We look back at 2023, at the challenges the year threw up and the challengers who emerged every now and then.

In this issue

12-01-202415 STORIES

Always a good fight

A few of India’s leading writers spoke to Frontline of the hopes and challenges the future holds.

Year of plenty

The Frontline list of the Top 10 titles of 2023 in fiction and non-fiction.

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The fine art of a coarse India

In 2023, Modi government co-opted much of Indian art, but the resilience of a few artists who challenged this dominance emerged as a silver lining.

Sumesh Manoj Sharma

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Muzzling the press

In 2023, India hit a new low in press freedom, with the Central government signalling zero tolerance for a free and vibrant media.

Who’s watching?

Though threatened by censorship, films and OTT originals tackled taboo topics like caste and state excesses, but did the audiences care to watch?

Science & Technology

Shooting for the stars with feet of clay

ISRO’s brilliant minds propelled India to space greatness, yet the Modi government lacks a clear policy for the space sector.

R. Ramachandran

Lifting the gauntlet

The most audacious test for Indian sports came from wrestlers who defiantly held their ground against the political might of Brij Bhushan Singh.

‘The Dystopian Times’ by Appupen

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Letters

Readers respond.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Rajghat on the final day of the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 10, 2023.

More hype than substance

In 2023, the government’s foreign affairs fell short of the widely propagated “Vishwaguru” myth, displaying mediocrity.

Members of ‘Meira Paibis’, a women’s social movement in Manipur, during a demonstration in Imphal on August 9 demanding the restoration of peace in the State. The protesters were accused of interfering in the operations of security forces that day, but one of the charges against the outfit’s Meitei activists was that they encouraged sexual violence against Kuki-Zo women.

The year in a shot

Seen through the lens, 2023 presents a lesson in resilience. Life went on—despite war and disasters.

A country of others

It was a year when hate speech hit new lows, challenging the trust of Muslims in the country’s fraternity.

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Emerging challenge to the Constitution

In 2023, voices demanding a new Constitution grew louder, bolder—fuelled by the need for consolidation of power at the Centre.

Suryapratim Roy

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A nation at crossroads: Reflections on what India faced in 2023

From Shakespearean demagogues to mob-sanctioned savagery, 2023 was a year that tested the soul of the nation.

The Bahadur Shah we do not know

This fictionalised narration of the life of the 16th-century monarch of Gujarat is enjoyable but does not provide a coherent narrative.

Madhulika Liddle

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