In these times of deep global economic and political crises, the Indian nation and polity are being subjected to a hydridized political project of various forces: a brahmanical Hindu hegemony, based on systemic hatred towards Muslims-Dalits-Adivasis and other oppressed classes; a hyper-masculine militaristic nationalism, targeting particularly the bodies of women and people from other marginalised genders; and a total handover of the economy to big capital. We are witnessing a gradual and continuous process of undermining several key political and social institutions, which despite their shortcomings and hardwired ruling class interests, had been built over decades through popular participation and social movements from below. It indeed wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we are facing a potential danger that the Constitution as we have known it might be fundamentally transformed.

We have also noticed in recent years that the mainstream media, in its many variants and forms, has become a handmaiden to the very specific goal of establishing a totalitarian “Hindu Rashtra”, to the extent that it has become almost impossible to distinguish Media from State and Business. Those journalists and media houses working to maintain some independence are facing immense pressure to fall in line.

In response to such “post-truth” violence of unabashed falsehood, GroundXero is an attempt to defend facts, reason and truth, as an act of resistance. GroundXero hopes to work as a platform for news, dialogue and debate aimed at holding democracy accountable, staying fiercely independent of any kind of corporate funding and /or control of political parties.

You can contribute! We want to involve all friends and colleagues across generations in this shared political project, and invite voluntary contributions of articles, in English and/or Bangla. We not only seek advice from experienced journalists, activists and independent media practitioners, but also their active participation as regular contributors. We are extending an open invitation for those of our readers who value democracy, to volunteer with us in building up such a decentralized media outlet/network. At this point, since we do not have an editing desk, we request those who are generating reports and articles to do the primary editing.

GroundXero is funded by individual contributions of like-minded people. We do not accept any Government, Corporate or NGO funds. However, we propose to carry online advertisements of books and periodicals, CD/DVDs etc., from independent publications and authors/artists, et al. You can also support GroundXero through your financial contributions.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please write to us: admin at groundxero dot in