At a time when opinion and ideology are sharply polarised, when a rant is what passes for news debates and large sections of mainstream media are under attack for a litany of sins including loss of credibility and openly aligning with one or another political party, when social media is patrolled by paid trolls and post-truths, a website that reaffirms what is good and decent in society might seem like an anachronism, but is in fact a successful growth story Heard about the former railway clerk from Nellore station who put the kids he found begging on the platform into…

At a time when opinion and ideology is sharply polarised, when a rant is what passes for news debates and large sections of mainstream media are under attack for a litany of sins including loss of credibility and openly aligning with one or another political party, when social media is patrolled by paid trolls and post truths, a website that reaffirms what is good and decent in society might seem like an anachronism, but is in fact a successful growth story. Heard about the former railway clerk from Nellore station who put the kids he found begging on the platform…

It can help me cope with a changing, unpredictable world, enlarging a personal worldview to embrace those outside my own experiences and ideology We have been similarly clueless about those live-tweeting the end of their world from the frontlines of Aleppo. We cannot comprehend what it means to be refugees so desperate to leave a war-torn country that even risk of death is acceptable collateral And before you know it, it’s here again. That time of year to make fresh resolutions, determined to wake up energised and renewed. Learn a foreign language; meet new people; read more books; exercise more;…

It can help me cope with a changing, unpredictable world, enlarging a personal worldview to embrace those outside my own experiences and ideology. And before you know it, it’s here again. That time of year to make fresh resolutions, determined to wake up energized and renewed. Learn a foreign language; meet new people; read more books; exercise more; get a new hobby. After years of facsimile resolutions (and years of breaking them), I gave the ritual a break. But this year, I’m going back, and instead of the usual self-improvement missives, I have just one word on my list: Empathy.…

All of us with smartphones are now publishers of our own stories on social media, consuming, sharing, forwarding often to groups that think and feel like us. The truth must be out there, somewhere. But when we have a yarn to spin, does it really matter? Just this past one week, a hacker called Legion accessed the social media accounts of two senior journalists.(Shutterstock) The great truth about social media, it used to be said, was that it provided an alternative to mainstream media. Traditional media were almost pathologically biased against the BJP, or so went conventional rightwing lore, and,…

All of us with smartphones are now publishers of our own stories on social media, consuming, sharing, forwarding often to groups that think and feel like us. The truth must be out there, somewhere. But when we have a yarn to spin, does it really matter? The great truth about social media, it used to be said, was that it provided an alternative to mainstream media. Traditional media were almost pathologically biased against the BJP, or so went conventional rightwing lore, and, therefore, social media would right a historical wrong and open up a democratic space with ordinary citizens driving…

The Global Slavery Index estimates 45.8 million people globally are in some form of slavery. With 18 million people as slaves, India has the highest absolute numbers. They are found in the sex trade, in mining, as bonded labour, as domestic labour, in manufacturing, in fishing and agriculture. One-fourth of all trafficked people are children This photo taken on November 3 shows African women aboard the Topaz Responder ship run by Maltese NGO Moas and the Red Cross after a rescue operation of migrants and refugees, off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea. Many of them are destined for…

The Global Slavery Index estimates 45.8 million people globally are in some form of slavery. With 18 million people as slaves, India has the highest absolute numbers. They are found in the sex trade, in mining, as bonded labor, as domestic labor, in manufacturing, in fishing and agriculture. One-fourth of all trafficked people are children. Everyone has a story. Of being put to sex work from the age of 13. Or becoming a child soldier in Rwanda. Or breaking taboos by being an outspoken woman in Afghanistan. Or being a sex slave for Islamic State after watching your brothers being…

Narendra Modi’s decision to strike at black money and corruption by wiping out 86% of the currency notes in circulation has hit women vendors the hardest. These are women who are not part of the banking system, survive on one income (their own), which is entirely in cash earned daily and must negotiate petty bribes and hafta just to survive Grocers have seen a steep decline in their sales, since the government decided to demonetise ₹500 and ₹1000 currency notes(Prabhakar Sharma) At 10 am, it’s peak business time. A time when the delivery boy from the big grocery shop nearby…

Narendra Modi’s decision to strike at black money and corruption by wiping out 86% of the currency notes in circulation has hit women vendors the hardest. These are women who are not part of the banking system, survive on one income (their own), which is entirely in cash earned daily and must negotiate petty bribes and hafta just to survive. At 10 am, it’s peak business time. A time when the delivery boy from the big grocery shop nearby and the Uber driver about to start his day, stop by for a quick breakfast at Savita Ketarkar’s vada-pav stall under…

If we are to talk about apologies with any degree of honesty, then there’s plenty to be remorseful about in post Independent India. It’s not a foreign colonial power, but our own governments that also owe us a range of apologies. Nobody is owed an apology more than the Dalits and the women of this country. But who would issue this apology, when all of society has colluded — and still does — in their systemic deprivation? Ahmedabad: File photo of Bikers passing near a burning vehicle during the 2002 Gujarat riots, Ahmedabad.(PTI) Shashi Tharoor would like the British to…

If we are to talk about apologies with any degree of honesty, then there’s plenty to be remorseful about in post Independent India. It’s not a foreign colonial power, but our own governments that also owe us a range of apologies. Nobody is owed an apology more than the Dalits and the women of this country. But who would issue this apology, when all of society has colluded — and still does — in their systemic deprivation? Shashi Tharoor would like the British to apologise for 200 years of colonial rule. He believes that British Prime Minister Theresa May must…