It was fifty years ago! The nation will and should never forget that dark, infamous night of 25/26 June 1975, when, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, declared a state of emergency all over the country, citing internal and external disturbances! That terrible chapter of the country’s history lasted for a full twenty-one-month period till […]
Cedric Prakash muses on the great tragedy of 12th June 2025 It is a tragedy of immense proportions! One of the worst in the history of civil aviation in India! An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (AI-171), from Ahmedabad to London, crashed shortly after take-off. The flight departed at 1:38 pm from the Sardar Vallabhbhai […]
Yesterday was World Environment Day. Fr Cedric Prakash reflects on issues that should be addressed after the flurry of activities are over. It is ‘World Environment Day’ once again! Everywhere one witnesses a flurry of ‘activities.’ There is the usual jostle to plant saplings(trees), the plethora of long, boring speeches on the importance of the […]
By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ On Sunday, 1st June, the Catholic Church will observe the 59th World Day of Social Communications. The day is significant because ‘communications’ is an important and integral dimension of the Church. ‘Communications Day’ is one of the old ‘special days’ observance by the Church. The message for this year, was […]
Over the past decade, writers, journalists, and creative artists in India have found themselves increasingly trapped in the cross-hairs of a ruthless right-wing media machinery and its enforcers. What starts as a single voice—often a self-appointed guardian of propriety or a politically motivated zealot—taking offence quickly snowballs into a vicious onslaught. A pack of hounds […]
February will always be a painful month for some particularly the Jafri family: on 28 February 2002, Ehsan Jafri, a former Member of Parliament and an authentic and much-loved citizen of secular India was murdered; on 1 February 2025, his wife Zakiaben was called to her eternal reward. In the death of Zakiaben the people […]
On 28 January 2025, the well-known Calcutta daily ‘The Telegraph’ carried an article entitled ‘Rub your eyes: Hindu Rashtra Constitution to be unveiled at Mahakumbh on Basant Panchami’. The seemingly innocuous inside-page article, speaks volumes of the insidious yet meticulous plans which are being made, and also of the calculated attempts to destroy the secular […]
It is late evening, the day after Uttarayan (15 January), traditionally called ‘vasi uttarayan’. It has been a dull, cloudy day; the wind has been fairly good though. Since yesterday thousands have been on building –tops, flying their kites and many others running on the streets to catch the ‘cut’ kites. At this moment, the […]
If Jesus were to write a letter to the Church leaders tonight, what could it contain? Peace Activist and writer Cedric Prakash SJ is pretty much certain that the letter would read something like this. Dear Leaders of the Christian Community in India,Greetings of peace, love, joy and hope- to each one of you, as […]
[Civil and human rights activist and Jesuit Priest Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ reflects on The World Day of the Poor] Hard facts About a month ago, on 15 October, the 2024 Global Hunger Index was released. India ranks 105 out of 127 countries;with a score of 27.3, India has a level of hunger that is serious. On […]
Gas stoves are estimated to lead to 40,000 premature deaths each year, shaving off roughly two years of an average person’s life span. Here’s a fly in the dal makhani for you ! The gas stove or cook-top , the heart of many kitchens, quietly boiling our morning milk, simmering soups, and so on, is […]
Call me Chicken Little, running around shouting that the sky is fallin’ on my head. But I do declare that that World War III has already started. If you take your noses out of your social media cocoons for a bit, and look at the events unfolding across the globe, it’s not hard to miss […]
