The Narendra Modi government frequently posits India as a ‘Vishwaguru’ or world leader. How the world sees India is often lost in this branding exercise.Outside India, global voices are monitoring and critiquing human rights violations in India and the rise of Hindutva. We present here monthly highlights of what a range of actors – from UN experts and civil society groups to international media and parliamentarians of many countries – are saying about the state of India’s democracy.Read the monthly roundup for October 1-31, 2026.International media reports CBC News, Canada, October 8Susan Ormiston reports on Google building its largest AI data centre, outside the US, in South India, “clearing 600 acres of land” to do so. Environmental and human rights advocates warn that the data centre will consume huge amounts of water in an already dry region, and electricity too. Unlike young tech professionals, the villagers interviewed did not think that the promise of jobs would be realized. A farmer told Ormiston, “Our land is gone and our land is our livelihood”. New York Times, US, October 11Mujib Mashal analyses the dent in Narendra Modi’s “strongman” persona exposed by the clampdown on a wave of youth protests that broke out in October. As “violent scenes” from Delhi became viral, Mashal writes that this is “exposing the rough edges of Modi’s rule and the limits of his formula for maintaining power”. Modi’s strategy of “boxing in opponents” is not working since the youth movement “increasingly draws on a cross-section of society”. “Digital savvy” combined with “Hindu nationalist ideology” is not working with Gen Z. Mashal adds, “the once-battered opposition is feeling invigorated, trying to widen the crack opened by the young people”. France 24, France, October 13AFP highlights innovative protest strategies used by Indian youth in the recent protests. These range from batman masks, flash mobs, a digital dashboard which mapped and matched the movement of detainees with volunteer drivers and sometimes doctors, and protestors who held on to each other to “wriggle out” of police buses. These are some of the ways in which protestors are turning “ingenuity into a form of resistance”.Al Jazeera, Qatar, October 16Mahmodul Hassan reports on allegations by the tribal community in Koraput district of Odisha of forged signatures and thumbprints as government acquires the community’s ancestral land for an Adani bauxite mining project. Al Jazeera’s investigation reveals forgery of signatures and thumbprints even of dead and fictitious people. Arpitha Kodiveri, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Vassar College, finds this part of a trend of the “illegal administrative practice of implementing the consent provision without adhering to procedure and law” in Odisha and elsewhere.The Economist, UK, October 18The Economist reflects on the “deadly seriousness” with which Indians take the right to vote. Particularly that the recent interference with the sanctity of elections constitutes “a step too far”. As long as Indians believe that “they have the power to punish their rulers come election day, they will put up with a lot” – electoral fraud like booth capture is seen “as part of the game”. However, the question of whether the game itself is fixed is now bringing citizens to the brink. Associated Press, US, October 23Erika Kinetz and Piyush Rai report on “hundreds” of targeted shootings by the police in Uttar Pradesh of Muslims accused of cow smuggling. Nearly 93% of identifiable victims were Muslim. Known as “Operation Lame”, critics describe this as amounting to “extrajudicial punishment, religious persecution and intimidation.” While police defend the shootings as self-defence, human rights advocates warn they undermine the rule of law and reinforce majoritarian politics.Reuters, UK, October 26 Aditya Kalra reports on how media houses owned by Ambani and Adani are among the 21 Indian news publishers who are challenging the government’s privacy law in court. As India’s Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), they are arguing that the law will seriously damage investigative journalism and compromise the identity of the sources. This is “the most high-profile challenge” to the privacy law so far. For the challenge to include businesses headed by billionaire industrialists allegedly close to and favoured by the Prime Minister is significant.BBC, UK, October 26Nikita Yadav reports on the growing censorship faced by cartoonists in India, particularly in the wake of the Gen Z protests which deployed humour in highly visible ways. Digital platforms are blocking access for independent cartoonists. Cartoonists in newsrooms are responding to pressure with self-censorship. It is hopeful that cartoonists are supporting one another and finding ways to adapt.Here is a montage of newspapers across the world with front-page stories on the October protests in India and the Modi government’s response.Prominent papers in the US, UK and Japan led with the story on their front pages, while others have carried headlines befitting of the nature of the protests and the Modi government’s crackdown on its own young citizens. https://t.co/XUSXOCEqj7— The Wire (@thewire_in) October 12, 2026Indian diaspora and international civil society groupsOn October 11, InSAF India held the second memorial event for Professor G.N. Saibaba. Nandita Narayan and Karen Gabriel recalled Saibaba’s integrity as a teacher and commitment to Adivasi struggles. Vipanchika Bhagyanagar asked friends to carry on his legacy of fearless critique accompanied by action. Saibaba’s daughter, Manjeera, while