which Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is purportedly heard ordering a senior police officer to stop taking action against illegal soil excavation. Pawar’s party has attempted to explain the exchange, but the incident contradicts the constitutional framework that separates political authority from administrative functioning.

A journalist from Nagaland in Northeast India was shot twice during a reporting trip in the neighbouring state of Manipur. The attack came days after a senior political leader in Nagaland publicly rebuked him for airing critical views on the Assam government’s eviction drive.

Nepal’s government has ordered a nationwide shutdown of 26 social media platforms. The move appears aimed at suppressing independent political voices who have demonstrated credible governance and built popular support by engaging directly with citizens online, outside the control of established party structures.

Two contrasting news reports reveal institutional inconsistency in how citizenship rights are identified and protected. A 25-year-old Muslim woman, her husband and child were expelled to Bangladesh from Delhi despite holding multiple documents proving Indian citizenship, while the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) exempted undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh from prosecution under immigration laws if they entered India before Dec. 31, 2024.

At least 1,400 people have died and more than 3,100 have been injured in a powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck northeastern Afghanistan on the night of Aug. 31. The scale of devastation and the lack of timely global support indicate the growing tendency to let geopolitics override humanitarian imperatives.

India’s nationwide rollout of 20 percent ethanol-blended petrol, known as E20, has expanded rapidly since early 2023. The policy is part of a larger plan to reduce dependence on imported crude oil, increase income for farmers and meet environmental targets. While these goals align with national interests, the implementation has created widespread confusion, raised costs for vehicle users and triggered public concerns about fairness, transparency and long-term consequences.

“Educate Girls” has become the first Indian non-profit to win the Ramon Magsaysay Award, often called Asia’s Nobel Prize. The group was honored for helping girls from remote villages across India get back into classrooms and stay there. It aims to reach 10 million learners across India by 2035.

South Asian University in New Delhi expelled a Bangladeshi Ph.D. scholar, Sudeepto Das, following an incident involving food restrictions on the Mahashivratri festival. The university’s decision involves far-reaching institutional failure and indicates a shift that will harm India’s academic and civic culture.

Amid renewed Israeli military operations in Gaza City on Aug. 29, UN aid agencies repeated their warning that the territory is heading toward large-scale famine. A top UN humanitarian official said at least half a million people are already facing the worst levels of food insecurity, and 160,000 more could soon fall into the same category, as hunger and disease rise across the devastated enclave.

The opposition’s Vice Presidential nominee, Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, has been accused of supporting Naxalism, or Maoism, for delivering a 2011 Supreme Court verdict that declared Chhattisgarh’s Salwa Judum militia unconstitutional. The charge has led to a public exchange between retired judges, but the real question is whether that ruling and the standards for selecting a Vice President align with constitutional principles and democratic theory.

The results of the central government’s education survey show that families continue to carry most of the financial burden of school education, with low government support despite high enrolment in public schools. The data also reveals stark differences in the quality of education and resources available to children, depending on their location, gender and type of school.

The United States is going ahead with tariffs of up to 50 percent on Indian exports after trade talks between the two countries broke down. This is expected to increase economic pressure on India due to its oil trade with Russia, and could lower export earnings, hurt export industries and slow overall economic growth.

The Supreme Court has ordered a fresh hearing on the punishment imposed on a man convicted for the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl, setting aside its 2017 judgment that upheld the death penalty. It sets a much-needed precedent where the top court will be willing to review irreversible penalties in light of evolving legal safeguards and human rights obligations.

The arrest of C.N. Chinnaiah, a former sanitation worker who alleged multiple murders, rapes and secret burials over two decades in and around the Dharmasthala temple area in Karnataka, appears legally premature. It raises serious concerns about the use of criminal charges against a complainant during an incomplete investigation, and about the conduct of the police and investigative authorities in cases involving powerful religious institutions.

The Supreme Court has directed that voters excluded by the Election Commission of India (ECI) from Bihar’s draft electoral roll under a special revision exercise must be allowed to file objections using Aadhaar or any of 11 recognised documents. The order indicates that the Commission failed to design the revision process in a way that protects universal suffrage, which is central to its constitutional role.

An independent inquiry into the ethnic violence that began in Manipur in May 2023, based on survivor testimonies and first-person accounts, finds consistent failures by state institutions, security forces and political leaders. The report holds both the state and central governments responsible for failing to uphold constitutional protections and deliver justice.

India is moving closer to Russia and China, stepping away from its partnerships with Western democracies. This new direction weakens its position in global trade, technology and democratic cooperation, pulling India toward authoritarian governments and brings economic punishment and fewer reliable international ties.

Union home minister Amit Shah has tabled three bills in the Lok Sabha that empower the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and other ministers if they remain in jail for 30 consecutive days on serious criminal charges. The move appears to be an attempt by the government to expand executive powers over elected offices, including in Jammu and Kashmir where statehood had been expected.

Political messaging affects what people believe, how they act and what they expect from their leaders. Some of the most common tactics used by politicians are meant to make people give up on asking questions, stop demanding better and accept poor performance without protest. In the first part of this series, we looked at four of the seven psychological tactics politicians use to shift public focus away from governance failures. This piece explains the remaining three.

Politicians rarely admit failure. They redirect attention, reduce criticism and protect their image instead. The methods they use draw on psychology, exploiting universal and predictable patterns in human thinking.

Politicians in India, as in many other countries, often rely on universal psychological tactics to divert public attention from their failures in governance, or from issues that could damage them politically or reduce their popularity. These tactics draw their strength from four mental levers deeply rooted in how the human mind responds to fear, identity, repetition and emotion.

The Supreme Court’s order directing the Election Commission of India (EC) to publish detailed lists of 6.5 million (65 lakh) deleted voters in Bihar shows that the EC resisted transparency until compelled by the Court. A body constitutionally mandated to conduct free and fair elections should not need judicial intervention to carry out tasks that fall squarely within its mandate, including the protection of the integrity of the franchise.

We mark every August 15 with flag hoisting ceremonies, parades and speeches to remember the day India ceased to be under British colonial rule in 1947. These rituals have value, but the greater focus should be on the intended culmination of independence, which is a system of government that safeguards the dignity and autonomy of those it serves. It must be understood that democracy is inseparable from independence.

When the Supreme Court of India is considering whether all stray dogs should be removed from Delhi-NCR because some believe they are dangerous for children, there is a country where the picture is very different. In Armenia’s capital Yerevan, street dogs are known for their calm temperaments and easy rapport with people, as a result of a deliberate management policy and a social environment that treats dogs as part of the public space rather than a threat to be eliminated.