Dipa Sinha retweeted
This is a thrilling and sobering moment for India's democracy. Thrilling because the democratic spirit has found a new life in the streets. Sobering because public trust in democratic institutions like the election commission is crumbling.
nytimes.com/2026/10/20/opini…
Dipa Sinha retweeted
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
Dipa Sinha 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
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Can you really get women to have more children or less on your whim? Why do some politicians think it’s ok to treat this like a switch? What else can TN put that 17k to use, you know instead of that ‘thai maamam seer’? With the eloquent @sinhadipa in this episode. Link below.
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Does Tamil Nadu’s Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram scheme benefit new mothers or reinforce patriarchal norms? We must stop treating maternity benefits as state gifts and start viewing them as fundamental rights.
Professor @sinhadipa writes
thenewsminute.com/tamil-nadu…
Dipa Sinha retweeted
TN's new #thaimaman scheme comes from the "underlying understanding of women as objects of state benevolence, valued for the roles of wife and mother, rather than as citizens with rights"
Sharp column by @sinhadipa on the recent "welfare" schemes
thenewsminute.com/tamil-nadu…
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Important Event Update | Work in Transition
Due to unforeseen circumstances, today’s upcoming Work in Transition event, “Work and Welfare,” will now be held online on Zoom only. Register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi… @sinhadipa
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Welfare is not a dole. @sinhadipa and I write @IndianExpress on the need to refocus on rights-based welfare regime as per our Constitutional vision
Hope to see Delhi friends attend this event. We enjoyed putting this volume together and look forward to developing the Centre's work on welfare.
Happy to share the launch of 'Realising Rights: A Handbook of Welfare in India' brought out by the Centre for the Study of Indian Economy, Azim Premji University. Contains 18 chapters by 27 authors. Provides a detailed analytical perspective on welfare in India.
cc: @sinhadipa
Why Chandrababu Naidu's Cash Incentives Aren't the Right Response to Demographic Change m.thewire.in/article/rights/… via @thewire_In
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Why Chandrababu Naidu's Cash Incentives Aren't the Right Response to Demographic Change
Like population control measures, incentivising having more children is oblivious to people’s right to reproductive choice or women’s bodily autonomy.
@sinhadipa✍️
thewire.in/rights/why-chandr…
Dipa Sinha retweeted
“It is mostly rice and watery lentils, with vegetables only occasionally. Hardly any nutrients," @sinhadipa tells me.The amount of money needed for a nutritious meal is not available;the cost per unit has not been adequately revised for years. Meanwhile, food prices have gone up
The latest edition of #Dev360, a column I have been writing since 2009.
‘Fiscal consolidation’ is not an abstraction—it is watery dal in an anganwadi, and much more.
deccanchronicle.com/opinion/…
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Cash Transfers For Women Before Elections "What are they compensating for – failure of the economy in creating decent jobs esp. for women, low and sticky incomes and wages, poor quality and access of public services for education, health?" @sinhadipa
thewire.in/government/cash-t…
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Fresh off the press!
#Growth of 2004-11 was as much a story of mass consumption of workers of the informal sector as it is of #inequality and lack of formal #Jobs. Political will matters even under the neoliberal order @sinhadipa and I write for @epw_in
tinyurl.com/3SectorEPW
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Today, 2nd Feb 2026, @ 20 years of #MGNREGA a #mahapanchayat in Jaipur. Women workers from Rajasthan gather under the banner #mgnregaBachaoMorcha to declare their intention to unseat anyone who takes away their lifeline - the #RightToWork . हर हाथ को काम दो , काम का पूरा दाम दो!
Dipa Sinha retweeted
#GenderBudget fell to 8.01% of total budget in 2025–26RE, down from 8.86% in the BE. While it is projected to rise to 9.37% in 2026–27BE, the increase is largely driven by Parts B&C, partly reflecting improved reporting.
#Budget2026 #UnionBudget
@FinMinIndia @nsitharamanoffc
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Comment | The arena of welfare spending has now shifted to the States, while the Centre continues to drive the agenda by legislating and setting norms. #BudgetWithTheHindu
✍️@sinhadipa
trib.al/VEmK88b
Dipa Sinha retweeted
FM Budget Speech: 90 minutes without a single word on employment guarantee, maternity benefits, social security pensions, midday meals, child nutrition, social policy - zero.
And of course, not a single word on children, yet again.
Dipa Sinha retweeted
Very imp articulation on the power & positives of NREGA by a solid economist @upasak_das in today's Economic Times
@roadscholarz @LibtechIndia @NREGA_Sangharsh @sinhadipa
economictimes.indiatimes.com…
