India had one helpline that functioned well. It was shut down. Here’s what happened next.

Scroll@scroll.in · 6d ago

Call data statistics of Childline between 2018 and 2022, accessed by Scroll, showed that Maharashtra was among five states that had received the highest number of calls by distressed children or activists. It saw a three-fold drop in calls since. scroll.in/article/1094... By Tabassum Barnagarwala

Hilarious that the Hindu right in India is trying to make an issue of protesters using foul language after spending 12+ years calling every Indian woman on social media every variation of 'bitch' 'slut' etc and making receiving rape & death threats a regular-ass part of online life in India.

"When we use another, we have only the picture of the end to be gained. The end, the gain, prevents relationship, communion."

In July 1983, anti-Tamil pogroms engulfed Sri Lanka, killing and displacing Tamils and destroying homes and businesses. For many Tamil families, Black July transformed what it meant to call Sri Lanka home. https://www.himalmag.com/shakthidharan-sri-lanka-conflict-tamil-history-memoir/

100% this: "Real intelligence is inextricable from organic embodiment, from being a feeling organism passing through time and space shaped in every moment by its needs, fears, desires...“Artificial intelligence” is a highly consequential misnomer."

Why this philosopher turned down Anthropic

The AI industry is courting the humanities — but it is asking the wrong questions

giftarticle.ft.com

India’s Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned.

“Once citizens remember they have rights, the paternalistic illusion of a strongman state begins to unravel.”

India’s Gen Z Are Challenging Modi’s Strongman Image

Just when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political star seemed to be rising again, a brutal police crackdown on student protesters has darkened the horizon.

bloomberg.com

Friends outside India, if you’re wondering why your favourite flower and nature posters are suddenly going a bit mad and have no clue who or what a Dharmendra Pradhan is, read the article below and watch the video from Cody Dahler

Krittika@krittikaa.bsky.social · 2w ago

This is a very good explainer www.newslaundry.com/2026/07/24/g...

As I see Gen Z fearlessly take to the streets in India, I also see each of them become ‘a small republic of unconquered spirit’, as @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social puts it. There are no guarantees, but oh—the joy of witnessing these republics!

As I see Gen Z fearlessly take to the streets in India, I also see each of them become ‘a small republic of unconquered spirit’, as @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social puts it. There are no guarantees, but oh—the joy of witnessing these republics!

One of my former grad students has related research showing that, when young people get involved in political organizations, it's often because those organizations have events with free food and a chance to hang out with friends. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Mobilizing Potential: Pathways to Engaged Citizenship - Qualitative Sociology

Conventional wisdom assumes that people participate in democracy because they care about politics. However, this is not always the case. This article illustrates how civic associations mobilize divers...

link.springer.com

“Twelve years ago, Modi rode to power and pioneered in many ways, leveraging social media platforms to reach the masses. Today, Gen Z is flipping his Hindu majoritarian party’s dominance on social platforms, weaponising against it the very tools the Bharatiya Janata Party has long relied on.”

‘Televising our revolution’: India’s Gen Z flips Modi’s social media game

For 12 years, Modi and his party have dominated Indian social media. Now, youth use the same platforms against him.

aljazeera.com

"But the bubble eventually burst because Hindutva cannot feed the stomach with flags. It has bred a deep discontent because its economic model inherently favours cronyism while leaving a vast majority of the population to scramble over a few crumbs." www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/youn...

Young guns

By occupying the streets, by demanding administrative accountability, and by forcing the government to look them in the eye, the youth are reclaiming the very definition of popular sovereignty

telegraphindia.com

“The spontaneous rage we are witnessing will dissipate unless some real political work begins. Unless adults and opposition parties stop their jockeying and petty squabbling and show some solidarity.“ Arundhati Roy on the perils and promise of the student protests in India.

“The spontaneous rage we are witnessing will dissipate unless some real political work begins. Unless adults and opposition parties stop their jockeying and petty squabbling and show some solidarity.“ Arundhati Roy on the perils and promise of the student protests in India.

Democracy is not a staged “election” when the oppressed provide legitimacy to ruling class tyranny. It is when millions converge and physically de-install fascism. South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, perhaps now India) revealing what mutual aid and democracy could mean.

