
@TheIndiaForum | JNU history alum, Tobacco, Commodities, Environment, Econ Hist. Hoomin to Bourbon and Baddy. Views personal | @kuncheria.bsky.social
Joined May 2009
- Tweets11.3K
- Following4.4K
- Followers3.4K
- Likes38.4K
Pinned Tweet
A conversation with Prakash Kumar, on his must-read paper on agricultural modernisation in early 20c India. We talked on the longer history of the American interventions in rural India, and its implications for the postcolonial state.
asianstudies.org/modernizati…
Cheri retweeted
Every caring Indian must read this
When most doctors opt for immigration or corporate hospitals Randall chose to work with Adivasis
He asked why they were impoverished
He's now arrested for fighting mining
Will you jail the most idealistic youth among us?
nivarana.org/reality-check/h…
Cheri retweeted
e-Mudhra is digital equivalent of wafer thin highways being built by fly-by-night-operators that we keep collapsing now and then
The rot is “contractorification” of governance . State has abandoned in-sourcing of skills that define standards/protocols, guidelines, budgeting for operations and continuity and skills to audit and assess proactively. These functions are now conducted by “consulting firms” attached to each babu’s desk. Much of these tasks are reverse engineered for a pre-determined tender outcome to get “the vendor”. Most of these tenders go to operators with a defined arrangements. Be it roads, water, digital, cyber, health, municipal services, smart cities, we see vendors with no track record to corner much of this work and operate like syphon machines. Therefore, even half decent initiatives in the last decade have melted away without much change in the ground.
This stems from top and show the difference between Nehru and this regime. Nehru was an instinctive institution builder so he in-sourced talent, procedures and alliances from abroad in the governance to ensure state’s role as an effective enabler is not diluted in new areas that were championed under him - dams/ steel / medicines/ higher education.
The current regime thinks state’s role in terms of summits, selfies and therefore vendors think 4 se kaam chal jayega.
e-Mudhra is a crisis of governance.
Cheri retweeted
As of 5 pm today, this is Jamia. A lot of police personnel are stationed there. 2 hunger strikers are critical after 10 days of putting their bodies on the line by refusing food. They have been taken to the hospital.
Keep your eyes on jamia.
Jamia, we learn resistance from you.
Cheri retweeted
What would be the basis for a demographer-free Demography committee to decide any bunch of people are ‘unusual’ and not Indian?
A dangerous attack on ‘We the people’ now. As if other attacks on the Constitution were not enough.
GN Devy
Since everyone has an opinion on Sharjeel, often without reading him, this is a superb primer on his politics.
theindiaforum.in/politics/po…
Cheri retweeted
This is Aniket father yesterday- in solidarity with Sahil Wakode's parents protesting the deaths of their son exactlty 1 month earlier, at IT Bombay
12 years ago - Aniket Ambhore's parents also lost their son at IT Bombay. Aniket was also a dalit student who had died by suicide at IIT bombay at least 12 years ago, in 2014.
#JusticeForSahil
Cheri retweeted
Poverty, family crisis, and academic aversion have forced 2,914 children in Kerala to drop out mid stream during the 2024–25 academic year.
Lack of interest in studies is the leading direct cause, accounting for 704 cases. When classrooms fail to engage students or bridge learning gaps, disengagement quickly turns into permanent dropouts.
Structural vulnerabilities run deep. Relocation (245 cases), troubled family backgrounds (174 cases), illness/accidents (163 cases), and substance use/priorities (103 cases) push hundreds out of school.
Access to school is not enough. Retention requires active psychological, financial, and digital safety nets. Without holistic intervention, academic dropouts will continue to fuel systemic inequality.
Cheri retweeted
They control everyone including the judiciary, and then they say 'why protest? why not just take part in democracy?'. Absolutely absurd orders.
#BREAKING Special Executive Magistrate Court extends CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka’s judicial custody for two more days.
@Cockroachisback @SauravDassss @AshutoshRanka
Cheri retweeted
Randall is a super kind person. This is a travesty and done intentionally to harass him. Release him ASAP.
On 16 Oct around 11 pm, Odisha police picked up Dr Randall Sequeira and Laxman Naik without a warrant. Phones seized. Held overnight with no access to lawyers or family. Neither is named in the FIR. Dr Sequeira treats Adivasis in these hills. Laxman Naik is a Dalit leader of the Maa Mati Mali Surakhya Manch.
They now face attempt to murder, dacoity and Arms Act charges. Bail refused. Courts are on vacation until 27 October.
