Smokescreen Report. AI-generated representational image of men and women standing outside a polling booth to vote in an Indian election. Photo: RMN News Service

The Smokescreen 2026: Voting Without Verification and the Collapse of Electoral Accountability in India

Democracy does not die only through coups or emergency declarations. It can also die quietly—through procedures that look lawful, elections that look competitive, and institutions that look independent, while collectively ensuring that outcomes are never meaningfully questioned.

By Rakesh Raman
New Delhi | March 27, 2026

India is routinely described as the world’s largest democracy. Yet, beneath the spectacle of record voter turnout, election festivals, and official slogans celebrating democratic participation, a deeper and more troubling reality has taken hold: Indian citizens are increasingly asked to vote without any credible means to verify where their vote ultimately goes. read more

Democracy, Human Rights

Pressed Reporter: Humanitarian Service to Protect Journalists and Press Freedom in the World

Pressed Reporter: Humanitarian Service to Protect Journalists and Press Freedom in the World

The persecuted or harassed journalists can fill out an online form to submit their basic case details.

By Rakesh Raman

As press freedom is constantly under attack, the Pressed Reporter service aims to help the persecuted journalists in all parts of the world to defend their fundamental right to report. The word ‘pressed’ in the title Pressed Reporter is a pun used for pressurized or persecuted.

This service is being run by Rakesh Raman who is a national award-winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation in New Delhi, India. He himself has been facing various threats — including death threats — for his editorial and human rights work. read more

Office of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government, which is among the most corrupt departments of India. Photo: Rakesh Raman / RMN News Service

Activities, Analysis, Corruption, Democracy, Research, Slider

Monitoring Power: A Journalism Case Review of Institutional Accountability

By Rakesh Raman
New Delhi | March 4, 2026

1. The Foundation of Independent Oversight

In an era where digital news is often ephemeral and prone to manipulation, independent outlets like RMN News Service and its flagship publication The Unrest are redefining the architecture of media accountability. This methodology, which I term “Scholarly Journalism,” serves as a structural defense against the transience of digital discourse.

By utilizing the Zenodo open research platform—operated by CERN under the OpenAIRE program—these reports are not merely articles but permanent, scholarly artifacts. Assigned unique Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), these investigations are transformed into citable, immutable records that resist institutional erasure and provide a durable evidentiary base for public scrutiny. read more