N. Ram

Director, The Hindu Publishing Group (THG); former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu Group of Publications; Trustee, Asian College of Journalism, Chennai

[Warren Gunnels @GunnelsWarren]

If Bernie's 5% annual wealth tax on billionaires had been enacted in 2012, Elon Musk would be worth less than $365 billion instead of the $834 billion that he's worth today. He'd still be the wealthiest man alive & every senior would have dental, vision & hearing under Medicare.

[N. Ram @nramind]

Read “FCRA Bill — expanding state control over civil society,” an important editorial page lead article by P. Wilson, Senior Advocate and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), in The Hindu, June 12, 2026:
https://t.co/4B2ewjAfBz

[N. Ram @nramind]

Captivating & Ongoing: Hornbill Saga of Lodhi Garden New Delhi | Mystery of Pied & Grey Hornbil... https://t.co/AWm2yOICYL via @YouTube

On Nature
“The poetry of the earth is never dead.” — John Keats

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” — Albert Einstein

On the Hornbill
“The hornbill carries the spirit of the forest on its beak.” — paraphrase of a common motif in the Naga and Bornean oral traditions

“The hornbill is the farmer of the forest” — a conservation saying.

“Trust is the mud the hornbill uses to seal the nest.” — (Anthropic’s) Claude

[Shabbir Ahmed @Ahmedshabbir20]

TN women’s commission urges UGC to reinstate SRM professor fired over anti-war remarks

https://t.co/4RCDDFZz12

[N. Ram @nramind]

Don’t miss this important article by Gideon Haigh published today in Cricket et. al. today:

https://t.co/BZhxgJndJR

“Like everyone with a cricket bone in their body,” Gideon finds himself “dazzled by the talent and poise of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who did not just dominate the recent Indian Premier League but rather defined it.” Yet, the writer argues justly, with careful verification, sensitivity, and balance, “the question of Sooryavanshi’s age, officially fifteen, will not go away.” ��To my enjoyment of watching him,” Gideon declares, “I should state, it would make no difference whether he is fifteen or twenty-five…To the issue, however, I can’t affect the same post-truth nonchalance. For if Sooryavanshi is older than acknowledged, the consequences could be far reaching for others.”

Gideon looks into a 2023 interview given by Suryavananshi and other information that seem to contradict the claim that he is only 15 in 2026. The writer contextualises the question by citing no less than Rahul Dravid who spoke his mind on “the scourge of overage players in junior matches” and the fairly widespread practice of “age-fudging” at the junior level, with the collusion of coaches, parents, and others, in his MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture given in New Delhi in December 2015. Dravid’s remarks have no direct bearing, of course, on the question of Survayanshi’s age and, in any case, the child prodigy, going by the date of birth presented in his official bio, March 27, 2011 (https://t.co/BYFG5cyNkU), was only four years old at the time.

Gideon gives due credit to the BCCI for grasping “the potential for age and domicile fraud,” tightening its bone density testing regime, closing other loopholes, and sanctioning several overage cricketers caught fudging their age at the junior level. But the BCCI now has this particular, highly sensitive responsibility: to act “to dispel all ambiguity with thorough enquiries and unassailable evidence of Sooryavanshi’s birthdate; most of all would it be fair to Sooryavanshi, whose achievements might otherwise be shaded by unnecessary ‘controversy’.”

Gideon Haigh’s essay, “Boy wondering,” is sports journalism, cricket journalism with a literary flavour, at its best.

[N. Ram @nramind]

An interesting story, well told by BBC News: https://t.co/2tKyrvigrH

[N. Ram @nramind]

In this article published in The Hindu (May 27, 2026), K. Venkataramanan offers a lucid analysis of how the law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of India in a 2019 judgment, deals with the interplay between the disqualification and resignation of legislators and the limited options available to the Speaker to act on these matters. This judgment is relevant to the disqualification & resignation drama being played out within and outside the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in May 2026.

Here is the official link to the binding November 13, 2019 judgment of the Supreme Court of India:
https://t.co/wid5F261sH
This well-reasoned and judicious judgment was delivered by the Bench of Justices N.V. Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna, and Krishna Murari of the Supreme Court of India in WP(C) No. 992 of 2019 (Shrimanth Balasaheb Patil) and the connected petitions (WP(C) Nos. 997, 998, 1000 of 2019 and others). The issues revolved round the disqualification of Karnataka MLAs by the Speaker. The Conclusion can be read on pages 108-111 of the pdf text.

