Space and Culture, India
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The Sacrality of Space, Time, and Water: The Biggest Assembly of Kumbha Melā 2025, India
Full text linkThe greatest of the religious events, the Kumbha Melā, is a riverside festival held every twelve years, rotating among Prayāgraj (formerly Allahabad), Nasik, Ujjain, and Haridvar. Two traditions determine the origin/location and timing of the festival. The Kumbha Melā is an extended and expanded form of the ancient Māgha Melā, as described in the Atharva Veda, dated ca. 1500 BCE. The Mahā (Great) Kumbha Melā is the largest gathering of humanity on planet Earth. The latest one, held in Prayāgraj (Allahabad) in 2025, set the world record for the largest human gathering, with 663 million bathers and visitors. The Kumbha Melā achieved a significant milestone by being inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017. This recognition is a testament to the Kumbha Melā’s profound cultural and spiritual significance, as well as its unparalleled character as a massive and peaceful gathering of devotees.
Rituals of Belonging: Challenging the Sacred Marginalised Views of Hijras in India
Full text linkHijras, a third-gender community deeply rooted in South Asian cultures, has long held spiritual and social significance. Revered for their unique position outside the traditional gender binary, Hijras were historically believed to possess powers to bless and curse, playing integral roles in various rituals and ceremonies. This research article explores the intricate relationship between Hijra rituals, identity formation, and societal perceptions in India. Drawing on cultural relativism, the study challenges the dominant societal tendency to position Hijras within a binary of sacredness and marginalisation, hindering their full participation in everyday life. Through in-depth analysis of rituals, informed by seminal works like Gayatri Reddy\u27s With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India (2005) and Serena Nanda\u27s Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijras of India (1996), the research illuminates how these practices become a powerful means for hijras to construct and negotiate their identities. By examining rituals as vehicles of both religious and cultural expression, the study reveals how hijras navigate their marginalised status while simultaneously carving out a space of profound meaning and belonging. This binary view, venerating them as sacred or ostracising them as outcasts, ultimately denies Hijras the recognition and inclusion they deserve as equals within Indian society. This research contributes to broader discussions on gender diversity, cultural heritage, and the complexities of social inclusion in India, emphasising the importance of understanding Hijra experiences through their own cultural lens
Reflections on Bharat, Asia and the World: A Mosaic of Perspectives
Full text linkHere is a signed editorial opinion on India’s transformational first quarter of the year 2025. During that timeframe, I spent the entire month of February observing and listening to what some would describe as a chaotic social and political landscape—a moment in which some serious controversies and significant, yet under-publicised, events emerged in India\u27s tapestry. When I returned to Australia, I sent out a Google form to a group of discerning research professors, consulting firm founders, engineers, social workers, and retired professionals. Their views were characterised by optimism and critical introspection. They presented as nationalists and patriots. Here is a unified narrative that reflects their considered perspectives on Bharat, Asia, and the world. There were eight respondents, and the synthesis incorporates their diverse points of view, reflecting the varied perspectives of each
Reinterpreting the Play: Women’s Cultural Performance as a Subversive Site
Full text linkThis study investigates women’s performances, such as Khela-Tamasha (play-act), Nakkal (enactment/imitation), and Kajari folksongs, as potent tools for questioning the gender stereotypes and hegemonic gender ideals which subordinate women. To achieve the objectives of this study, ethnographic data were collected in 2022-2023 across Mirzapur, located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Drawing on Judith Butler’s gender performativity theory and Antonio Gramsci’s theory of counter-hegemony, this study argues that rural women’s traditional play-acts and enactments, characterised by cross-dressing, theatricality, and bold speech, challenge their oppression. Through their performative expressions, these women harness the power of cross-dressing, challenge traditional masculine roles, and display their erotic desires. Further, by embracing non-conforming gender roles and expressing their desires during performance, women’s traditional performative acts display the transformative power of folk traditions in challenging dominant societal structures
When Emotion Becomes Evidence: How Zubeen Garg’s Case Spiralled into a Narrative War
Full text linkThe sudden death of Assam’s cultural icon, Zubeen Garg, in Singapore on 19 September 2025, rapidly transformed public emotion into a contested narrative space. What began as collective mourning evolved into a volatile discourse shaped by speculation, digital mobilisation, political opportunism and institutional communication challenges. This article examines how emotionally charged narratives interacted with procedural constraints, reshaping governmental communication during the first week following the incident.
Using qualitative content analysis of official statements, media reporting, and publicly accessible social media activity, the commentary identifies a five-stage escalation: shock, suspicion, distrust, mobilisation, and institutional pressure. The Chief Minister’s initial position—emphasising Singapore’s investigative jurisdiction and evidence-based process—was soon confronted by narrative surges that demanded immediate action. Indicators of coordinated online messaging, including synchronised hashtags and repetitive narrative frames, suggest that certain actors sought to leverage public emotion to influence institutional behaviour.
