Sumedhapal

Bilingual correspondent producing for @BBCIndia | Formerly at @thewire_in + @newsclickin 🌸

[Sumedhapal @Sumedhapal4]

The world's biggest rural job guarantee scheme which supports over 150 million people is in jeopardy.
My latest for @jacobin on NREGA.
And how people's movements in India are fighting back to keep it alive.
👇🏼

[Jacobin @jacobin]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot discontinue India’s popular rural job guarantee, the country’s most significant antipoverty program. He’s taken to underfunding and “appifying�� it instead.
https://t.co/0MuNAfoZNk

[News24 @news24tvchannel]

बिहार चुनाव के नतीजों पर पप्पू यादव ने दिया बड़ा बयान

◆ सुनिए उन्होंने क्या कहा

#BiharElection2025 | Bihar Election 2025 | #ElectionOnNews24 | #News24 | #BiharElection2025 | Bihar Election 2025 | बिहार विधानसभा चुनाव 2025

[Vishnukant Tiwari @vishnukant_7]

Members of LGBTQ+ community consumed phenyl in Madhya Pradesh's Indore alleging incidents of rape and abuse....

Over 20 have been admitted to hospital.

Byte: LGBTQ+ community rep Karan

[Chirag Thakkar @chiraghthakkar]

Over the many years I've known Anand Teltumbde, I've always admired and carried with me his remarkable friendship, warmth, courage, and kindness. It gives me so much joy to announce his newest book - likely his most vulnerable and tender yet - his prison memoir, ‘The Cell and the Soul’

I will be eternally grateful to the incredible Arundhati Roy for making time to read advance proofs of Anand’s book and send her endorsement in the lead-up weeks to her own memoir on her mother. Also to @tmkrishna, @Ram_Guha and Shanta Tai, all of whom generously agreed to endorse this heartbreaking and powerful book.

As most of us know, Anand Teltumbde entered the Taloja Central Prison as accused number 10 in the Bhima Koregaon case and spent 31 months as an undertrial until he was released on bail. As an intellectual who was stripped of his freedom, he lays bares the chilling realities of India’s prisons in his gut-wrenching prison memoir. Part memoir, part diary, The Cell and the Soul is a descent into the heart of India’s carceral state, ripping open the belly of the beast-the prison industrial complex-and exposing the brutal, pulsating injustice within.

From the echoing silence of his cell, Teltumbde writes of a heartless state that criminalises dissent with political imprisonment, of the relentless grind of injustice, and the profound cost of speaking truth to power. His prison writing is but a synecdoche for thousands of nameless, faceless undertrials who languish in India’s jails.

This is a raw, unvarnished testament of a man incarcerated for his convictions, a powerful indictment of a democracy devouring its own. Rare is writing so tender and searing it dares us to confront the darkness within each of us and seek our own freedoms.

It has been a real privilege to collaborate with @siddheshgautam on this stunning cover.

The book is out of pre-order now and you can get a copy here: https://t.co/XfqnHXmxdA

[Sumedhapal @Sumedhapal4]

What fun and queer joy working on this stunning story for @BBCHindi on Delhi’s queer and built heritage history that we often show inattentive blindness to. While ‘pride month’ may be over, may we continue to honour our histories and queer ancestors through all seasons.

[BBC News Hindi @BBCHindi]

दिल्ली की इन ऐतिहासिक इमारतों में राजा-रानियों या सुल्तानों की कहानियों के अलावा भी कई दिलचस्प किस्से मौजूद हैं. हालांकि जब हम दिल्ली की इन इमारतों की बात करते हैं तब हम इनमें मौजूद प्यार, जुनून, पहचान और बग़ावत की कहानियों को कई बार नज़रअंदाज़ कर देते हैं. ऐसी ही कहानियों के कई किरदार एलजीबीटीक्यू यानी क्वीर ���मुदाय से हैं. तो आज सुनते हैं इनकी ही कहानी...

रिपोर्ट: @Sumedhapal4
वीडियो: दानिश आलम

[Piyush Rai @Benarasiyaa]

The UK-based families of the victims who died in the Air India (AI 171) crash are considering legal action against the airline and aircraft manufacturer Boeing in UK courts over enhanced compensation: Reports

[Chirag Thakkar @chiraghthakkar]

When I asked @poonamjourno to consider doing a book on the beast that is the Indian general election and #electoralbonds, little did I know that we'd manage to do it in such a record time. Poonam's relentless investigative work on electoral bonds and the lack of transparency around it would go on to make history in helping enable one of the most landmark judgements of the #SupremeCourt that struck down the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional.

