Editorials

British Nobel prize winning scientist Dorothy Hodgkin yesterday [August 13] announced the discovery of the crystalline structure of insulin, the life saving drug used by diabetics. Dr. Hodgkin made her announcement at a Press conference held on the first day of a 10-day meeting of the Eighth International Congress of …

The mass defection of MLAs makes a mockery of democracy in Sikkim The switching of sides by 10 MLAs from the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Sikkim on Tuesday and later two others from the SDF to the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) brings a …

The auto sales slump reflectsa pervasive lack of demand India’s automobile industry is experiencing a snowballing crisis of demand that shows no signs of abating, leave alone reversing. Domestic sales across all vehicle categories slid 19% year-on-year in July, as passenger vehicle despatches plunged 31% to register the segment’s steepest …

India barely found the inclination to celebrate its independence from Britain on August 15, 1947. Communal riots and a massive influx of refugees following Partition threatened to fragment the fledgling country. Broke and traumatised, it had nothing like the Marshall Plan to cope with the challenges it faced, despite significantly …

Addressing the plenary session of the World Environment Day celebrations on June 5, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated, “We are engaged in a massive push towards renewable energy generation. We have targeted [the] generation of 175 GW of solar and wind energy by 2022. We are already the fifth-largest …

Why Bengal witnesses large-scale political violence is a question that is often asked. The answer is complex and multi-layered. The people in Bengal, mainly the poor, developed a sense of entitlement, largely as a result of the Left’s long rule. Many argue that such entitlement is what shaped people to …

Will a greater centralisation of decision-making help the region’s already-fragile terrain? Amidst the babble of voices on the sudden abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)’s special constitutional status, the simultaneous transformation of Ladakh into a Union Territory (UT) has not received much attention. During last week’s parliamentary debate on this …

With the final date for publication of the National Register of Citizens drawing near, the dividing lines are becoming sharper. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been expressing doubts about an “error-free” (read Bangladeshi free) NRC, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and minority organisations such as the All …

China and Russia to-day [August 13] accused each other of intruding into their territory in the Sinkiang area. Both said the intruding forces had killed several of the defending soldiers. China claimed that “Several hundred” Soviet mechanized troops, under cover of helicopters, tanks and armoured cars, have crossed the border …

One of the most unedifying sights in public life is lawmakers taking to organised disruption of legislative business. Such displays became common in Parliament in the past decade as political parties and legislators demonstratively advertised their points of view without recourse to debate. A number of crucial bills have taken …