ഷാജി കാങ്കപാടാൻ

Int'l development worker.

[Parth MN @parthpunter]

Hey @YouTube, have some shame.

A man who never went to school was the highlight of a nationwide movement.

His commentary on democracy and society was far better and genuine than those with cushy media jobs.

He turns to YouTube, becomes an overnight success, but his channel is terminated.

No reasons given. Shameful

[Martina Navratilova @Martina]

He is such a boastful fool

[Manoranjan Pegu @manoranjanpegu]

61 organizations have released a public statement demanding the release of Pranab Doley and other activists imprisoned in connection with the Kaziranga Land struggle and withdrawal of all fabricated cases !

https://t.co/YWYQX9jrXr

[Bhavesh Makwana @Bhaveshmakwana_]

The Modi government wants to take down this video.

Spread and share it as much as possible.

[Pragnya Gupta @GuptaPragnya]

95 years of hard-earned autonomy. Now under the scanner, this time the ISI

The Indian Statistical Institute (founded 1931 by P.C. Mahalanobis) is not just another campus. It is one of India’s rare institutions that was built on scientific independence, not bureaucratic control. The ISI Act of 1959 recognised it as an Institution of National Importance while preserving its society-based, faculty-driven character.

The new Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026 proposes to scrap that framework. It converts ISI into a statutory body corporate, replaces the representative Council with a government-appointed Board of Governors, and significantly curtails the role of the Academic Council. Faculty and the Institute’s own statutory bodies have publicly said this was done with zero meaningful consultation with them.

The government’s pitch is “modernisation” and alignment with IIT/IIM-style governance. Critics inside ISI argue the opposite: it concentrates power, reduces elected academic voice, and opens the door to external interference in academic decisions. They also note that the 4th Review Committee (Mashelkar) did not recommend repealing the 1959 Act or abolishing the Society structure.

This is not an abstract governance debate. Institutions that produce independent data, rigorous statistical research, and critical inquiry need structural insulation from short-term political or bureaucratic priorities. Once that insulation is thinned, it is hard to restore.
Academic freedom is not a slogan. It is the operating condition of any serious research institute. ISI faculty are right to raise the alarm.

Parliament should insist on genuine consultation with the Institute’s own bodies before rewriting a 95-year-old model that actually worked. Another Premier Institute being Saffronised and being brought under RSS Siege.

[Vijay Prashad @vijayprashad]

On a day when air-conditioning sounded good, I went to see Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. And, this is what I found: https://t.co/11haiTbpUs

[Lokesh Bag @lokeshbag67]

She is not a criminal. She isn't carrying a weapon. She is just an Adivasi woman fighting for Jal-Jangal-Jameen and her constitutional rights.

This is how she is being treated. There are countless others facing the same. Why is nobody talking about them??
#KenBetwa #Bundelkhand

[Anjali @anjali__27]

With ​#ArundhatiRoy
We refuse to be the 'good, polite subjects'!

They try to police our clothes, language, bodies & politics. But this generation will break every cage & laugh in the face of tyranny!

In solidarity with Ruchika Singh & every unbowed young voice!

[Paul Anleitner @PaulAnleitner]

Chinese PhD student should win awards for this interview with Christopher Nolan.

She was fantastic.

“We turn greatness into privileges and demand apologies from it. That’s a fact of Hollywood.”

[Sr.Sinha @AdhirSinha]

End Days of Swami Vivekananda
at Belur.
He passed away in 1902 at the age of just 39. It was 9:10 p.m. at Belur Math.

It was reported that that night his disciples had prepared Hilsa fish. He had early supper and took bed. He was an acute diabetic, yet made no limitations of food. In fact he had jastic n other diseases also.

Words spread in the morning.
Yet no news reporters arrived, and remarkably, none of the newspapers published in Bengal carried the news of his death the following day. Nor did any prominent political leader or celebrated Bengali publicly express condolences. It is astonishing to think about.
In fact those days Daksineswar and Belur were known as residencies of lunatics.

Throughout his short life, Swami Vivekananda endured humiliation, neglect, and repeated rejection.
His father's was a wealthy lawyer. After his death, his uncles drove them out from their house.He had to fight legal battles with relatives over family property and had to appear in court on numerous occasions.

His mother lived in extreme poverty. Every morning he would leave home in search of employment, wandering from office to office. Many days, knowing there was no rice, lentils, oil, or salt at home to feed his mother, he would tell his mother, "Don't cook for me today, Mother. I've been invited to a friend's house for dinner." In reality, there was no invitation. He often went hungry so that the rest of the family could eat.

