In Indore’s Bhagirathpura, families struggle as authorities race to contain the crisis. Nootan Sharma reports from the ground:

https://youtu.be/CFVtfGh7q6U

The Taliban is widening its crackdown on “images of living beings” in Afghan media as part of its “morality law” signed in August 2024. The authorities Wednesday summoned media outlets and online content creators, including YouTubers, in the country’s western Herat province and ordered them to stop broadcasting images of living beings, the newspaper Kabul Now reported.

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‘People who do not believe in democracy at all shout loudest for it,’ said PG Mavalankar in 1979. Watch Aamaan Alam Khan explain his address

#ThePrintGreatSpeeches

https://youtu.be/CGNYYIDS0zU

Opinion: 'In the afterglow, Goyal, Zomato co-founder and CEO of Eternal (the rebranded parent company that houses Zomato, Blinkit, and other businesses), put out a long thread on X that reopened a raw national argument. It was not merely about pay. It was about what the gig economy has done to class distance: it has brought inequality to the doorstep.'

Retired IAS officer K.B.S Sidhu writes

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'An intellectual is a rare commodity, as John Stuart Mill said in his book on “Liberty” : they survive because of an atmosphere of freedom and they thrive because of a climate of liberty but they do not thrive in large numbers. If there are many intellectuals, we should begin to feel nervous! True intellectuals should be distinguished from the intelligentsia because in their spheres of work and influence there are significant differences. Intelligentsia, we must have in a good measure. Intellectuals few and far between are adequate.'

#ThePrintGreatSpeeches

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No bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in 2020 Delhi riots case, but Supreme Court grants relief to five others.

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'India should have been rabies-mukt by now. Corruption came in the way big time. Buck stops at government, not dogs', says animal rights activist and petitioner in the stray dogs case, Manavi Rai. Watch her in conversation with Sanya Dhingra

https://youtu.be/aRdVzSBM-u0

'I have been in a relationship with a passport brahmin, my husband, for almost a quarter of a century at the time of writing. '

Read this excerpt from Pallavi Aiyar's ‘Travels in the Other Place’

In a breakthrough for lung disease diagnosis & treatment, scientists have managed to recreate human lungs, on a plastic chip, using real stem cells from one individual. Watch ThePrint #Scientifix with Akanksha Mishra for more

https://youtu.be/jhOVXQAdmFA

Opinion: 'Gel polish is popular for its shine and staying power, but frequent use can cause the nails to dry out and weaken. I recall one patient who loved her weekly gel manicures but arrived distressed when her nails became paper-thin and bendy after improper removal. The worst damage comes from aggressive buffing before application and rough removal by soaking or scraping. UV or LED lamps used to cure gel emit small amounts of light each time; over the years, this repeated exposure may also accelerate skin ageing around the nails.'

Deepali Bhardwaj, dermatologist, writes

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'While party leaders deny being accomplices to authoritarianism and argue that electoral participation alone does not constitute guilt, such defences have resonated weakly in a climate shaped by moral reckoning rather than procedural argument.'

Faisal Mahmud, minister (Press) of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi

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'The most enduring effects of colonisation are indeed psychological, and thus invisible. They manifest in spheres where they are least expected to, and that is why they continue to affect post-colonial societies much after formal colonial rule ends. One such unexpected sphere is how Indians abandoned Indian dogs after being exposed to foreign breeds like Labradors, German Shepherds and Beagles brought by the British.'

Sanya Dhingra writes

At one point, Kanpur was even known as the “Manchester of the East”—a city that spearheaded the country’s industrial revolution. And the textile mills were the crown jewel, employing thousands of workers and churning out everything from woollen blankets to bed sheets.

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'These delivery apps have been in the news since New Year’s Eve, as gig workers went on a strike, alleging unfair pay, lack of safety, and opaque algorithms. Allegations and counter allegations flew fast and furious between unions and aggregators, with the latter claiming record deliveries and the unions calling out their intimidation tactics.'

Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP leader, lawyer and social activist, writes

'I have often defended sports boycotts, especially when India refuses to play with Pakistan. But this new sport spat with Bangladesh strikes me as illogical, badly thought-out, and unlikely to benefit either country.'

Vir Sanghvi writes

The 2025 QS rankings have named Chandigarh University as India’s number 1 private university, the 109th best university in Asia and 575th worldwide. This places it in the top 2 per cent of universities worldwide and in India, alongside storied institutions with equally prominent alumni — the IITs.

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'The plan for a Unity Government, though, is not a fresh development. In August 2024, soon after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina Government, Jamaat leaders held a meeting with the top Qawmi scholars of the country, where participants had voiced optimism about establishing a country based on Islamic rules under the leadership of Shafiqur Rahman.'

Deep Halder writes

'India successfully tested a K-4, an intermediate-range ballistic missile, on 23 December last year from the nuclear-powered submarine INS Arighaat in the Bay of Bengal. The development confirmed the full integration of missile, submarine and command and control systems.'

Rami Desai, author, anthropologist and scholar, writes

'This is applause-worthy misdirection. Zomato has built a business model predicated on exploiting a market where unemployment is rampant, spent millions in venture and market capital, advertising itself as the future of convenience, scaled to a multi-billion-dollar valuation — only to then turn the tables on the customer. Yes, because it’s completely normal for a regular Indian to confront their class position before hitting “Add to Cart” every day. '

Karanjeet Kaur, columnist, writes

A film inspired by his son lives in Ram Charan’s phone. But he refused to allow himself to see it. In a UP village, 'Homebound' is a distant story—while grief remains close. Watch #ThePrintGroundReport by Sakshi Mehra

https://youtu.be/wRs0XWcAPRc