Vrinda Sharma

Independent journalist, formerly @NDTVindia (pre-Adani), '24 Media Fellow @guardian & @uni_of_essex, currently at:

[Vrinda Sharma @vrindajourno]

My grandmother, Mrs Kamal Kanta Sharma, passed away on the 19th of October, 2020. She loved having an audience, hence sharing the link to her obituary that I wrote for her. It's a short history of the life of a fascinating woman.
https://t.co/WXa4fCMcCo

#obituary #Grandma #dadi

[Alok Putul @thealokputul]

किसान ?

काग़ज़ों में भले किसानों के लिए बड़े बड़े दावे हों लेकिन पहली बरसात में जिन 110 किसानों का सब कुछ बर्बाद हो गया, उनकी दशा देखने की फुर्सत किसी अधिकारी के पास नहीं है.

खबर बस्तर की है.

[ParanjoyGuhaThakurta @paranjoygt]

The Telegraph editor’s passport not being renewed in Kolkata

Note from R. Rajagopal
Former Editor, The Telegraph
——-
In March this year, my name was deleted from the Ballygunge constituency electoral roll in Kolkata, apparently because the Special Intensive Revision process could not trace either my name or that of my late father in the 2002 voters' list. My father, a Gandhian, retired professor and former State Secretary of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in Kerala, passed away in 2016. I remain unable to understand how a conscientious voter like him could have been absent from the rolls.

Like nearly 27 lakh other residents of West Bengal, I was excluded on account of what were described as “logical discrepancies”. No reason was furnished even after I submitted my matriculation certificate, and my appeal is now pending before one of the tribunals constituted pursuant to the Supreme Court's directions. As a consequence, I was unable to vote in the recent election.

More distressing has been the fate of my passport renewal application. Although I completed the biometric formalities on March 19, 2026, police verification has not been cleared because my name no longer appears on the electoral roll. Despite submitting several alternative documents, I have been informed that they are insufficient. In fact, today (June 27, 2026) is the 100th day since my biometrics for passport renewal were taken. I was formally informed last week by the passport-issuing authority that Kolkata Police sent an adverse report, citing the deletion of my name from the voters' list. I have been asked to appear before the Regional Passport Office in Calcutta "immediately" but when I sought an appointment, without which it is difficult to gain entry, the date granted is July 17, 2026.

In between, our daughter, a journalist in California, got married in San Francisco on April 17. Needless to say, it would have been impossible for me to attend the wedding in the absence of an active passport, notwithstanding my possession of a valid ten-year US visa.

For all practical purposes, I find myself in a state of civic uncertainty although recently the government iterated that a passport is no proof of citizenship. Much of my time is now consumed by efforts to reconstruct family records and secure documents dating back several decades….

My days begin with checking my voting right appeal status and then the passport tracker. Then I write to the college where my mother taught in 1965 and to her school from where she passed out in 1959, asking for any document that proves she existed. The school has been very helpful but not the college. Similarly, I speak to prohibition campaign activists in Kerala, running down a list I collected after coming across an activist's name in a group by chance, asking for any news clipping or photographs that show my father campaigning against illegal liquor vends and communalism.

Some close friends and public figures have helped me in all these efforts. However, I am unaware if any media outlet or journalists' association or guild (of which I am not a member) has shown any interest in my situation. A senior journalist reminded me that this situation is by no means unique as "rejection" has been the daily certainty confronting millions of Indians for centuries. I accept that point.

My intention has never been to project myself as a victim. Rather, I have wanted to underline a larger point: if someone who spent his professional life in journalism and edited a relatively known newspaper can encounter such difficulties, one can only imagine what the truly marginalised must endure. Did I approach any newspaper? No, because I do not want it to become an issue concerning me. Do editors and journalists know about my issue? Of course, several do. If they don't, they should not be in the profession, don't you think?

Yet, the complete silence of newspapers on this issue has confirmed my suspicion, now reinforced with personal experience, that so-called mainstream journalism has little to do with my life. I do not "read" any newspaper now. I glance at some but hardly find anything that piques my interest.

[Vrinda Sharma @vrindajourno]

Big brother, big chacha, big mama, big phuphaji all are watching

[Sushant Singh @SushantSin]

WTF is this. The last para.

[Sushant Singh @SushantSin]

For a state police that boasts of encounters, not surprising that it can't dare to even register an FIR for the theft in the Ayodhya temple.

[Dhanya Rajendran @dhanyarajendran]

Activist who imported oxygen concentrators to save lives during COVID gets Customs notice.

When the government didn't rise to the occasion, citizens did. Now, they will be punished for it???

Ridiculous

https://t.co/unXJxvWxNF

[Arvind Gunasekar @arvindgunasekar]

Centre bans Telegram until June 22, 2026 for NEET UG 2026 re-exams.

[Anjali Bhardwaj @AnjaliB_]

Trust in the electoral process going up in flames! There have been serious questions raised about the conduct of elections in West Bengal. It’s not yet 45 days since elections took place in the state - there is still time left to file petitions challenging the results. Now that the EVMs have been destroyed in the fire, how will the Courts satisfy themselves that there was no wrongdoing?

