Indian Ocean · Geopolitics · 18 min
Who keeps the Indian Ocean open?
Ports, debt and naval patrols are redrawing the busiest sea lanes on earth. We map who holds what, and what it means for India's south coast.
Research Desk · 20 Oct 2026 · Sample
Every story has sides.We find what happened.
Independent research and media analysis from Kanyakumari, where three seas meet. We read every side, check it against the evidence, and publish what holds up.
Read the researchDrag the globe · hover a markerTap a marker · sample places13 places
The latest
All researchIndia · Economics · 11 min · Sample
Why food inflation outlasts the monsoon
Chennai · Politics · 14 min · Sample
Reading the delimitation debate without the noise
Bastar · Tribal Studies · 16 min · Sample
The Forest Rights Act at twenty
Same news.
Different stories.
Media Lens · This week
Coverage of the new state data-protection rules
Nine outlets, each rated from left to right with a method we publish in full.
Left · 3Centre · 4Right · 2Illustrative outlets and ratings
Left · Morning Ledger
“A privacy win for citizens”
Centre · Harbour Times
“Rules notified; key clauses still unclear”
Right · Northstar News
“New compliance burden for startups”
Blindspot · RightRight-leaning outlets ran two of the nine stories, both about the cost to business. Few covered what changes for users.
Open the Media LensProblem. Evidence.
Options. Trade-offs.
Every Policy Lab brief takes the same four steps, in the same order. This week: coastal erosion on the southern shoreline.
Read the brief01
Problem
Beaches and fishing hamlets on the southern coast are losing land to the sea.
02
Evidence
Shoreline studies show walls and groynes hold one stretch while the next one along narrows.
03
Options
Seawalls, groynes, beach nourishment, managed retreat, planted buffers.
04
Trade-offs
Cost, erosion pushed to the next village, and whether boats can still land.
கன்னியாகுமரி · முக்கடல் சங்கமம்
Where three
seas meet.
Our home district, at the southern tip of India. The Kanyakumari Desk reports on its coast, its economy and its people, closely and over years.
70 years in Tamil Nadu1 Nov 2026
History · Sample
Seventy years in Tamil Nadu: Travancore's legacy in KanyakumariCoast · Sample
Where the shore is moving: erosion in the fishing villagesEconomy · Sample
Rubber, cashew and remittances: the district's economyTribal Studies · Sample
The Kani people of the Agasthyamalai hills
Where our work
has reached.
Every place our research, reporting and partnerships have reached, traced from Kanyakumari. The map grows as we do.
13
Places
6
Research
4
Field reporting
3
Partners
HomeResearchField reportingPartnersSample placesCoastlines: Natural Earth 1:50m
- Chennai: Research. Delimitation analysis for the southern states
- New Delhi: Research. Food prices and storage research
- Colombo: Research. Port finance study
- Malé: Research. Sea-level briefing
- Singapore: Research. Shipping lanes data
- Djibouti: Research. Naval bases mapping
- Jagdalpur: Field reporting. Forest rights field reporting
- Dhaka: Field reporting. Media Lens: regional coverage study
- Gwadar: Field reporting. Port reporting
- Mombasa: Field reporting. Indian Ocean trade reporting
- Nairobi: Partner. Partner newsroom
- Jakarta: Partner. Research partner
- Perth: Partner. University partner
Subjects
Eight fields · one standard of evidence
What you can
hold us to.
Every source cited
Each claim links to the document, dataset or interview it rests on.
Ratings show their method
Every bias rating lists the stories sampled and the rules used.
Corrections in public
Every change after publication is dated and logged on one page.
No party sets the agenda
Funders are named. None of them chooses what we cover.
The week,
checked.
One email each Sunday: new research, one Media Lens reading and every correction we made.