This is Fifth Schedule land. Kondh, Paraja and Dalit families have said no — these hills feed their streams, fields and the Indravati river. The Supreme Court upheld the same principle of gram sabha consent at Niyamgiri in 2013.
The state’s answer so far: 43 police cases and more than 100 people jailed in three years.
Every day these two spend in Rayagada jail is a warning to every village that resists.
Defending jal-jangal-jameen is not a crime.
Release Dr Randall Sequeira and Laxman Naik.
#JalJangalZameen #AdivasiRights #FifthSchedule
@aruna_sekhar @Prafulla1951 @Countercurrents @MaktoobMedia @RahulGandhi @INCOdisha
@gutta_rohith @Jairam_Ramesh
Cheri retweeted
Stories of SIR exclusion continue to come through. The ECI's 2023 Manual on Electoral Rolls provides for open public audit of the draft rolls, which starkly contrasts with the opaque high-handed SIR process. The ECI must follow its own manual and prepare authentic voter lists.
At a public hearing held in Okhla yesterday, many people testified that their names had been wrongly deleted from the voter list during the Delhi SIR.
- Naeemuddin has lived at the same address for 30 years. However, his and his wife’s names have been deleted from the draft SIR voter list & they have been wrongly classified as ‘permanently shifted’. The only remedy available now is to submit form 6 & make a false declaration that they are first time voters.
- Ravi came with his voter id card. When we ran it through the ECI database, he was shown as ‘dead’ and therefore deleted from the voter list. But when we looked at all the names listed at his address, we found his name but with a different EPIC number! He said he was not aware of the other EPIC number in his name. One EPIC should have got deleted under “duplicate” category. How did the BLO classify him as “dead”?
- Sameenuddin is one of the nearly 13 lakh voters who were deleted in the pre-SIR phase. He says he voted in the Delhi elections in 2025 but he was not given an enumeration form during the Delhi SIR as his name was deleted from the voter list on the grounds that he had shifted, even though he continues to live at the same address. He did not receive any notice from the ECI when his name was deleted. Now he has to fill Form 6.
The public hearing highlighted how people are being wrongly classified as dead or permanently shifted in the Delhi SIR. The onus is being put on them now to fill Form 6 to restore their names, which means declaring you are applying for inclusion of your name on the electoral roll for the first time- which is clearly a false declaration & carries penal consequences.
The public hearing was organised by Jan Sarokar, Voter Adhikar Manch, MKSS and NFIW.
Cheri retweeted
A terrific response to Surjit Bhalla's argument. Must read. Knowing how Surjit Bhalla got his arguments on bilateral investment treaties wrong, I am not surprised that he got the SIR thing wrong too.
But the most hilarious aspect is this. When Surjit Bhalla's name was left off the electoral roll, he was so angry he wrote a full column, which the Indian Express gladly published. But when crores of people are left out, he writes another column arguing it is a trivial issue.
Cheri retweeted
Even though sugar levels of many students have dropped to dangerous levels, there has barely been any positive news from admin. Many had to drop out because of chest pain.
Cheri retweeted
Can any image capture Gaza’s loneliness more than this? Everyone who defended her was killed. Those who could still help have been distracted by wars. What remains is indifference, betrayal, and abandonment.
May God be with you, Gaza. 💔🇵🇸
Cheri retweeted
NEW | "The entire matter has been diverted towards cheating and then towards Sahil Wakode's merit and reservation."
Deepali Salve (@deepali_writes), AIISCA general secretary, tells Greeshma Kuthar (@jeegujja).
Watch the full video:
youtube.com/watch?v=5GBnngSF…
Cheri retweeted
The million-dollar question. Are the efforts by @BJP4India and @delhipolice to intimidate Indians working? If the detention centre at Pandwalan Khurd is anything to go by, nope, nada, nahin. (And, trust me on this. I was in there).
Beatings, seized phones, and detentions on the outskirts of Delhi.
Read @mrajshekhar's chilling eyewitness account of a crackdown that appears to be fuelling the anger it seeks to contain.
newslaundry.com/2026/10/14/w…
Cheri retweeted
The first CEC, a historic figure; he translated universal adult franchise into reality. Thanks @gurdeepsappal for remembering him at the right time.
Sukumar Sen Went Looking for Voters. His Successors Go Looking for Papers.
thewire.in/history/sukumar-s…




