[Anuja Jaisswal @AnujaJaiswalTOI]

Amid concerns over shortages of two critical #cancermedicines, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (#NPPA) has approved a 50% #hike in the ceiling prices of #Carboplatin and #Cisplatin injections, citing escalating raw material costs and supply concerns. The regulator has also revised prices of anti-tetanus immunoglobulin and three key #childhood #vaccines to ensure their continued availability. @nppa_india @MoHFW_INDIA @timesofindia

[Dainik Bhaskar @DainikBhaskar]

जलसंसाधन मंत्री सुरेश सिंह रावत की ढाणी में ही जल संकट: 4-6 दिन में सप्लाई, घरों में JJM के 3-3 कनेक्शन, फिर भी नल सूखे... 13 गांवों पर सिर्फ एक डॉक्टर
#WaterCrisis #JalJeevanMission #Rajasthan

अधिक खबरें और ई-पेपर पढ़ने के लिए दैनिक भास्कर एप इंस्टॉल करें - https://t.co/xvtHwBtpmP

[Ranvijay Singh @ranvijaylive]

पश्चिम बंगाल के अलीपुर में एक सरकारी इमारत में आग लग गई.

इस इमारत में वो EVM रखी गई थीं, ज‍िससे हाल ही में व‍िधानसभा चुनाव हुए थे. आग की वजह से 4000 EVM जलकर खाक हो गईं.

तस्‍वीरें 👇

[Aunindyo Chakravarty @Aunindyo2023]

4,000 EVMs got destroyed in a fire in West Bengal.

Were these EVMs used in the recent elections?

If yes, then in which polling booths?

Including buffers ~ 1 lakh EVMs would've been used in Bengal.

If these 4,000 are part of them, that's 4% of EVMs used.

Real journalists would investigate and find the answers.

But I, for one, won't hold my breath.

[Piyush Rai @Benarasiyaa]

During an event in Jaipur, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav was highlighting the achievements of the Modi government over the past 12 years when three back-to-back power outages interrupted the proceedings. The programme later continued with the help of mobile phone torches and camera lights.

[Manish RJ @mrjethwani1]

We are literally consuming poisonous chemicals every day. The country has become a sh!thole. RIP to me & everyone in advance. 🙃

[Hridayesh Joshi @hridayeshjoshi]

सुबह सुबह ये बात मैं बहुत भारी मन से लिख रहा हूं। पिछले कुछ महीनों के फील्ड वर्क, रिसर्च, अध्ययन और विशेषज्ञों से बात के बाद मेरा यह विश्वास और दृढ़ हुआ है कि हम आधुनिकता और संपत्ति के डेरे, जो हमारे शहर बना रहे हैं वो हमारी नेचुरल वेल्थ और संसाधनों को पूरी तरह नष्ट कर रहे हैं।
जो झीलें, तालाब और जलधारायें हमारे पास हुआ करती थीं उनका जलागम नष्ट करके पिछले कुछ दशकों में ये शहरी बसावटें खड़ी की गईं हैं और इस कारण पैदा हुआ ख़तरा हम नहीं देख पा रहे।
सच ये है कि शहरों ने न केवल आसपास की वॉटर बॉडीज़ को प्रदूषित और नष्ट कर दिया है वह दूर दराज़ के गांवों और कस्बों का पानी खींचकर अपनी जल संकट की भरपाई कर रहे हैं।
बढ़ते हीटआईलैंड प्रभाव के पीछे एक कारण यह भी है। हमारे शहरों में ग्राउंड वॉटर की समस्या का बढ़ना इसका एक और संकेतक है। मैंने कार्बनकॉपी पॉडकास्ट के लिए इस बारे में दो विशेषज्ञों आईआईटी दिल्ली के डॉ अजय माथुर और संरक्षण जीवविज्ञानी और रीवाइ्ल्डर विजय धस्माना और पर्यावरण कार्यकर्ता भवरीन कंधारी से बात की है। पूरी बातचीत का लिंक कमेंट सेक्शन में है। अगर संभव हो तो देखें .. हो सकता है बहुत रुचिकर नहीं लगे लेकिन आपको जानकारी ज़रूर मिलेगी।

[Vrinda Sharma @vrindajourno]

Oh I didn’t know we were still discussing health matters in UP. I thought the topics were just Muslims and meat and namaz. Also mandir.

[News18 India @News18India]

UP news : दौड़ती एम्बुलेंस में 'मौत' से जंग, ऑक्सीजन सिलेंडर का लॉक ही नहीं खुला | #moradabad

[Laal Saalan @laalsaalan]

in india, workers could die by having tonnes of molten steel fall on their body and yet there is no outrage from privileged ppl but the same section of society will call workers anti-national if they protest for safer working conditions.

the only reason for this is caste system.

[Vrinda Sharma @vrindajourno]

Yes it will make food inside india more flavourful because more masalas will be available in the market now

[Sushant Singh @SushantSin]

I am sure there would be a positive spin for this as well, from sarkari economists and Express columnists.

[Vrinda Sharma @vrindajourno]

First gurugram should fix its sewers. Rains are coming.

[Aashish Chandorkar @c_aashish]

India's tallest building planned for Gurugram's Global City project

https://t.co/y6k7dgUGcE

[Pankaj Pachauri @PankajPachauri]

12 years of failure:

Productivity and yield of Cotton is declining in India since 2014.
6 cr rural people “Kisan Bhai” depend on the crop- specially in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

But its a “Policy Failure” not leadership failure who made the policy.

[Sushant Singh @SushantSin]

The rupee is declining due to war on Iran. That's not the truth.