Editorials

In the course of a letter to Princess Sophia Duleep in connection with the forthcoming India Day, Lord French expresses his high appreciation of the services of Indian fighters on the west front in 1914-1915. “When”, says Lord French, “the Indian troops first arrived the situation was so drastic that …

Sir Alexander Cardew and Hon’ble Mr. Rajagopalachariyar are coming to Madras to examine the position with regard to foodstuffs prices and concert measures with the Chamber of Commerce and the public bodies for dealing with the situation. On Saturday last [September 14] there were persistent rumours in the city that …

In 1981, the founder of CNN, Ted Turner, predicted that newspapers in print would be “gone in 10 years”. The publisher of a little-known American newspaper, Yakima Herald-Republic , Jim Barnhill, was so incensed that he promised to remind Turner of his words in 1991 in print, so that their …

India is signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity. As four of the 35 biodiversity hotspots are located in India, it is biodiversity-rich. However, climate change and development without consideration for biodiversity are leading to loss of biodiversity. India’s National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) recognises the importance of biodiversity for …

The rupee, which is currently the worst-performing currency in Asia, is finally receiving some help from the authorities. The Union government, after a meeting with Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel, on Friday announced a list of measures to arrest the sharp decline in the currency, which has lost …

The death of five young men who were employed to clean a septic tank in an upmarket residential community in New Delhi is a shocking reminder that India’s high-profile sanitation campaign has done little to alter some basic ground realities. Around the same time as the Delhi incident, five workers …

A reader wrote to us wondering whether discussions on technological disruptions and their impact on the news ecology are a ploy to deflect attention from the failings of the news media. He listed a set of “non-stories” — speculations at best and motivated plants at worst — that appeared in …

Excess rains and floods in Kerala, deficit rainfall in eastern and north-eastern India, and associated large-scale crop losses have again highlighted the need for providing social protection to poor farmers. A highly subsidised Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was launched in 2016 to provide insurance to farmers from all …

Kumari died on September 1. She had contracted leptospirosis while doing relief work in Kerala after the floods, away from her own home which had not been affected. She was a health volunteer and prominent member of the Kudumbashree Mission in her panchayat in Ernakulum district. Kumari’s work and life …

The travails of the rupee have dominated newspaper headlines over the last fortnight. Its value has fallen precipitously against the dollar, and is now hovering around the 72 level; it was just under 64 at the beginning of the year. There is now intense debate in the media on whether …