[N. Ram @nramind]

Here’s another AI-generated summary of what the Government of India has blocked relating to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP):

X (Twitter) account — On 21 May 2026, the CJP’s official X account was withheld in India in response to a legal demand. MeitY ordered the restriction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, acting on inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). The IB cited “national security concerns” and a threat to the “sovereignty of India,” arguing that CJP’s content was inflammatory and gaining rapid traction among youth. The block was reportedly issued when the account had around 90,000 followers.

Official website — On 23 May 2026, the official website was taken down. This happened after the website started an online petition asking for the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, blaming him for the NEET 2026 paper leak.

Instagram — Officials also indicated that a process to block the party’s Instagram account was underway at the time the X account was restricted, though it is not entirely clear from available reports whether that block was formally executed.

For context: the CJP was launched only a week before the blocks as a satirical movement to protest remarks by Chief Justice Surya Kant, who was widely reported to have referred to India’s unemployed youth as “cockroaches” and “parasites” during a hearing. Within days of its launch, the fake party had garnered more followers on some social media platforms than India’s main political parties. MeitY invoked Section 69A of the IT Act to issue the order after intelligence agencies raised concerns about allegedly inflammatory posts and potential threats to India’s sovereignty and integrity.

[N. Ram @nramind]

Watch this: The Hindu’s “In Focus [Video] Podcast | Cockroach Janata Party: What does it mean to represent India’s ‘cockroaches’?”

The Hindu’s Podcast and Social Affairs Editor, G. Sampath, interviews Abhijeet Dipke, founder president of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP):
https://t.co/qEZhKt9QKz

Is this a flash in the pan? Or does it signify something deeper that is gathering force in society and in the polity?

In any case, the phenomenal support this part-satirical, part-serious startup/experiment has drawn online seems to have rattled the BJP-led Union government. The anxiety, verging on panic, generated has been enough for the Hindutva regime to order the ‘witholding’ of CJP’s X (ex-Twitter) handle and the taking down of its website! Is there more to come?

(Note: This is not to provide any political certification for the programme and policies, as announced, by the ‘Cockroach Janata Party’.)

[N. Ram @nramind]

Parody as National Security Threat!

Here are some reports & posts on the panicked blocking moves against the just-launched Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), considering the clear and present threat it poses to ‘national security’ and the ‘sovereignty and integrity’ of India’!

https://t.co/SvNzK0Kzpy

In 'Cockroach Janta Party' handle, Government sees ...The Indian Expresshttps://indianexpress.com › ...

Cockroach Janta Party website taken downThe Times of Indiahttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com › ...

https://t.co/O91CONZGey

And here is an AI-generated summary (to be verified) of what the Government of India has blocked relating to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP):

X (ex-Twitter) account — On 21 May 2026, the CJP’s official X account was withheld in India in response to a legal demand. MeitY ordered the restriction under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, acting on inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). The IB cited “national security concerns” and a threat to the “sovereignty of India,” arguing that CJP’s content was inflammatory and gaining rapid traction among youth. The block was reportedly issued when the account had around 90,000 followers.

Official website — On 23 May 2026, the official website was taken down. This happened after the website started an online petition asking for the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, blaming him for the NEET 2026 paper leak.

Instagram — Officials also indicated that a process to block the party’s Instagram account was underway at the time the X account was restricted, though it is not entirely clear from available reports whether that block was formally executed.

[P. Sainath @PSainath_org]

Even by the standards of a country ranking 157 of 180 nations in the World Press Freedom Index, the reaction of the authorities to the ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ is beyond extraordinary. The public response to that imaginative prank should have signalled to them a deep discontent, even distress, among young people. Instead, as The Indian Express reported, it was framed as jeopardising the country’s ‘national security’ and ‘posing a threat to the sovereignty of India.’ Decades ago, the Malaysian lawyer and poet Cecil Rajendra wrote this brilliant poem that captures the idiocy of it better than any pompous editorialising could (not that our ‘mainstream’ media would dare do even that much).

