Shibu Soren
Shibu Soren passed away on August 4, at a Delhi hospital after prolonged illness.

Born on January 11, 1944, in Nemra village, then in Bihar (now in Jharkhand), Shibu Soren belonged to the Santhal tribal community. A lifelong advocate for tribal rights, he began his activism at the age of 18 by founding the Santhal Navyuvak Sangh, which focused on land and tribal issues.

In 1972, he co-founded the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) along with A.K. Roy and Binod Bihari Mahato, leading the charge for a separate Jharkhand state and the empowerment of tribal communities.

He served as the General Secretary of the JMM and played a pivotal role in the movement that eventually led to the formation of Jharkhand in 2000.

Soren served as Chief Minister of Jharkhand three times. Though his tenures were short due to coalition complexities, his impact on state politics and tribal advocacy was long-lasting.

Known affectionately as “Dishom Guru”, Shibu Soren was revered in tribal regions for his commitment to justice and upliftment of marginalised communities.

Soren leaves behind a legacy of struggle, determination and hope. This was perhaps pre-ordained, arriving as he did on the scene of Adivasi suffering in Jharkhand and the leading it to statehood.
A Reader

Charging for Salt
 It is ironic! Trump’s slapping tariffs on India is like inviting someone to dinner and charging him for the salt!
T S Karthik, Chennai

Evyatar is Digging his own Grave
This should have been on the front page of every major media outlet in the country.

Recently, Hamas released a horrifying video of Evyatar David, 24, that shows his deliberate, prolonged starvation and severe abuse.

The images are chillingly reminiscent of the Holocaust. In the video, Evyatar (24) is shown being forced to dig his own grave. He has been held captive in Gaza for 670 days.

As the global advocacy organisation for the Jewish people, American Jewish Committee (AJC) will not stand by as major media outlets neglect to bring worldwide attention to Hamas’ atrocities. Their selective coverage of the Israel-Hamas War is a complete moral failure.
American Jewish Committee [AJC]

“Caste is acquired by Birth”
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has clarified in an important order that caste is determined by birth and cannot change after marriage. This order has come in a case where a non-Dalit woman had described herself as a member of the Dalit community after marrying a Dalit man. Rejecting this argument, the court has ordered to restart the case going on against her under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The case began when the accused Sarojini was booked under Sections 451, 323, 504, 506 of the IPC and Section 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST Act for having an affair with a Dalit man. The trial court had acquitted her on the ground that she had married a Dalit man and was thus now a member of the Dalit community herself. The High Court completely rejected this argument.

The bench of Justice Rakesh Kainthala made it clear in its judgment that “caste is an innate identity which does not change throughout life”. The court said that if caste change is allowed after marriage, it would undermine the basic purpose of the SC/ST Act. The court cited the Supreme Court’s Valsamma Paul case (1996) in this matter. Justice Kainthala quoted the Bombay High Court’s observation: “The misery of a person born in a Scheduled Caste does not end by marrying a person from an upper caste. The label attached at birth persists irrespective of the marital relationship.”

The court particularly emphasised that a non-Dalit person cannot enter the Dalit community through marriage. If this is held, it will promote caste discrimination in society.

This has made it clear that caste identity is not something that a person can change as per his convenience. The court clarified that its decision is only to clarify the legal position and it is not a comment on the merit of the case. Now the hearing of this case will start again in the trial court.
Geetha Sunil Pillai

How many people were killed by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
The only instances of atomic weapons being used against a civilian population occurred in 1945 at the tail end of World War II. On August 6, 1945, “Little Boy” was detonated above the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, “Fat Man” was detonated above Nagasaki. The aftermath of the bombings was the complete devastation of both cities in which countless numbers of people lost their lives. In 2020, nuclear historian Alex Wellerstein published original research with the Bulletin, describing the challenges of tabulating the casualties of the bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Without accurate records of the population prior to the bombings, Allied forces and the Japanese government relied on proxy figures to come up with their estimates. Decades later, those estimates were revisited to account for information that was excluded at the time. The result is a recognition that people may never be able to fully account for the devastation of one of the world’s deadliest weapons.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
 
Targeting Kerala Nuns
The arrest and continued judicial custody of two Catholic nuns from Kerala, Sister Preety Mary and Sister Vandana Francis, along with SukamanMandavi, by the Chhattisgarh Police in Durg on 25th July is yet another incident of how minorities are being targeted. The trio has been falsely accused of “forcible conversion” and human trafficking involving three women from Narayanpur. An FIR has been filed against them under provisions of the Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, reportedly based on a tip-off by a Bajrang Dal member—a Hindu right-wing organisation.

 This disturbing report underscores a growing pattern where the state appears to be complicit with Hindu right-wing vigilante groups in oppressing religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians.

This case must also be viewed in the broader context of increasing state-backed campaigns aimed at the identification and eviction of so-called “illegal Bangladeshi migrants.” In Gurugram, Haryana, and Delhi, the administration of these states have launched a drive to identify undocumented migrants—specifically targeting Indian Bengali-speaking labourers from the states of West Bengal and Assam—accusing them of being Bangladeshi or Rohingya. Even though there is no reason to suspect their nationality, and despite possessing multiple valid documents proving their Indian citizenship, like Aadhaar cards, many of these labourers have been arbitrarily and illegally detained, interrogated, beaten severely and harassed. The purported police come in plain clothes and in vehicles without registration number plates and even extort money from the poor labourers. As a result, hundreds of families have fled from Delhi and Haryana in fear and insecurity.

In the interest of justice and rule of law, we, undersigned urge the Delhi High Court, Haryana High Court, the Supreme Court of India, the National Commission of Minorities, and the National Human Rights Commission to take cognisance of this systematic violation of human rights of minorities and issue summons to the police and hold them accountable.
Dr Ram Puniyani, Adv. Irfan Engineer, NehaDabhade Pastor Devdan D Tribhuvan, Stanley Fernandez, Adv. Lara Jesani, Urmi Chanda, Shweta Damle, Mayur Yewle

Remove Word Caste
Removing the word ‘caste’ from job and college application forms is essential for fostering a progressive society. Let us keep only ‘nationality’ against which applicant will write ‘Indian’, which will promote unity, equality, and inclusivity, paving the way for a stronger, more harmonious nation which people shall build together!
TSK, Chennai

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Frontier
Vol 58, No. 10, Aug 31 - Sep 6, 2025