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Freedom of speech under threat in India
An army of Hindutva trolls
Disinformation has become a serious problem in India. The ruling partyʹs ideology is divisive and relies on self-serving myths. Fact-based, public-interest journalism is increasingly on the defensive, says Indian television journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani
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Lajpat Nagar, Delhi's "Little Kabul"
Lajpat Nagar is a district in southern New Delhi. When it was built in the 1950s, it was mainly Sikhs and Hindus from the newly created Pakistan who came to live there, having been forced to move from their former homes after the partition of India in 1947. Yet in recent years, the area has increasingly become a magnet for Afghan refugees looking to start over. Photo essay by Emran Feroz
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Pashtun freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Islam's forgotten "Gandhi"
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was the founder of the world’s first professional non-violent army. Here in the West, the Islamic Gandhi is little known – but today his legacy is more relevant than ever. A portrait of the Pashtun "Badshah Khan" by Marian Brehmer
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India′s new hajj policy
Empowering minorities?
While the Hindu-nationalist government led by Narendra Modi has withdrawn the hajj subsidy to Muslims, public grants to members of the Hindu majority making pilgrimages remain in place. By Ronald Meinardus
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Sufism and Bollywood
A glittering antidote
Bollywood pop songs are currently fostering an Indian Sufi revival. Adored by millions, the music, spearheaded by A. R. Rahman, promotes a message of love and tolerance in the tradition of the Islamic mystics. By Marian Brehmer
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Rape in India and Pakistan
Endemic misogyny
The most recent rape and murder of a girl in Pakistan caused a huge public outcry. Though similar cases in neighbouring India have tended to attract fewer headlines, sexual violence in both countries is an ongoing problem, says Esther Felden
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Non-fiction: Pankaj Mishra's "Age of Anger"
The embittered majority
In his book "Age of Anger: the history of the present" the Indian author Pankaj Mishra sees global distortions as the result of a birth defect in European modernity. Stefan Weidner read the book
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Interview with identity politics expert Mujibur Rehman
"Muslims feel deeply unsafe in present-day India"
Known for his work on identity politics and political economy, Mujibur Rehman most recently published 'Communalism in postcolonial India′, which addresses the rise of religious fundamentalism in India. In Bonn to lecture on cow vigilantism, he spoke to Roma Rajpal Weiss about the situation of the sub-continent's Muslim minority
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Islamic education in India
All-female madrassas: Of women, by women and for women
A new breed of women-only Islamic seminaries in India are making the rarefied area of higher studies in Islamic theology accessible to girls, while introducing an eclectic blend of traditional religious studies and modern secular education. By Muhammed Nafih Wafy
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"The Ministry of Utmost Happiness"
Novelist Arundhati Roy: "India is colonising itself"
Described as the "conscience of India" in Time's 2014 list of 100 most influential people, author Arundhati Roy has a voice that counts. Speaking in Berlin, she introduced her long-awaited second work of fiction. By Sabine Peschel
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The real Kashmir
Poets call it one of the most beautiful places on earth. Analysts consider it to be one of the most dangerous areas in the world. But what is Kashmir in reality? By Onkar Singh Janoti
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Islam in India
Triple talaq: Goodbye and good riddance
India′s Supreme Court recently declared the Islamic practice of "instant divorce" to be anti-constitutional. The judges argued that since ″triple talaq″ is not an integral part of the Muslim faith, it is not subject to protection under the principle of religious freedom. Ronald Meinardus reports from New Delhi