[N. Ram @nramind]

Read this important editorial, “Coerced consent: On sedition,” in The Hindu. The proposition is simple and unanswerable: The colonial offence of sedition, which the Indian state has not infrequently used as “a tool to quell dissent,” is irreconcilable with India’s republican Constitution; and it is the constitutional duty of the Supreme Court of India “to set aside sedition as constitutionally unsustainable.” However, “instead of determining once and for all whether sedition as a criminal offence is constitutionally sustainable, the Court has passed the burden to the accused and declined to do its own duty.”
https://t.co/NzBWsHYPkL

[N. Ram @nramind]

Don’t miss this podcast by D. Suresh Kumar, The Hindu’s Deputy Resident Editor, Tamil Nadu: “Vijay, TVK and the rise of fake political narratives | Focus Tamil Nadu”: https://t.co/c1T5NMkCWs via @YouTube

[N. Ram @nramind]

The National Testing Agency (NTA) is worse than a national disgrace: given its repeated, egregious failure to root out corruption and fraud in the conduct of common entrance examinations, it is a clear and present danger to the well-being, especially the mental health, of millions of young men and women. As The Hindu’s editorial comments: “It would be a crime to allow the NTA to continue with its inept conduct of common entrance exams…NEET [National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test] was introduced as a measure to bring into play a single, standardised, and transparent entrance exam for medical admissions. But the transparency that it has so far shown is of an entirely different kind: leaks and breaches of confidentiality.” https://t.co/GIbzXp91RM

[Bar and Bench @barandbench]

#Breaking

Delhi High Court quashes the Central government decision rejecting The Wire founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan's plea for an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card.

Varadarajan wanted to get his Person of Indian Origin (PIO) status converted into an OCI.

@svaradarajan #OCI

[N. Ram @nramind]

Courtesy and decency in politics, given and reciprocated — a good start for Tamil Nadu’s new Chief Minister, Vijay. Irrespective of what happens in the State’s political theatre in future, this example of civil and dignified political behaviour by the two main protagonists — former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and the present Chief Minister — must be appreciated, welcomed, and emulated across India.

[M.K.Stalin @mkstalin]

மாண்புமிகு தமிழ்நாடு முதலமைச்சராகப் பொறுப்பேற்றுள்ள திரு. விஜய் அவர்கள் அரசியல் நாகரிகத்துடன் என்னைச் சந்தித்து வாழ்த்து பெற்றார்.

அவருக்கு என் அன்புநிறை வாழ்த்துகளையும், ஆலோசனைகளையும் வழங்கினேன்.

@TVKVijayHQ @Udhaystalin

[N. Ram @nramind]

Correction: It should read MLAs-elect (not MLA-elects). There is no such term in vogue, at least not in general use but it is needed in this situation.

[N. Ram @nramind]

Read this lead editorial in The Hindu on the formation of a TVK (108 MLA-elects) + Congress (5 MLA-elects) coalition government in Tamil Nadu in a House of 234: https://t.co/s9dIEdNiBW The editorial rightly contends that “A TVK government with aligned parties was the only viable post-poll outcome.” But there are credible but unverified media reports that about 35 AIADMK MLAs, shepherded by opportunist powermongers, are on the verge of breaking away from the control of AIADMK chief, former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), joining the TVK camp, and even taking up ministerial positions. If these reports come true, how aligned in ideological, political, and policy terms will the new coalition government be? It is important to ensure that whoever — a single party or a coalition — is in office in Tamil Nadu, it should remain staunchly secular, democratic, opposed to communalism, unitariness, and authoritarianism, and committed to the realization of the State’s legitimate rights. Further, it must promote equitable economic and social development and, in equal measure, press on with soundly designed and well-delivered welfare programmes.

[N. Ram @nramind]

Fact: The AAADMK is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and it is aligned with the NDA’s policies on virtually all counts. The AIADMK has not differentiated or distanced itself from the BJP’s and the Union Government’s authoritarian policies and assaults on secularism, democracy, minorities, and State rights. The Press Release of May 6, 2026 signed by Girish Chodankar, ‘AICC In charge Tamil Nadu’ of the All India Congress Committee stated in emphatic terms: “Our support shall be conditional upon the TVK keeping out from this alliance any communal forces that do not believe in the Constitution of India.” It is one thing for MLAs belonging to other parties, including opposition parties, to support the formation of a government by the single largest party, which in any case is close to attaining a majority, in a confidence vote on the floor of the House. That would be in keeping with the democratic tradition of respecting the people’s verdict. But incorporating in the alliance and in a coalition government a party that is aligned with the BJP is a wholly different matter. If it is to happen, the AIADMK must come out of the NDA alliance and demonstrate its secular and democratic credentials.

[N. Ram @nramind]

விஜய்க்கு ஆதரவளிக்க விசிக முடிவு செய்துள்ளத���ல், எண்ணிக்கை 118-ஐ எட்டியது -- ஆளுநருக்கு இனி வேறு வழியில்லை! மத்திய அரசின் முட்டுக்கட்டை அரசியல் படுதோல்வி.

Thirumavalavan to announce VCK's support to TVK shortly - https://t.co/jXAv1cnW5d