Editorials

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 …

The one who reached out to China In the evolution of India-China ties, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s contribution was seminal India-China relations have come a long way from the period of enmity and bitterness that followed the 1962 war. True, they have not returned to the cheery days of Hindi Chini …

Each puja committee willbe given Rs. 10,000 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced a grant of Rs. 10,000 to every community Durga Puja held in the State. At a co-ordination committee meeting, Ms. Banerjee said that the Kolkata police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation will pay Rs. …

Developed countries, especially the U.S.,need to commit funds to limit climate change The conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bangkok last week, that was to draft a rulebook for the Paris Agreement ahead of a crucial international conference in Poland in December, ran into predictable difficulties …

Alan Rusbridger’s new book captures the troubling reality in the media ecosystem today I am never tired of saying that the best journalism is akin to Umberto Eco’s idea of balancing humility and pride as a means for academic excellence. Academic humility, according to Eco, is the knowledge that anyone …

In reading down Section 377, the Supreme Court has showed the way to deepen democracy In its decision in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India last week, the Supreme Court has finally struck down the colonial-era law criminalising homosexuality and the lives of LGBTQ persons. In a 493-page verdict, …

The government advisory on the use of the word shows its intent to further marginalise the community In pre-Independence India and after 1947, during the several unyielding movements for justice for Dalits, multiple terms have been used to convey the idea of the caste system which B.R. Ambedkar described “as …