India’s gender inequality persists as a contradiction between constitutional promises and patriarchal realities, evidenced by its 2025 Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) rank of 131 out of 148 countries (score: 0.644). This article examines three core issues—educational disparities, women’s malnutrition, and female foeticide—challenging overstated claims of literacy parity (98% women vs. 99% men). Drawing on Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023–24, it reveals a 12.6-point literacy gap (87.2% men vs. 74.6% women), malnutrition’s dual burden (18.7% underweight, 24% overweight per NFHS-5), and ~307,000 annual foeticides (2013–2017) skewing sex ratios (108.9). These intersect with low economic participation (28.3%) and caste divides, worsened by data opacity (jugupsā). Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach frames these as entitlement failures, while feminist intersectionality highlights caste and regional disparities. Comparisons with Bangladesh, Sweden, and Pakistan underscore policy gaps. The dystopian film Matrubhoomi (2003) illustrates gender imbalance’s consequences. Recommendations emphasize targeted literacy drives, nutrition fortification, foeticide enforcement, and transparent data to foster equity.
Fortifying India: Reading Between the Lines of the 2025 Defence Budget
In the shadow of escalating geopolitical tensions, India’s defense strategy for the fiscal year 2025-26, with a staggering Rs 681,210 crore budget (13.45% of the Union Budget), perpetuates a militaristic paradigm that prioritizes arms over human and ecological well-being. This allocation, blending indigenous manufacturing (e.g., Tejas, BrahMos) with heavy reliance on imports (e.g., Rafale, S-400), is marred by historical corruption scandals (Bofors, Coffin, Rafale) and shrouded covert operations via entities like the Special Frontier Force (SFF) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Meanwhile, external debt servicing at USD 682.2 billion (19.2% of GDP) drains fiscal resources, exacerbating economic distress marked by bankruptcies, rising poverty, and wealth concentration among crony elites. Findings reveal that this defense-centric approach ignores profound ecological devastation, agrarian crises, and hunger epidemics, diverting public taxes to fuel a predatory military-industrial complex. War-mongering, akin to manufactured religious pogroms by the current political executive, fosters a false nationalistic fervor, sustaining a debt-ridden global techno-economic system that benefits tycoons while neglecting climate resilience, public health, and equitable flourishing.
Of Size and Suffering: Challenging the Illusion of “Progress”
India’s emergence as the world’s fourth-largest economy masks deep ethical and structural crises. This article critiques the country’s development model, which prioritizes GDP growth while perpetuating informal labour, systemic inequality, environmental degradation, and authoritarian neoliberal governance. It highlights the disjunction between economic scale and human well-being, exposing how neoliberal globalization erodes local economies, social cohesion, and democratic participation. Persistent gender and social inequities, ecological injustices, and increasing external debt trap India in a cycle of “pre-debtor” capitalism, undermining sovereignty and welfare. Drawing on critical political economy, postcolonial theory, and alternative frameworks such as degrowth and localization, the article calls for transcending growth-centric paradigms to pursue justice, sustainability, and pluralistic development rooted in dignity and ecological balance.
Demand Transparent Accountability: The Mass RTI Appeal to the DHFL Victims
This mass RTI appeal urges DHFL victims and their communities to demand transparency regarding the RBI-appointed Committee of Creditors’ (CoC) meetings, voting records, and expenditures during the DHFL insolvency resolution process. Faced with systematic denial of crucial information, this coordinated effort seeks to expose potential manipulation and cronyism that have compromised fair decision-making. By collectively filing RTI requests, the public asserts its right to scrutinize how votes were cast, decisions made, and funds spent—upholding democratic accountability in a process that deeply affects victims and the broader financial system. This appeal highlights transparency as a fundamental democratic right essential to justice and fairness.
No More Silence: DHFL Victims, Unite and Sign for Justice!
This open letter is a heartfelt call to action for victims of the DHFL financial scam, urging collective courage and mobilization against systemic injustice. It outlines the devastating betrayal by corporate, regulatory, and judicial entities that enabled the fraud, leaving lakhs of small investors unheard. Framing the crisis as a human rights issue, the letter invites victims to join a growing civil movement through four online platforms and support four urgent petitions demanding judicial accountability, auditing reforms, celebrity endorser responsibility, and protection for whistleblowers. It emphasizes non-violent resistance and the vital role of public pressure in seeking truth and justice.
Hold Shah Rukh Khan Accountable for DHFL Endorsement! (An Online Mass Petition)
This petition seeks urgent legal and ethical accountability from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan for his role in endorsing Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (DHFL), a company whose collapse in 2019 devastated lakhs of small investors. As brand ambassador during DHFL’s fraudulent operations, Khan’s public image bolstered investor trust in a failing institution. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, celebrity endorsers are legally obligated to conduct due diligence—an obligation Khan appears to have ignored. OBMA thereby demands a formal CCPA inquiry, public apology, disgorgement of endorsement fees, and penalties to set a precedent for responsible celebrity conduct in financial advertising.
