India’s National Fortnightly Magazine | Frontline

A woman of the Gothikoya or Muria Gond tribe from Chhattisgarh in a temporary hamlet in the forested Khammam district of Telangana, a file photograph. People of the tribe started fleeing Chhattisgarh following clashes that began in 2005 between Maoists and forces backed by the government. Their settlements in the places where they try to rebuild their lives are deemed illegal by the authorities, which means they face repeated evictions.

STATE VS CITIZEN

In Chhattisgarh, the war on Maoists becomes a war on Adivasis

Ashutosh Sharma

Security personnel with the bodies of naxalites gunned down in an encounter, in Sukma district on March 29. In the first three months of this year alone, the forces have killed 140 alleged naxals.

State vs Citizen—THE LEDE

Bastar: Blood on our hands

Far removed from the national conscience, a danse macabre unfolds in Bastar. The deadline-driven war on naxalism is a euphemism for erasing Adivasis.

Meena Kandasamy

Read the Latest Issue

State vs Citizen

Editor’s Note: Dead end deadline

State vs Citizen

‘Many naxalites are willing to join the mainstream’: Noor Sridhar

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

Videos

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WATCH | Nirupama Subramanian in conversation with Ranjit Rae

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WATCH | ‘The two-state solution died a long time ago’: Gideon Levy

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WATCH | Environmental researcher and author Pankaj Sekhsaria and environmental journalist and author M. Rajshekhar in conversation with Divya Gandhi

WATCH | Rise of Hate Speech in India in 2024

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Editor's Pick

A combing operation ahead of “PLGA week” (observed by Maoists since 2000, from December 2 to December 8, to commemorate the killing of three leaders of what was then the People’s War), in Alluri Sitharamaraju district on December 1, 2022.

State vs Citizen

Maoists in Andhra and Telangana: Once a revolution, now a reminder

Undivided Andhra Pradesh was the cradle of India’s radical left movement, but in both successor States, it is now just a pale shadow of its past.

Bela Bhatia’s book India’s Forgotten Country: A View from the Margins exposes the effects of militarisation and mining on Bastar’s Adivasi community.

STATE VS CITIZEN

The Adivasis bear the brunt: Bela Bhatia

Bastar-based lawyer says tribal communities of the region have been living under the shadow of the gun for close to two decades now.

Ashutosh Sharma

Retired Brigadier Ponwar emphasised that military victories against Maoist insurgents are insufficient; they must be supplemented and complemented with measures that counter the ideological allure of naxalites, ensuring that security operations do not estrange the local population.

STATE VS CITIZEN

Those who choose guns become enemies of the nation: Basant K. Ponwar

Constitution forbids taking up arms against the state. Grievances must be addressed democratically, not through violence, says the retired Brigadier.

Ashutosh Sharma

Rithika Merchant is currently based in Barcelona.

We all stand on the shoulders of our ancestors: Rithika Merchant

The award-winning visual artist says her work channels the energy of her female ancestors.

Audio Stories

Hasdeo Arand and the manufacturing of tribal consent

What Kerala’s temple dress code row reveals about faith, caste, and religious reform

A broken hiring system has spawned the Rs.300 crore cash-for-jobs scam in Goa

University Grants Commission

UGC’s new university leadership rules could imperil academic independence

Spotlight

At a protest in Istanbul in support of arrested Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 25, 2025.

An ill-judged arrest in Türkiye spurs largest anti-Erdoğan protests in over a decade

Iftikhar Gilani

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin with his counterparts, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy at the first Joint Action Committee meeting of States, in Chennai on March 22.

Delimitation debate: Why southern States fear losing political voice after 2026

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Jawaharlal Nehru being received at Trivandrum Airport on April 24, 1958, before beginning his four-day tour of Kerala. To his right is E.M.S. Namboodiripad, the then Chief Minister of Kerala.

Nehru comes to town

India’s first Prime Minister spoke fast and clearly. I couldn’t fully grasp all that he said, but he certainly had a tremendous presence.

P. Krishna Gopinath

A still from L2: Empuraan. Amidst huge box office grossings, the film and its makers have been accused of glorifying unchecked power while blurring the lines between heroism and political propaganda.

Empuraan: Why a film that critiques power chose to cut itself short

C.S. Venkiteswaran

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are pictured in a mirror as they attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, on February 13, 2025.

Trump wants a ‘deal’: How far is India willing to go?

Arts & Culture

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