Charu Soni

Freedom of press is a contentious idea in India. Unlike the United States, where it is explicitly protected by the First Amendment, India offers no standalone guarantee of press freedom. The right is inferred from the Constitution’s broader protection of free speech. In effect, a free press in India is a policy choice, not a structural restraint on state power.

Phool Walon ki Sair is an annual festival symbolising communal harmony and unity, in which people from Hindu and Muslim communities together offer a flower chadar at the Dargah of Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and a flower pankha at the Yogmaya Temple. The event dates back to the Mughal period. 

Flagship schemes here debut with similar bravado – deadlines are declared, targets set, outcomes counted in ledgers – while the machinery needed to deliver them remains inadequate. The applause arrives on schedule; the implementation does not.