In the Shadow of Mr. Paramavaisnava: Defamation, Dissent, and Democratic Rights
The article argues that the piece’s objective is not to malign or defame Mr. Paramavaisnava, but rather to subject his public role to democratic scrutiny. It positions critique as a civic duty aligned with Gandhian principles of non‑violence and civil disobedience, drawing a line between legitimate democratic dissent and defamatory intent
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. The author contends that vigilant public discourse is essential in holding influential individuals accountable—especially when their philanthropic gestures or public image are intertwined with questions of power, privilege, and socio-economic inequities.
In situating dissent within the framework of constitutional democratic rights, the piece foregrounds the importance of freedom of expression while cautioning against opportunistic defamation laws that may stifle critical voices. Overall, the article frames its critique as part of a broader tradition of civil restraint and moral resistance, underscoring the need for transparency and debate in robust democracies.
The “Charitable” Sovereign: PM CARES, Philanthrocapitalism, and the Erosion of Democratic Accountability
The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund, established in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as a citizen-driven mechanism for emergency relief. However, its formation and functioning reveal profound contradictions between its stated ideals and actual governance. This article critically examines PM CARES as an emblem of philanthrocapitalism, executive populism, and corporate-state entanglement. Drawing on theoretical frameworks such as Foucault’s governmentality, Agamben’s state of exception, Fraser’s critique of progressive neoliberalism, and Chatterjee’s political society, the analysis illustrates how PM CARES reconfigures welfare into a spectacle of personalized legitimacy, evading democratic accountability. The case of Mr. Ajay Piramal’s reported donations—alongside alleged regulatory favors and the questionable DHFL acquisition—demonstrates how philanthropy can become a strategic substitute for justice and a vehicle for crony capitalism. Ultimately, PM CARES signifies a broader ideological reconfiguration in India’s political economy: the transformation of crisis governance into a post-democratic regime characterized by moralized coercion, symbolic aid, and technocratic opacity.
Digital Satyagraha: DHFL Victims Vs. The Farce of Injustice
Operation YouTube by the DHFL Victims is a peaceful, constitutionally grounded digital protest initiated by the victims of the DHFL financial crisis. The campaign aims to raise awareness and demand accountability from Mr. Ajay Piramal and the Piramal Group, following the allegedly controversial takeover of DHFL, which left lakhs of small depositors—many of them senior citizens—financially devastated. The campaign encourages participants to engage critically with publicly available YouTube content featuring Ajay Piramal by using platform-native tools such as the dislike button and comment sections. Protesters are urged to express their dissent respectfully, truthfully, and within the boundaries of YouTube’s community guidelines and legal frameworks. Rejecting hate or trolling, Operation YouTube asserts the victims’ right to digital dissent and narrative correction. It seeks to challenge one-sided media portrayals and amplify the lived experiences of those impacted by the DHFL crisis. Through hashtags like #DislikeAndDemand and #Justice4DHFL_Victims, the campaign fosters a collective call for transparency, justice, and corporate accountability in a climate of growing crony capitalism. This multilingual initiative is inclusive, lawful, and grounded in democratic ethics—inviting depositors across the country to reclaim their voice in the digital public sphere.
DSK Legal and the Theatre of Law: A Gandhian Response to Corporate Legalism
This letter, penned by Dr. Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay on behalf of Once in a Blue Moon Academia (OBMA) on July 31, 2025, serves as a principled response to a legal notice from DSK Legal, received mere hours before a mandated court appearance in Mumbai, framing it as an act of civic resistance rather than a mere defense. It critiques the systemic issues of democratic erosion, ecological injustice, and digital rights violations in a corporatized India, highlighting the legal machinery’s tendency to favor wealth and power over truth and people, exemplified by the environmental degradation caused by corporate real-estate and pharmaceutical entities in vulnerable regions like Mumbai and rural Digwal. The letter challenges the timing and logistics of the notice, questions the ethical conduct of DSK Legal—including pagination errors, unsolicited promotions, and potential data misuse under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023—and calls for transparency and accountability, while inviting support for Anti-SLAPP legislation to protect public-interest research and whistleblowing. Rooted in Gandhian non-violent resistance, it critiques the alleged crony capitalism and philanthro-capitalism of figures like Mr. Paramavaisnava, urging a reflection on the broader corporate-state nexus and the need for a legal culture that upholds democratic values.
Once in a Blue Moon Academia 