Editorials

How to review, and why

ding Like a Writer , says reviewers must be emphatic when they write a favourable review: “‘You’ve got to read this’ should be the first line of every positive book review.” What to Read and Why is made up in great part with Prose’s introductions to reissued classics but also …

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The politics of populism

Or, why the Sensex doesn’t indicate voting patterns I must confess to feeling a little sorry for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The poor man had barely returned after a grievous illness when he was hit with the double whammy of a plunging rupee and soaring fuel prices. There was little …

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Sea battles on land

For listeners of music, analytical perspectives are one way to assert our association to a song over a fellow listener In a podcast released last year, the Canadian writer, Malcolm Gladwell, explored the history of the legendary pop song called ‘Hallelujah’ which was written and composed by the great Canadian …

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Happy squirrel days in a London October

We are stocking up for winter, pulling out woollens, keeping one eye on the football while stirring the first thick soup of the season Normally, I’m not a big fan of the autumn in England. Most years the summer that’s just ended leaves me with a feeling of having been …

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Cutting corners on medicine

Consumption of poor quality medicines could be accelerating drug resistance. India has to share some of the blame It is common for patients to stop taking medicines as soon as they start feeling better. Doctors have blamed this particular habit — of not completing the entire dose of antibiotics — …

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Misogyny in a modern idiom

The attacks on girls and women every day are symptomatic of a deep malaise Where curriculum designers fear to tread, film directors take relaxed, bold strides. Few will consider ghosts and witchcraft as suitable topics for a textbook. Killing of women on the suspicion that they are practising witchcraft occasionally …

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EC sets month-long schedule for 5 States

The EC also put off an announcement on the schedule of bypolls to two Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu. Since an election petition pertaining to one of the constituencies was still pending in the Madras High Court, technically the vacancy had not arisen yet, the CEC said. Besides, around 10.30 …

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Augmenting life

This year’s science Nobels compel us to relook at evolution, and also at gender parity The Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year is a tribute to the power of evolution. The laureates harnessed evolution and used it in the laboratory with amazing results. Frances H. Arnold, an American who was …

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Focus on inflation

The RBI chooses to stick to its core mandate, ignoring other pressures such as on the rupee The Reserve Bank of India pulled a surprise on the markets on Friday by keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 6.5%. The decision to stand pat comes even as the central bank …

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Avoiding the currency basket case

Internationalisation of the rupee will serve India well The Indian rupee was once a multilateral currency, its usage prevalent across the Indian Ocean in places as varied as Java, Borneo, Macau, Muscat, Basra and Zanzibar. The historic dhow trade ensured that the Gulf had a familiarity with the rupee for …

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