Frontline on the Indian Society - Frontline

In hoardings, reels, ads selling vacations, financial instruments, even medical services, we have become visibly grey-glam.

The Wondering Muse

Now you see us, now you don’t

It’s not just the male gaze that you are rid of with your new-found invisibility at 50. It is the freedom from other people’s expectations.

‘The Dystopian Times’ by Appupen

Academics condemn TISS migration study for bias, flawed methods, and ethical violations

They term the study on “illegal immigrants” to Mumbai a “calculated act of political interference”.

Frontline News Desk

The quiet legacy of Uma Dasgupta (1940-2024), Satyajit Ray’s young Durga in Pather Panchali

Even though the single role brought her immortality in the world of cinema, she chose the quiet life of a teacher instead of becoming a movie star.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

A vegetable-seller in Bengaluru flaunts a cart full of tomatoes.

Tomato: The berry with a wolf

Both the tomato and the tomato sauce are about violence

‘The Dystopian Times’ by Appupen

The invisible she: How working-class women bear the weight of India’s economy

Neha Dixit’s The Many Lives of Syeda X is uniquely authentic and eye-opening in portraying womenfolk in big South Asian cities.

More stories from Society

Waiting to cast their vote in the State Waqf Board election, in Hyderabad on February 28, 2022. There are concerns in the Muslim community that the proposed changes in the Waqf law will erode their rights.

Propriety, not just property: The Waqf debate

Since the impacts of the amendments will go far beyond legal changes, the government must balance reforms with the rights of the Muslim community.

Shaikh Mujibur Rehman

The historic Bidar fort in Karnataka. Large chunks of lands were given as grants by royal personages over the centuries, which account for a sizeable proportion of waqf properties.

Right move, wrong motive? Waqf Bill promises better management but delivers state control

The changes would remove key protections for waqf properties, centralising control under government officials rather than community representatives.

P.S. Munawar Hussain

A protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill outside the hotel where the parliamentary committee meeting was scheduled to be held, in Ahmedabad on September 27.

Who really benefits from the Waqf Amendment Bill?

While some provisions attempt to address corruption and mismanagement, the Bill contradicts BJP government’s stated “one nation, one law” principle.

The book also wades into the “memory- wars” taking place around the places of worship (Gyanvapi, Ayodhya) and historical figures (such as Aurangzeb). Here, an aerial view of the Gyanvapi mosque (left) and the Kashi Vishwanath temple on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi in December 2021.

Muslims in New India: A survival story

Hilal Ahmed’s latest book says Muslims in contemporary India are not passive victims; they are adapting to survive and thrive within the constraints.

People at the Jama Masjid mosque in Old Delhi, India.

Editor’s Note: Putting Muslims in their place?

Behind the façade of Waqf reforms lies a sinister and systematic campaign to further marginalise the country’s largest minority.

College students protest the suspension of the student union election in Dehradun, October 25.

Uttarakhand should restore student union elections

The suspension silences the very voices Uttarakhand needs most: young leaders from marginalised backgrounds who understand the region’s challenges.

Arunima Naithani,Devam Thapa

Quincy Jones poses after being awarded the Grand Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on October 6, 2014 in Paris.

Quincy Jones (1933-2024) showed the world that music speaks one language

How an 11-year-old’s break-in birthed eight decades of musical innovation, from Sinatra’s swing to Jackson’s pop revolution.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Poster of Alam Ara (1931), often regarded as India’s first talkie.

Queer love and freedom in 1920s India

Ruth Vanita’s historical examines scans queer desire, cinema, and modernisation through interconnected lives in 1920s Bombay and Delhi.

The fishermen who go for deep-sea fishing are the most valiant among the marine fishing communities inhabiting the coasts of Kanyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram. Their predecessors used to set sail in all seasons on the Arabian Sea even before the arrival of GPS and wireless communication.

Men at sea: The untethered lives of deep-sea fisherfolk

For the fisherfolk of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, earning a living often means sailing on the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal for months on end.

On the front pages of some of Britain’s national newspapers about the re-election of US President-elect Donald Trump, on November 7, 2024. After Trump’s big win, end-of-the-world scenarios continue to be drawn about what his victory will mean for climate issues.

The tunnel vision that resulted in Donald Trump

Americans are so divided that a single sacred value—be it free speech, politeness, or climate action—blinds them to all other concerns.

Raghu Murtugudde

‘The Dystopian Times’ by Appupen

A Muslim woman after casting her vote in Mumbai (file photo). Before 2019, Muslims at large understood that they would have to tactically vote to remove the BJP from power. That benefited the MVA in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra election: How will Muslims and Dalits vote?

The consolidation of Dalit and Muslim votes gave MVA a huge lead in the Lok Sabha election. But dynamics have shifted ahead of the Assembly election.

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