Ashlin Mathew is senior associate editor, Outlook. She is based in Delhi
At the Kochi Biennale, art becomes a bridge between histories, geographies, and lived experience. Through immersive installations, the Biennale invites viewers to confront shared histories of oppression and resilience, transforming Palestine from a distant geopolitical issue into a tangible, lived concern.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the EC of “gaslighting citizens”, triggering a sharp counterattack from the BJP and prompting the State EC to order a probe
China closed 2025 with the largest trade surplus ever recorded, underscoring the strength of its export sector. The $1.2tn surplus was driven not by sales to the United States but by rapidly expanding trade with Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, highlighting Beijing’s successful pivot to alternative markets.
The United States announcement that any country continuing to trade with Iran will face a 25 per cent tariff on all exports to the American market marks a sharp escalation in economic pressure on Tehran
Social scientist and welfare economist Jean Drèze says the government is promising jobs without guaranteeing work. The BJP-led government has not merely rebranded MGNREGA. What was an enforceable right to work, driven by workers’ demand and backed by the Centre’s obligation to fund it, has been recast as a discretionary, centrally controlled scheme with budget caps, blackout periods and political gatekeeping.
From coastal towns to hill districts, long-held political certainties loosened as the UDF made decisive gains across local bodies, taking over Left strongholds and redrawing the region’s electoral map. The 2025 local body elections marked more than a routine verdict. They revealed a shift in mood
Parliament’s Winter Session ended on December 19 in a familiar haze of disruption and division, delivering a stack of new laws but little space for debate on issues beyond the House, most notably the air pollution crisis gripping the Capital.
By replacing MGNREGA’s legal job guarantee with a centrally controlled, budget-capped scheme, the new law has raised concerns over workers’ rights, federal balance and the future of rural livelihoods.
The Union Ministry of Culture has clarified in the Lok Sabha that no documents related to India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, are missing from the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML), and that the institution does not conduct annual audits of its archival holdings.
While the BJP framed the discussion as a necessary reckoning with history and the freedom movement’s legacy, the Opposition accused the government of diverting attention from urgent economic and social challenges.
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