The case highlights a contemporary governance challenge: in digitally mediated environments, perception often precedes fact, and narrative pressure can shape state communication even before evidence emerges. Effective crisis governance, therefore, requires anticipatory, transparent communication strategies that prevent information vacuums and limit the scope for narrative capture. Emotion must be acknowledged, but institutional processes must remain anchored in evidence and jurisdictional clarity
Features of Ensuring Regional Security in Central Asia: An Analysis of the Geopolitical Situation
Full text linkWith the continuation of the Russia-Ukraine war and the seizure of power in Afghanistan by the radical Taliban movement, the issue of ensuring countries’ security has taken a new dimension. These occurrences directly influence the global situation. This research aims to examine the primary security issues in Central Asia and identify regional threats within the evolving geopolitical context. To address the research objectives, various methods of cognition were employed, including historical, structural and functional, institutional, comparative, forecasting, political and legal analysis, classification, analogy, abstraction, analysis, and generalisation. The main results of this study include characterising the specifics of Central Asia and external threats to regional security, analysing the policies of the governments in the region to combat religious extremism and international terrorism, determining the prospects for establishing a collective defence organisation to develop mechanisms for countering these threats, and outlining the main activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation in maintaining regional stability and addressing the distribution of water and energy resources. The study also considered such security threats as cybercrime, human trafficking, separatism, interethnic conflicts, illegal migration, arms smuggling, and drug trafficking. This research\u27s findings and materials have theoretical and practical applications. They may be helpful for researchers whose interests include the problems of national and regional security, political processes in post-Soviet Central Asia, and ethno-confessional conflicts in this area
Public Discourse on Press Freedom: Twitter’s Role in the Backlash Against Indonesia\u27s 2024 Broadcasting Law Revision
Full text linkThe revision of Indonesia\u27s Broadcasting Law in 2024 sparked intense debate on Twitter. This study analyses public discourse on Twitter from 10 May to 05 June 2024, focusing on 3,872 tweets, account engagement, popular accounts and hashtags, social networks, word clouds, sentiment, and media usage in opposing the revision of the law. This research is vital for further understanding the discussions surrounding Indonesia\u27s Broadcasting Law, which has faced significant criticism for limiting press freedom and raising concerns about the erosion of democracy. The analysis revealed that peaks in discussion coincided with journalist protests and legislative meetings on the law. Most tweets expressed opposition to the revision, with Change.org emerging as the dominant platform leading the protests, likely used by activists to mobilise support through online petitions. Interestingly, the primary influences in this discourse were not from mass media or journalism but from influential social media personalities, alongside accounts with unclear identities, which also played a significant role in spreading information. The study also highlights the application of agenda-setting theory, in which Twitter, as a digital platform, played a key role in shaping the public agenda by amplifying concerns about press freedom and democracy. This research underscores the importance for policymakers considering input from the press community when crafting laws that balance regulation and the protection of press freedom
Refurbishing the Spirit of Patriotism as a Durable Value among Youth
Full text linkCharacterised by globalisation, with its cohorts in rapid technological advancements, economic uncertainty, Western cultural diffusion and ever-evolving social and political landscapes, contemporary times are fraught with multiple challenges for youth. Diminution and alteration in the spirit of patriotism and civic engagement emerge as dominant and concerting traits of the times. The patriotism of today stems from a narrower and more instrumental view of what is national. Being more symbolic, selective, and issue-based, it lacks the qualities of sustainable, constructive democratic patriotism. As a nation in rapid economic and social transition, India expects its youth to play a proactive role in nation-building. To instil a sense of national pride, loyalty, and service for the nation, there is a need to revive their patriotism in them. This, in turn, entails that school and university education reinvent themselves to move beyond the mere perfunctory celebration of patriotism towards a more lasting and durable flourishing of critical loyalty, collective values, and civic participation
Factors Influencing Rupee-Dollar Exchange Rate in the Post-Reform Period: An ARDL Approach
Full text linkIn the era of growing global economic integration, international transactions such as trade, investment, and financial activities have become inevitable for every country, and central to these activities is the exchange rate. Nowadays, the Indian economy is more open, and hence, the stability of the rupee-dollar exchange rate (₹/ ER in the post-reform period, and that, among the selected external factors, foreign portfolio investment (FPI), the current account balance, and oil prices are significant determinants of the ₹/ ER would help in implementing policies to control these factors, at least to some extent, which may help to keep the ₹/$ ER more or less stable. The findings underscore the interconnectedness of monetary policy, trade dynamics, and global financial flows in shaping exchange rate behaviour
Exploring the Dynamics of Trade Unionism in the Tea Industry: Perspectives from Bangladesh
Full text linkTea garden labourers in Bangladesh constitute a highly marginalised community, characterised by limited access to educational opportunities for their children and heightened vulnerability to severe health risks. This research employs qualitative descriptive analysis to examine the dynamics of unions within the tea sector in Sylhet, with a focus on issues such as health, education, bargaining capabilities, gender representation, and access to social services. The study highlights a multifaceted scenario where internal fragmentation and collaboration challenges often hinder unions from effectively advocating for employees’ interests. Overall, the research underscores the crucial role of labour unions in promoting the rights and well-being of tea workers. By fostering a deeper understanding of these dynamics, stakeholders have the potential to collaborate more effectively to establish a more equitable and supportive environment for tea workers in the Sylhet region