He struggled with poverty throughout his life. At the age of 23, he secured a teaching position at the Metropolitan Institution, founded by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
However, the headmaster—Vidyasagar's son-in-law—disliked Narendra Nath Datta and reportedly had him dismissed, alleging that he did not teach well. This happened despite his extraordinary intellect, scholarship, and eloquence.

Even abroad, a Bengali religious leader allegedly spread false rumours that Vivekananda had several wives, ten or twelve children, and was nothing more than a fraud and a gambler. 💥

"Many times I have passed days without food. I felt that perhaps I would die that very day. Then I would rise, crying, 'Victory to Brahman!' and declare: 'I have no fear. I know neither death nor hunger. I am beyond thirst. What power does the world have to destroy me?'"

When the ailing Swami Vivekananda returned to Calcutta after achieving worldwide acclaim, many prominent Bengalis reportedly declined to attend or organise a public reception in his honour. Eventually, Paryichand Mitra agreed but is said to have remarked that since Vivekananda was a Kayastha rather than a Brahmin, he could not truly be a monk and would therefore address him merely as "Brother Vivekananda."

By 1898, Americans were deeply inspired by his speeches and writings, while many in his own homeland remained indifferent.
That same year, the sick Swami consulted the renowned physician Dr. Rasiklal Dutt at his clinic on Sadar Street in Calcutta.

There is no known photograph of Swami Vivekananda after his death. Nor is there an officially preserved death certificate, despite the existence of the Bally–Belur Municipality at the time.
Ironically, that same municipality imposed an amusement tax on Belur Math.
Some people even mocked the monastery, dismissing it as a gathering place for idle young men and using insulting nicknames such as "Bichitra Ananda" or "Bibi-ka-Ananda"—
Being frustated he once said,
"Only another Vivekananda could truly understand what this Vivekananda has accomplished."

Swami Vivekananda now is
revered across India and around the world. Yet during his own lifetime, he endured poverty, insults, and neglect.
Collected n edited

[Avi Lewis @avilewis]

To the thousands of WestJet flight attendants who are out on strike against unpaid work: the NDP stands with you.

Your fight is the fight of every worker who is sick and tired of getting pushed around by big corporations — people who are working harder than ever and still struggling to get ahead, while a handful of CEOs keep getting richer. Millions of Canadians will be cheering you on today.

The right to strike is not an inconvenience, it's a cornerstone of our democracy. That's why the Liberal government must not use Section 107 to force flight attendants back to work, as it did with Air Canada workers last year. Canadians won't soon forget if the Prime Minister intervenes on behalf of WestJet this time around.

This strike is about basic fairness, dignity and respect. No one should be expected to work for free.

[Sujit Nair @sujitnair90]

India may well be the only democracy where the mainstream media questions the Opposition more than it questions the government.

History will record this. And I doubt it will judge them kindly.

[Brett Erickson @BrettErickson28]

If you’re an American who does not travel internationally often, you likely don’t understand the disdain that people around the world have for the United States.

Over the last 3 years, I have traveled to 38 countries across all continents besides Antarctica. Very frequently I have had comments made about Trump, about the United States, and the burden the U.S. is creating for people around the world.

Something major needs to change about how the United States conducts itself on the global stage. Carrying a big stick that you mishandle constantly is not the flex many Americans think it is.

[𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐦 @Malcolm_Pal9]

Day after day, Greta Thunberg shows more courage than many world leaders. She is a true activist.

"It's okay to feel heartbroken and terrified about the state of the world..."~Greta Thunberg.

[ഷാജി കാങ്കപാടാൻ @Kangapadan]

@GailVazOxlade I stopped too. Hoping the US will be liberated from Trump and his pedophile buddies, and better times will return.

[Jayati Ghosh @Jayati1609]

A great explainer and analysis from @NiveditaMenon1
https://t.co/YIUR14qTbf

[ഷാജി കാങ്കപാടാൻ @Kangapadan]

@MadelnCanada Insulin.

[Gabbar @Gabbar0099]

Nailed it 🔥

Naseeruddin Shah 🔥👏

[RT @RT_com]

BBC reporter: 'Sounds like you’re saying 1 Jewish life is worth 100s of 1,000s of Palestinian lives'

Israeli West Bank settler: 'No. MILLION. 1 Jewish life, it’s 10 million, ok'

BBC: 'That just sounds racist'

Settler: 'Yes. I know. But it’s the truth. Because God chose us'

[Seema Chishti @seemay]

Why isn't the Delhi police revealing this?
What is the exact quantity of tear gas and munition via pellet guns used on marchers?
The Supreme Court will definitely ask and ensure we get this out, as we should.