For the first time, researchers have collected evidence to put together a picture of the shadowy network of organisations that are connected to the RSS – and the result is disturbing. They unearthed a network of 2500 organisations, that draw ideological, organisational and often financial sustenance from the Sangh. Of these 2500 organisations, 2240 are based in India while the rest are spread over 39 countries. They also developed a mapping of how these outfits are linked to each other, revealing the multi-layered connections to the parent RSS.

After a gap of 2½ years, we now have certain sections of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, backed by the Rules, ready for immediate implementation. While the state’s powers to surveil citizens come into effect immediately, the sections that protect citizens' privacy against big data companies and the state (or correct/delete incorrect data) have to wait another 18 months. Some data protection indeed!

As does every year, 2025 also taught us some unforgettable lessons, posed some uncomfortable questions and gave us some memories to cherish. We lived through the war and the protests to stop the war; we saw attempts to sabotage hard-won rights and also resistance against such attempts. People made their choices that made us sit, think, analyse and learn lessons. Overall, it is yet another year that marched into history, pushing us to search for a better future.

The Kerala government organised the National Labour Conclave in Thiruvananthapuram on December 19 to formulate an alternative policy that protects the rights of the state and its workers from the four labour codes implemented by the Centre. The conclave decided to constitute a three-member expert committee to study the labour codes, understand their implications for workers in Kerala, and suggest remedial measures. Justice (retired) Gopala Gowda, Shyam Sundar and Varkiachan Pettah will be part of the committee, besides two research scholars.

THE sensational developments over the last week brought the question of crimes against women to the forefront with a dramatic effect. The exceptional case of the Unnao rape victim, a mere 15-year-old who was lured by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the local MLA of Unnao, has burst into public discourse. The air was thick with disbelief over the Delhi High Court's decision to suspend the life sentence of the convicted Sengar in the 2017 rape case and grant him bail. Naturally, this obnoxious development set off waves of outrage nationally.