The recent political buzz in Tamil Nadu, driven by the political entry of C. Joseph Vijay, whose party, TVK (Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam), won 108 seats in the assembly elections, has once again highlighted the deep-rooted connection between cinema and politics in India. Unlike sudden political entrants, Vijay has evolved gradually in his engagement with public life. Illustration by The Geostrata Since the late 2000s, and particularly in the 2010s, his fan associations, most not

Women in India have steadily redrawn the boundaries of participation across society over the past few years. From breaking the patriarchal barriers of the household to entering laboratories, courtrooms, sports, and fighting roles that were once considered exclusively for men. From leadership positions to commanding roles in the Indian Armed Forces, women have broken glass ceilings and have reshaped workplace cultures themselves. Illustration by The Geostrata Their visibility

On 15th May, 2026, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is set to implement the most significant overhaul of its Drug Regulatory Framework in over two decades. Beijing signals a departure from its generic orientation of chemical drug production. This article analyses the technical mechanisms of the “Regulations for the Implementation of the Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China” (State Council Decree No. 828), the global pharmaceutical and geopolitical dri

Wages are a perennial issue in the Indian market, and this was exemplified during the recent labour unrest in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, during the month of April, which brought attention back to India's changing labour laws and the difficult realities of putting them into effect. What started as a protest over pay problems slowly turned into tense fights in some parts of the industrial area. There were reports of injuries and damage to public property, including cars being set on

Lauded for its diversity by the world, India hosts 6 major religions, over 50 recognised tribal faiths, and hundreds of other smaller indigenous traditions within its territory. As a way of preserving this myriad of faiths, personal laws have prevailed in the fabric of our legal structure since colonial times . Acting as a set of regulations governing private matters on grounds of religion, its need, and subsequent impact on national unity and complications in legal admin

Historically, various forms of governments have emerged, ranging from coercive– authoritarian, totalitarian, dictatorial, despotic, fascist, autocratic, to participative models like democracy. Somewhere between the spectrum lie forms of governance like monarchy, oligarchy, kleptocracy, and the very recent ones like broligarchy. These terms may sound similar and at times used interchangeably, but their essence does differ- Same, Same but Different! Illustration by The Geostrat

The Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority (FNTA) is an important step in India's demand redressal and grievance settlement system, in which demands are fulfilled without any harm caused to the national integrity. The FNTA is a carefully curated response to decades-long calls from Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) for more political recognition and developmental justice in eastern Nagaland. Illustration by The Geostrata It came about after talks between the Un

There is an idea so deeply woven into how we build and govern software that most people in the industry have stopped noticing it is even an idea, and the idea is that software is a tool. The human thinks, the software executes. Every SaaS contract ever signed, every product liability ruling ever handed down, every regulatory text written about information technology in the last four decades takes this separation as a given, the way a fish takes water as a given. We talk about

Almost every day, mainstream media reports a tragic incident: ‘a young man died after his car plunged into a water-filled construction pit’, ‘a car disappeared into a flooded underpass, students died in an unsafe basement’, ‘a bridge collapsed days after repair, a construction site caved in, burying many workers alive’, which captures the attention of the nation. The next few days are followed by mourning, outrage, promises of inquiry, and accountability of the responsible au

India has many existing environment-related statutes, institutions, and judicial security. Despite this, activities damaging the environment continue at levels that tend to point to the opposite, namely, that of regulatory failure. Urbanisation-driven encroachments such as those witnessed in Bengaluru’s lakes, large-scale infrastructure projects in fragile Himalayan regions, extractive activities like coal mining in Hasdeo Arand, forest diversion in Central India, and persist

Artificial intelligence is not just another technological wave. It is a structural force reshaping labour markets, education systems, political discourse, warfare , creativity, and even the epistemic foundations of truth. Yet the governance of AI today is overwhelmingly concentrated in the hands of political leaders, regulators, and institutional decision-makers who are neither its primary users nor those who will live longest with its consequences. This is a profound misali

When the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015, it was seen as a rare moment of global alignment, as for the first time, 197 countries accepted a shared framework to respond to climate change while still keeping control over how that response would unfold nationally. It was significant for India because climate change had never been an abstract future risk, as it was already becoming evident in longer summers, erratic monsoons, dried-up farmlands, and increasing pre

A diverse country like India is home to states that differ sharply in income levels, population pressures, geography, and administrative capacity, giving rise to vast and uneven fiscal pressures that can't be fulfilled with a one-size-fits-all system. Illustration by The Geostrata Fiscal Federalism is at the heart of the Indian Economy, sustaining strong Centre-State relations and upholding political legitimacy. In this backdrop, the constitution provides a balance between th

“Leaders like Ajit Pawar continue to earn respect even in their absence as their work speaks volumes”. 28th January was a business-as-usual day for the late Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar . A flight to his favourite karmabhoomi (workplace), Baramati, and addressing the people of his own constituency for the ongoing local body elections in the state. Yet, what wasn't thought of was that this would be the last and final take-off of Maharashtra's development

South Asia is characterized by a geopolitically volatile environment within contemporary global power dynamics. Once viewed as an arena where India’s influence was unquestionable, it is now marked by political uncertainty, regime shifts, never-ending hostilities, security tensions, and competitiveness, along with external influence, particularly China. Collectively, these developments have changed the landscape of South Asia into a contested domain rather than a collaborative

“When the state whose Babasaheb Ambedkar gave India its constitution, stumbles, it's truly a time to do political course correction.” The election season of the year is back in full swing, and this time the boiling pot is Maharashtra. The state with the highest urbanisation index is currently undergoing the process of electing all its urban local bodies in the form of municipalities and municipal corporations. Illustration by The Geostrata It is these elections that matter fo

The partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 did not merely divide territory but set in motion a prolonged geopolitical contest over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Cover by The Geostrata Although the Instrument of Accession legally integrated Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian Union but Pakistan’s invasion and continued occupation of parts of the erstwhile state gave rise to what are now referred to as Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan, and s

The international system was built on the implicit assumption of normalcy for many years. Stable times were thought to be the default state of world affairs, interspersed with sporadic crises that upset the status quo but were eventually resolved, such as wars, economic downturns, and pandemics. Institutions, models of governance, and diplomatic expectations were all influenced by this worldview. That presumption is no longer valid today. Illustration by The Geostrata Instead

The structure of labour laws in India for the past seven decades was not only filled with a web of bureaucracy and complex, sometimes overlapping, rules, but also incompatible with the vision of the new industrial and innovative India. Illustration by The Geostrata This reality was embraced by the Government of India and the Ministry of Labour and Employment when Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya introduced four new bills to the parliament, which replaced the web of the previo

The Sahel is a thin stretch of dry land that cuts across Africa. It sits between the Sahara and the savannas. The resources are scarce, and power is in a vacuum; these pressures pit groups against each other, making the Sahel account for 51 per cent of all terrorism deaths in 2024 . Ethnic tensions run deep. In central Mali and parts of Burkina Faso, the clashes between herders and farmers are now more frequent . These fights didn’t just start recently - instead, they’ve wor