Jophin Mathai@jofmat.bsky.social · 2w ago

“We understand [politics] every time a school has no teacher, a hospital has no doctor, or a recruitment exam is cancelled. Politics is not something we watch on television. It decides whether we get an education, a job or a chance to build a better life”.

“We understand [politics] every time a school has no teacher, a hospital has no doctor, or a recruitment exam is cancelled. Politics is not something we watch on television. It decides whether we get an education, a job or a chance to build a better life”.

'I came to remind Parliament that we exist’

Many thousands of young people from small towns and villages across the country came to Delhi to join the protest at Jantar Mantar, and the march to Parliament

ruralindiaonline.org

“Who said one can't make a hole in the sky? Throw at least one stone with the right intention, friends”

“The police reportedly used unnecessary and excessive force against peaceful protesters and installed barricades to prevent them from reaching parliament. Authorities also suspended metro services and mobile internet, further restricting the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly.”

India: Crackdown on peaceful protesters in New Delhi raises serious human rights concerns

Responding to the crackdown on protestors in New Delhi demanding accountability in the Indian education system, Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s Chair of Board, said, “The images and reports...

amnesty.org

“There are systems in place that cannot get us a good seat in college or good marks. I told my mother that it is my right to protest. We need to be here, else we will not get this chance again.” www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/...

‘Now or never’: Students defy Delhi lockdown to march on India’s parliament

Youth-led protesters answer call of Cockroach Janta Party to demand accountability, sweeping reforms after exam scandal.

aljazeera.com

"Apparently innocuous developments... are all converging on a common purpose." Changes to citizenship law, NRC, & SIR and even questions over passports are not isolated events but part of a broader citizenship project, writes Prof Niraja Jayal Subscribe to read: article-14.com/subscribe

If you were lucky enough to finish most of your cognitive development before widespread GPS adoption ? Try to use a paper map now as often as you can so that you keep that ability. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Habitual use of GPS negatively impacts spatial memory during self-guided navigation - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Habitual use of GPS negatively impacts spatial memory during self-guided navigation

nature.com

Linda Holmes@lindaholmes.bsky.social · 4w ago

The thing is yes, paper maps, but also: You naturally learned how to get around more than people do now. I knew my way around my early neighborhoods where I drove a lot better than I have in the ones where I had GPS all the time.

Reading (beyond the ability to decode individual words and sentences) is not a natural, easy achievement. This is also known as the cognitive maturity fallacy. It develops along levels of capacity that are all nurtured along ethical, epistemic and political lines.

I have been doing entirely too much earnest posting about deep things recently, I need to do a proper thread about hippo testicles or something just to keep myself sane. Oh by the way hippos have migratory testicles.

a statue of a hippopotamus with its mouth open and teeth showing .

Alt: A hippo being tossed a watermelon, which it crushes in its massive jaws.

media.tenor.com

"why do fossil fuel companies plan to pump more than ever?" Sick of articles deploring growth in oil production without mentioning rich-world demand. One reason they pump more is we -- with our refusal to change our carbon-intensive ways -- ask them to. Don't ask oil firms to change if you won't.

Fuel on the fire: why oil companies are profiting as the world gets dangerously hot

The scientific consensus is that burning fossil fuels drives the climate crisis, yet the world’s biggest oil companies are planning to increase production

theguardian.com

"Remaining neutral has always been a game outside of time. I don’t dance to your time—for a certain time, at least…” Georgi Gospodinov, Time Shelter

No app has provided wise companionship like Readwise. The best kind of streak I’ve sustained. If you love reading, I cannot recommend Readwise highly enough.

Thankfully, beyond the textbooks, she is left alone. For now.

Wow. People are trusting snicko. VAR: Video Assisted Robbery This World Cup really sucks.

ICYMI, Canada also rejected 50% of all visa applications for the World Cup. For Kenya the rejection rate was 91%, for the DRC it was 96%. About 4300 applications were filed in African countries and rounding up a visa application fee of USD 200 that’s just under 1 million dollars netted by Canada.