noting the very limited time she had with her father after his release, shared how much he still wanted to do, most of all, start a university for Adivasi youth. All agreed that Saibaba would have welcomed the youth-led protests taking place in India today.On October 27, protests organised by Survival International and joined by South Asia Solidarity and other groups outside London’s Science Museum urged the Museum to end its continued association with the Adani Group. Protestors warned that the proposed Great Nicobar mega-project threatens the Indigenous Shompen people and fragile rainforest ecosystems. Genocide scholars have called the project a “death sentence for the Shompen”. Survival International’s Executive Director Caroline Pearce said how the museum is complicit in “reputation-washing” Adani and demanded it “choose the Shompen not sponsorship”, citing risks of displacement, ecological destruction and the loss of Indigenous livelihoods. The Indian diaspora across the globe holds protests in solidarity, calling for electoral accountability in India:Parliamentarians and public officias advocateUS Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal tweeted her deep concern about “the actions of the Indian government to purge 130 million people from the voting rolls, on October 14. Experts sayUnited Nations experts issued two statements regarding the state response to the protests taking place in India. On October 10, the UN’s Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan called for the release of demonstrators, lawyers, journalists and others, invoked the right to peaceful assembly and urged the authorities “to engage in meaningful dialogue to address the broadly held concerns expressed”. On October 20, twelve Special Rapporteurs, members of two working groups and one independent expert, noted that “this crackdown reflects a broader, troubling pattern” in which Indian authorities have been “repeatedly alerted” against the use of undue restrictions on peaceful assembly, excessive force and arbitrary detentions, and highlighting “the gender-specific impact”. They called for an independent investigation into the conduct of law enforcement and affiliated forces. Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement on October 13 expressing its concerns on the forceful state response to the protests in India. Elaine Pearson, the HRW Asia director, noted that “Peaceful protest and freedom of expression are fundamental rights protected under the international human rights law that India’s leaders claim to uphold”. HRW asked the Indian government to publicly direct security forces to respond to protests in accordance with the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. HRW released another statement on October 28, calling India’s voter-roll revision “arbitrary and deeply flawed”. It highlighted the disproportionate impact on women, Muslims and marginalized communities. HRW urges authorities to “immediately scrap the voter roll revision process that has denied India’s most marginalized people their right to vote and other government services”. Umar Khalid was one of five laureates from around the world who received the Human Rights Defenders at Risk award from the human rights organisation Front Line Defenders (FLD). Khalid was recognised for his leading role “in the peaceful and democratic civil movement against the unconstitutional and anti-Muslim amendments to India’s citizenship laws”. The awardees receive support to bolster their protection and visibility. Gilles Verniers, a political scientist at the Centre for International Studies at Sciences Po, Paris, highlights several striking similarities between recent student protests in India and France. In both countries, protestors are targeting not a particular law or reform, but the entire system; using satire as a weapon (like the deliberately misspelt signs aimed at the failure of schools carried by French students); in both, the “street and screen feed off each other”; “politicians follow, not lead” with Opposition parties rushing in to express solidarity after the movements were initiated, and the unprecedented police brutality “adds fuel” to the protests.The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), draw attention to the incarcerated film maker Vishal Singh’s deteriorating health. Calling for adequate and specialised medical care, the Observatory invoked the need to respect the humanity and dignity of prisoners as per Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a state party.India scores 24.1 on the 2026 Global Hunger Index, placing it in the “serious hunger” category, substantially above the global average (18.1). India stands 100th out of 122 countries. Despite improvement, 9.8% experience undernourishment. Nearly three out of every ten children under five remain stunted. Child wasting, which records children who have low weight for their height, has worsened to 19%. The International Crisis Group (ICG) released a report – A Trigger in Jammu and Kashmir: Militant Violence under Indian Central Rule – assessing developments seven years after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status. ICG finds that “bitterness festers” among the people of Kashmir despite “improvements in security”. This is occurring alongside the failure to “uproot militant groups which have gone underground”. ICG advocates that the Centre “reconsider its heavy-handed approach to governance in Jammu and Kashmir” and also restore statehood “with the aim of strengthening local rule and depriving insurgents of their main rallying cry”. Read the previous roundup here.