The Draft News

28/05/2026

While travelling through South Goa, Special Projects Editor of The Draft Manu Shrivastava found the region’s towering Matti trees emerging as silent climate regulators. These giant indigenous trees create natural cooling zones, preserve soil moisture and support biodiversity in ways modern urban infrastructure still struggles to replicate. Standing tall across temple pathways, villages, agrarian landscapes and long protected by local communities, these native trees remain powerful natural defences against rising heat.

Read the full account on The Draft: https://www.thedraftworld.com/2026/05/goa-matti-trees-are-natures-answer-to-global-warming.html

Goa’s Matti trees emerge as vital climate warriors, naturally cooling landscapes and supporting biodiversity amid rising global heat, Manu Shrivastava

28/05/2026

On Veer Savarkar’s 143rd birth anniversary, one chapter in Gajanan Khergamker’s recently released e-book '10/3: Exile, Empire And War In The Andamans' stands apart for its rigour and restraint. This Chapter revisits Savarkar’s years in the Cellular Jail not through mythology or political sloganeering, but through documented history, prison records, architecture, punishment, memory and resistance. A deeply researched account of imprisonment inside the empire’s harshest penal colony.

Read the full report on The Draft: https://www.thedraftworld.com/2026/05/the-cell-that-became-classroom-veer-savarkar-andaman-10-3-gajanan-khergamker.html

The e-book can be accessed here: https://app.box.com/s/uqgvq5004cmx2lns7ey9tkvdfs1rmwyd

Explore Veer Savarkar’s Cellular Jail years through documented history, prison politics and imperial punishment in Gajanan Khergamker’s e-book 10/3.

16/05/2026

| May 16, 1739

On this day, 287 years ago, Chimaji Appa, the younger brother of Peshwa Baji Rao I, completed one of the most remarkable military campaigns in Indian history.

After a three-month siege beginning February 17, 1739, the Marathas breached the walls of Vasai Fort, the prized stronghold of Portuguese power on India's western coast. Portuguese commander Silveira de Menezes fell in battle. Manaji Angre's seaborne musketeers closed the river. Artillery commander Girmaji Kanitkar's relentless bombardment broke the garrison's will. Chimaji Appa himself fired the first cannon shot.

The Portuguese, armed with muskets, hand grenades, and mortars, had held Western India's coastline for over two centuries. Daman, Bassein, Chaul, Goa - a chain of fortified enclaves controlling trade, territory, and sea lanes. On May 16, 1739, that chain snapped at Vasai.

It was a decisive Maratha victory: strategic, seaborne, and total. One that colonial historiography quietly buried and Indian textbooks largely forgot. History remembered it ... we should too!



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Starting May 15, 2026, The Draft begins its 'TodayInHistory' journey on social media, revisiting defining moments from the past that continue to inspire pride in the present.

15/05/2026

North Goa Village Keeps 40-Year Tradition Alive With ‘Sant Gora Kumbhar’ Play

Residents of Gawdewada in Korgao, North Goa, continued a cherished tradition of over four decades on May 13 with the staging of the devotional Marathi musical play Sant Gora Kumbhar, celebrating the life and devotion of Lord Vitthal’s ardent devotee.

Held at a local temple premises, the annual celebration blended Satyanarayan Puja, bhajans, mahaprasad and community theatre, reflecting Goa’s enduring village-centred cultural heritage and the spirit of collective devotion.

13/05/2026

Selective outrage over India’s Great Nicobar Project ignores how developed nations reshaped ecosystems for far larger infrastructure ambitions, writes Gajanan Khergamker.

Read the full report here: https://www.thedraftworld.com/2026/05/the-outrage-was-never-about-great.html

Selective outrage over India’s Great Nicobar Project ignores how developed nations reshaped ecosystems for far larger infrastructure ambitions.

07/05/2026

| Kolkata did not feel triumphant after the election, it felt tired. Over three days across tea stalls, campuses, taxis and markets, women told me the same thing in different words ... “Something had to change.” This is not merely a story about politics. It is a story about fatigue, fear, survival and Bengal’s search for hope again.

Read Manu Shrivastava's report from Ground Zero: https://www.thedraftworld.com/2026/05/women-fear-and-demand-for-normalcy.html

Kolkata’s political shift reflects public fatigue, women voices, law-and-order concerns and Bengal’s search for change says Manu Shrivastava The Draft

06/05/2026

| Mamata Banerjee’s refusal to resign after a clear electoral setback has pushed West Bengal to the edge of a constitutional flashpoint. As questions mount over democratic propriety, the spotlight shifts to the Governor, with intervention no longer a distant possibility but an imminent one. This is no longer just politics. It is a test of whether public mandate remains supreme or becomes negotiable.

Gajanan Khergamker writes from Ground Zero: https://www.thedraftworld.com/2026/05/mamatas-defiance-stretches-west-bengal-constitutional-crisis.html

Mamata Banerjee’s refusal to step down after a loss pushes West Bengal toward a constitutional crisis with possible gubernatorial intervention looming

05/05/2026

| Mamata Banerjee built politics on immediacy. The BJP runs on scale and central vision. What unfolds now is a collision inside the same administrative space.

Gajanan Khergamker writes from Ground Zero: https://www.thedraftworld.com/2026/05/kolkata-did-not-flinch-west-bengal-elections-2026-bjp-victory.html

Kolkata after BJP’s Bengal win: Gajanan Khergamker examines Bengal 3.0, Mamata Banerjee’s fall, and the deeper shift in power and political identity.

02/05/2026

In an era of louder, larger and more visible infrastructure, this story asks a quieter question: What does it mean to build without disturbing? Beneath Lonavala Lake, a tunnel carries thousands of vehicles each day. Above it, the ecosystem remains undisturbed.

Manu Shrivastava of The Draft explores why the Mumbai-Pune Expressway 'Missing Link' may be India's greatest engineering success of all, till date.

Read more on The Draft: https://www.thedraftworld.com/2026/05/why-the-Mumbai-Pune-Expressway-Missing-Link-is-making-engineers-uncomfortable.html

An environmental engineer’s view of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. How a tunnel beneath Lonavala Lake shows precision, restraint and sustainable design.