Politics to economy to education to food, what The Federal offered in 2025

It has been a busy year for news rooms across India. There were just two major elections to cover — Delhi and Bihar — but the year threw up a shocker in the form of a Vice-President election. There was Trump, there was IPL, there were intra-state and inter-state rows, and there were two Bollywood icons turning 60 — Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.

As 2025 comes to an end, The Federal's News Editor Indira Balaji lists her top stories of the year. Here is her take, in no particular order:

1. Why Bihar lost before a single vote was cast

"Ahead of Bihar's Assembly election, which saw Nitish Kumar regain his CM chair, TK Arun's brilliant piece said the state 'lost' the election even before going to vote. The pre-poll promises, Rs 10k handouts in blatant violation of norms, and EC's blinkers worsened Bihar's financial woes."

2. Operation Sindoor: Why the name, and 'using' Col Qureshi, is problematic

"Amid the nationalist mania came this sensible piece by Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay on all that was wrong with Operation Sindhoor from a feminist angle. A male author writing from the feminist POV is what this society needs."

3. 75 is just a number: Modi's birthday and BJP's flexi-retirement policy

"Puneet Nicholas Yadav had sharp observations to make as Narendra Modi turned 75. Modi's rise as Prime Minister and the BJP's unofficial imposition of retirement at 75 have had their fair share of martyrs, Puneet noted. Martyrs who? LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha, among others..."

4. How a 'dharma-ordained' caste system has killed India's prosperity

"Prasanna Mohanty, in his 3-part series, looked at how the economy pays for the ruling dispensation's Hindutva agenda. Ancient Hindu principles behind the new labour rules and other policies could deepen caste hierarchies and erode prosperity, he warned."

5. Not just A320s, Airbus to fix software for A380s’ engines by Q1 2026

"Rachel Chitra has passionately, doggedly pursued the Air India AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad. Was it pilot error, as broadly hinted at by the probe, or shocking technological errors that killed over 260 people? Rachel did a deep dive with a 4-part series."

6. Why Odisha bristles at Bangla, but embraces Hindi

"Samhati Mohapatra wrote this piece from her heart as part of our Great Language Divide series. Odisha, her home state, is divided on Bengali, while the rest of the nation haggles over the use of Hindi, she noted wryly, tracing the history of the sentiment."

7. New words in Cambridge Dictionary: How the Internet is changing English language

"As someone who passionately 'read' the Oxford dictionary as a school-goer, I found Nawaid Anjum's piece amazing. How does internet slang make it to dictionaries? There's a method to the madness."

8. Why a nondescript village in Andhra is pinning its hopes for a better tomorrow on Google

"When a tech giant starts Indian greenfield projects, the mainstream media goes berserk. We are different. B Koteswara Rao, from The Federal Telangana, hit the ground to find out what Google's proposed $15 billion AI data centre means to villagers in ATM-less, hospital-less, hotel-less Tarluvada."

9. USKB and MLTR: Two legendary Bengaluru restaurants turn 100

"Rajaneesh Vilakudy enjoys good food and Bengaluru in equal measure. No surprise, his Bengaluru restaurant stories are a treat to read. This piece, on two legacy eateries in the city, makes a charming dive into their histories, their menus and their chefs' 'secrets'."

10. How Modi regime used central institutes to enforce NEP on state varsities

"Aranya Shankar's 3-part series on The National Education Policy used RTI to take a long, hard look at how the Centre undermined state governments' powers and over-rode their concerns to push its agenda."