M.S Shanker

Founder-Editor and the driving force behind Orangenews9.com, MS Shanker is a veteran media professional with over four decades of experience dedicated to fearless journalism and the nation’s cause. He has worked with leading media houses including Deccan Chronicle, Mid-Day, Outlook, Dainik Bhaskar, NDTV, and BBC, among others.

Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

When Headlines Lose Credibility

National newspapers must distinguish investigative journalism from insinuation, and accountability from political agitation The decline of credibility in Bharat’s once-respected national newspapers is becoming a matter of serious concern. When publications that built their reputations on professional journalism appear to cross the thin line between exposing uncomfortable truths and fuelling political narratives, they must expect…

Read More
Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Secularism or Selective Outrage?

The real test of religious tolerance is whether we defend every citizen’s right to practise a faith with equal conviction—and refuse to tolerate insults against any religion. As a news buff who spends considerable time watching television debates—equal parts fascinating and exasperating—I am often struck by the contradictions displayed by political spokespersons and self-proclaimed champions…

Read More
Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Bharat Is Not Bangladesh

There is a fundamental difference between the right to dissent and the licence to manufacture disorder. Democracy guarantees the former; it does not give anyone a free pass for the latter. The Delhi High Court’s decision to reject, at this stage, AISA president Neha Bora’s challenge to a police notice seeking a peace bond must…

Read More
Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Nuclear Bluff, Western Shield

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye on August 7, declaring that an armed attack against any one of the three would be treated as an attack against all, was projected as a powerful demonstration of Islamic solidarity. Yet, the unfolding security crisis in West Asia raises an uncomfortable question:…

Read More
Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

US-Bharat and Diesel

When energy meets geopolitics, New Delhi must keep its eyes open. The visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Bharat, culminating in a trip to Reliance Industries’ massive Jamnagar refinery, is more than a ceremonial stop on a diplomatic itinerary. It is a reminder that energy, trade and geopolitics are inseparable—and that national…

Read More
Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Dhruv, Who Cares?  

A cockroach that flies in from Germany, delivers a lecture on Indian democracy and constitutional institutions, and then reportedly leaves the country is hardly the messiah of Indian democracy he imagines himself to be. Dhruv Rathee may have opinions to offer, but why should Bharat take lectures on its constitutional functioning from someone whose own…

Read More
Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Legal Lacunae Closed

Dussera gift to Sanatanis as Supreme Court draws a clear line between custodianship and ownership of temple properties Call it a Dussera gift to Sanatanis or a long-overdue judicial correction. Either way, the Supreme Court has delivered a powerful message: temple property is not government property, and the State cannot behave as though it owns…

Read More
Columnist M S Shanker, Orange News 9

Why Is France Burning?

The world needs no lecture on democracy from a superpower that increasingly treats other nations’ sovereignty as negotiable, international law as optional and economic sanctions as instruments of political coercion. If there is one country whose conduct deserves relentless scrutiny, it is the United States under Donald Trump. From Europe to Bharat, political discontent, public…

Read More