I'm so proud to announce that Poonam's account of how elections are fought, lost and won in India has gone on pre-order today - a year after the pathbreaking SC judgement was delivered.

Endorsed by a former Supreme Court Judge, two former Election Commissioners; Members of Parliament; leaders in opposition; deep democracy and accountability advocates; and the most fierce and free-thinking journalists in contemporary India, 'India Inked' is the most definitive account of how money and muscle power are in bed together in India's political ecology.

This is a career highlight for me and I'd urge anyone who cares about the health of our democracy to read it.

Pre-order it here:

https://t.co/rcj8bVNnzx

@sardesairajdeep
@suchetadalal
@AshokLavasa
@JagdeepChhokar
@nramind
@DrSYQuraishi
@_YogendraYadav
@sampitroda
@BloomsburyIndia

[Sumedhapal @Sumedhapal4]

@chiraghthakkar Yayyyyyyy go CT ❤️❤️🌸🤲🏻🤲🏻🤲🏻

[Nitin Srivastava @Tweetnitins]

What about those who can’t afford to leave #DelhiNCR due to excessive #AirPollution? @Sumedhapal4 reports:

[Rohin Bhatt🏳️‍🌈 @BhattRohin]

Spent the publication day morning talking about the book and all things queer with @Sumedhapal4 for @BBCIndia

[Ashis Basu 🇨🇦 ashis.bluesky.social @BasuAshis]

Following a damning report into Kerala’s Malayalam-language movie scene, ⁦@Sumedhapal4⁩ has been talking to actors, directors and producers to understand what's going on, and how the MeToo movement has changed the working environment for women.

🎧 https://t.co/qsY2NiliBv

[Ishadrita Lahiri @ishadrita]

#HaryanaElections: The state has over 8k voters above the age of 100 and over 2L above the age of 85. @Sumedhapal4 speaks to some of these elderly voters who tell the story of politics then and now. Watch ⬇️

https://t.co/zK8X6kmyPU

[Ishadrita Lahiri @ishadrita]

केरल से बॉलीवुड तकः हेमा कमिटी की रिपोर्ट से कैसे ज़िंदा हुई #MeToo की बहस. My story with @Sumedhapal4 for @BBCHindi
https://t.co/Wm9H5F79ek

[VINTA NANDA @vintananda]

@bitchitra @JuhiFilms @BBCIndia Thank you for sharing this piece. Wonderfully put together by @Sumedhapal4

[Bitchitra Collective: Indian Women in Documentary @bitchitra]

In the wake of the Hema Committee report, @JuhiFilms, and @vintananda among others speak to @BBCIndia about working conditions in Mumbai today. Thank you for the shoutout to Bitchitra Collective. So glad the collective brings strength.✊🏾

https://t.co/l8Fo41JdZE

[VINTA NANDA @vintananda]

This is a piercing story by @Sumedhapal4 for @BBCHindi as follow up to #hemacommitteereport about where the #MeToo movement stands today.

https://t.co/HMMn4NIx2F

The silencing of @shout_thefilm is testament to how the censor board has buried the issue.

[Sumedhapal @Sumedhapal4]

@PoorviGupta08 @Article14live This is a fantastic report @PoorviGupta08

[Sumedhapal @Sumedhapal4]

@chiraghthakkar @scroll_in @NatureMorte @tajmahalfoxtrot @Thukralandtagra ❤️❤️❤️

[Chirag Thakkar @chiraghthakkar]

I write for @scroll_in on the labour it takes for us to reclaim our attention economies and the need to engage with our biospheres in response to Thukral & Tagra’s new art show ‘Arboretum.’

@NatureMorte
@tajmahalfoxtrot
@Thukralandtagra

https://t.co/msAsPeuvyc

[Soutik Biswas @soutikBBC]

This is "close to a worst-case scenario for India, as it has long viewed any alternative to Ms Hasina and her party as a threat to Indian interests," @MichaelKugelman says. My piece on what Sheikh Hasina's departure means for India. https://t.co/uOYxuJo51C

[Jayashree Nandi @jayashreenandi]

#Centre will submit its views on need for amending #ForestConservationAmendmentAct2023 in SC; There will be surveillance towers and geo-fencing to oversee #tribal settlements of the #Shompen in #GreatNicobar, env min informs #RajyaSabha https://t.co/U7ZC5ejtl8