Category: Punjab

From Entitlement to Outcomes: The Case for Replacing MGNREGA with VBGRAM-G  By: Nirwa Mehta  Public policy must be judged by outcomes, not sentiment, nostalgia or political symbolism. The replacement of MGNREGA with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rojgar and Ajeevika Mission GraminAct, 2025 has triggered predictable protests. Critics argue that the new law weakens rights, burdens states, centralises power and erases Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy. These objections, however, reveal…

The year 1947 did not merely mark the birth of a Republic; it signalled the signing of a moral and political covenant among a people who had withstood colonialism and survived the harrows of partition. For the Indian Muslim, this birth of the republic was a moment of affirmation. It was a historical juncture where…

Madrasas stand as enduring pillars of faith and learning for Muslim communities in India. These institutions have grown from centuries of Islamic learning and have always offered more than religious teaching.They give people a sense of identity and help them stay strong during social andeconomic difficulties. Madrasas have been sites of contestation in India and…

As the followers of Islam, moments like the recent lynching in Bangladesh forces us to ask difficult questions, not to others, but to ourselves. When a human being is killed in the name of protecting the Prophet, the Qur’an, or Islam, something has gone terribly wrong. Faith, which was revealed to elevate human dignity, is…

As a Muslim woman witnessing the turbulence of our times, I often feel the weight of how misunderstood my faith has become. The loudest voices in the world today are usually those filled with anger, voices that divide, provoke, and misrepresent. Yet beneath this noise lies a softer, older, and far more powerful tradition: Sufism….

In recent years, the internet has become a double-edged sword: an engine for education, social connection and civic engagement, but also an efficient vector for radicalisation. India with its vast, youthful, and increasingly connected population is particularly vulnerable to online recruitment and indoctrination efforts. While radicalising content is not limited to any one ideology, the…

The institution of Waqf is an Islamic endowment of property for religious or charitable purposes. This institution has historically served as a pillar of socio-economic welfare, community development and addressing inequality. According to estimates, 872,000 registered Waqf properties exists in India, making it the largest Waqf portfolios globally, second only to the Indian Railways and…

Education remains the most decisive instrument for social mobility in India, particularly for communities historically marginalized in economic and political spheres. Among these, Muslims constituting 14.2 percent of the population, continue to grapple with structural disadvantages that impede their upward mobility. The Sachar Committee Report (2006) underscored the acute educational deprivation among Muslims, linking low…

Radicalization has emerged as one of the most complex challenges of our time, affecting societies across ethnic, religious, and political lines.While the word often evokes fear and division, much of the public discourse around radicalization is driven by sensationalism rather than understanding. Media narratives, political rhetoric, and even social media trends tend to portray it…