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.

Metrics of Denial: A Critical Reading of Indian Indices in the Age of Climate Capitalism

This study interrogates India’s position across major global indices—Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Nature Conservation Index (NCI), Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), ESG fund performance, and climate displacement data—revealing deep contradictions between policy rhetoric and ecological realities. With India ranking near the bottom in EPI and NCI, and topping charts in climate displacement, the report juxtaposes these failures against the optimistic ranking in CCPI and the proliferation of ESG funds. Through a chaosophic lens, the study critiques the reductionism of market-led green capitalism and underscores the need to rethink ecological metrics beyond their statistical form. A comparative global–Indian framework highlights shared vulnerabilities and region-specific crises, especially around resource depletion and climate-induced migration, while resisting technocratic fixes and econometric illusions.

The Suicidal Futility of War: A Mourning for Civilization and a Call for Disarmament

The article “The Suicidal Futility of War: A Mourning for Civilization and a Call for Disarmament” explores the devastating consequences of warfare on humanity, civilization, and the planet, arguing that war represents a self-destructive cycle that undermines progress and moral integrity. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples, the piece examines the immense human cost, environmental destruction, and societal regression caused by armed conflicts. It critiques the perpetuation of war through political, economic, and cultural mechanisms, highlighting the futility of seeking lasting solutions through violence. The author advocates for global disarmament as a moral and practical necessity, emphasizing the need for collective action, diplomacy, and non-violent conflict resolution to safeguard civilization. By mourning the losses inflicted by war, the article issues an urgent call for humanity to reimagine a peaceful future grounded in cooperation and mutual understanding.

Silencing the Digital Dawn: India’s Censorship Crusade vs. Musk, Youth, and the Defrauded

The article explores India’s increasing efforts to regulate online discourse and the pushback it encounters from Elon Musk’s X platform, along with younger generations of climate activists and digitally engaged victims of financial scams. It emphasizes the Indian government’s utilization of the Information Technology Act to enforce extensive content removal, specifically targeting dissent and criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. Recently, X has filed a lawsuit against these measures in the Karnataka High Court, claiming unlawful censorship. The piece outlines how this crackdown restricts free expression, particularly among tech-savvy youth who depend on platforms like X to articulate political and environmental discontent. Additionally, it connects these efforts to broader issues, such as attempts to silence the voices of defrauded citizens from the DHFL scam, preventing them from raising their grievances online. While Musk positions X as a champion of free speech, this scenario reveals a complicated struggle between state control, corporate interests, and grassroots digital activism against the backdrop of India’s escalating authoritarian tendencies.

Hitting the Economic Hitmen At the Time of Global Heating

The article discusses the role of economic hitmen, as outlined by John Perkins, Eric Toussaint and other theorists, in manipulating developing nations for financial gain. These individuals exploit countries through excessive loans, leading to debt traps and policies favoring multinational corporations. The piece connects these actions to global economic institutions like the World Bank, IMF, and WTO, highlighting their influence in shaping neo-colonial economic systems. It also examines India’s neoliberal policies since the 1990s, citing key figures who facilitated these strategies.

Post-Mortem of Parliamentary Democracy and What Is Still To be Done?

This article, published on June 8, 2024, conducts a critical examination of parliamentary democracy, with a likely focus on India’s post-2024 election landscape. It dissects systemic challenges, such as institutional erosion, political polarization, or governance inefficiencies, that undermine democratic processes. The analysis highlights key events or policies contributing to these issues. Proposing a path forward, the article outlines actionable reforms to strengthen democracy, including enhancing transparency, fostering inclusive dialogue, and reinforcing institutional checks. It underscores the urgency of collective action to revitalize parliamentary democracy’s efficacy and resilience.

Ecology, Economics and Elections: The Night Before…

The article critiques the ecological and political consequences of development under the current Indian regime, especially around the 2024 elections. It highlights fatal heatstroke cases among election officials, linking them to climate change and post-vaccination vulnerabilities. Major projects like the UP pilgrimage road (involving massive deforestation), the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train (destroying mangroves), and the Kashi corridor (erasing heritage for religious tourism) are cited as examples of state-driven environmental destruction. The authors warn of a drift toward electoral autocracy, prioritizing economic-political gains over ecological and democratic well-being.

In Defence of the Ladakh Movement: A Faint Voice of Solidarity During the Ominous Hour of Climate Emergency

The article defends the Ladakh movement as a crucial voice against environmental degradation and climate change, particularly in the face of the Himalayan region’s vulnerabilities. It highlights the importance of indigenous and local perspectives in climate activism, emphasizing Ladakh’s ecological sensitivity and the dangers posed by unchecked development. The piece also calls for solidarity with grassroots movements that prioritize sustainable and culturally sensitive practices, urging broader attention to the climate emergency’s impact on marginalized communities.

The Pharmacological Garden of Paramavaiṣṇava Ajay Piramal: A Case Study

The paper engages itself with the question of the predominance of Pharmaceutical industries in over-medicalizing the health of human and non-human populations as well as the supposed “nature”. It focuses on a specific case-study from a village named Digwal, Telangana, India, and performs a Foucauldian investigative discourse analysis on the text in relation to an environmental terrorist big-Pharma headed by business tycoon Mr. Ajay Piramal. The very legitimacy of the medical space and gaze is thoroughly critiqued in the course of the paper by bringing into attention the inevitable failure of the simulated Summersian project of “Let them eat pollution”.