4th Pillar, No Affiliations
4th Pillar, No Affiliations
Introduction Every functioning democracy needs eyes that the state cannot close and a mouth the state cannot gag. In India’s constitutional design, two institutions were meant to play precisely that role. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), a constitutional authority under Article 148, was built to be the nation’s chief auditor — the […]
Every month, salaried Indians watch tax deducted at source before they’ve even seen their paycheck. Every fuel-up, every restaurant bill, every online purchase carries GST on top. In return, the social contract implicitly promises competent, accountable government. A string of recent stories suggests that promise is fraying — not because taxes are too high, but […]
An investigation into the country’s only ape, its shrinking forests, and a widening conflict with humans A Correction Worth Making First Ask most people to name India’s apes and they will likely list langurs or macaques — but those are monkeys, not apes, distinguished by their tails. India, in fact, has exactly one ape lineage: […]
A look at the technical costs of E20 fuel, the economic case the government makes for it, and the conflict-of-interest controversy that has followed Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari’s family into the headlines. A Policy That Arrived Ahead of Schedule In April 2025, India rolled out E20 petrol — a blend of 20% ethanol and […]
Blood on Silent Hands — Independent Voice of Bharat Breaking: India’s silence on the killing of its nationals demands answers Neutral Odisha News · 4th Pillar, No Affiliations Only relevant Questions, Love for Odisha & India. Fearless journalism in the public interest Home Opinion Foreign Policy Democracy About Opinion · Foreign Policy · June 2026 […]
Are We Fools? — Open Letter to the Leaders of India Open Letter • Public Interest Protest The Voice of the People of Odisha A Citizen’s Protest — June 2026 Are We Fools?Rewarding the Corrupt How can a man caught red-handed accepting a bribe be handed back his government post — and called “reinstated”? Addressed […]
The Middle-Class Tax Trap Opinion • Economy & Taxation • May 2026 Taxed to Extinction, Governed to Irrelevance The Great Middle-Class Squeeze: How India’s Tax Regime Punishes the Honest While the Powerful Walk Free Income tax, GST, LTCG, STCG, property tax, cess upon cess — the salaried Indian is taxed at every breath. Foreign investors […]
India’s Examination System in Freefall Opinion • Education Policy • May 2026 A Nation’s Broken Promise to its Youth Paper Leaks, Swapped Sheets, and System Crashes: India’s Examination Catastrophe From NEET-UG 2026’s cancelled exam and student suicides, to CBSE’s botched digital evaluation, to SSC GD’s centre-level chaos — how the Modi government’s education machinery has […]
India’s Petroleum Plunder Opinion • Energy & Economy • May 2026 The Great Petroleum Swindle Loot When Low, Fleece When High: The Modi Government’s Rigged Oil Economy Fuel prices up INR 7.5 in eleven days, INR 3.35 lakh crore pocketed in a single pandemic year, Ambani’s billions from discounted Russian crude, INR 11,000 crore of […]
India’s Crumbling Roads and Collapsing Bridges Opinion • Infrastructure • May 2026 Highways to Nowhere, Bridges to Disaster Crumbling Roads, Collapsing Bridges, and the Ethanol Enrichment Machine: An Indictment of Gadkari’s Ministry India’s bridges kill on the day they are inaugurated, its potholes claim five lives every single day, and the Transport Minister’s son’s ethanol […]
