Editorials

The onus on closure of abandoned wells should be on the local body, and not the owner As with several such incidents in the past, the intensive operation in Tamil Nadu to rescue a child who slipped into an abandoned borewell in Manapparai, Tiruchi district, ended in spectacular failure. Hopes …

Sena’s brinkmanship in talks with BJP is unlikely to fetch it dividends in Maharashtra The protracted bargaining for power sharing between two pre-poll allies, the BJP and the Shiv Sena, is holding up government formation in Maharashtra, despite their victory in the Assembly election. The irony is starker when compared …

The U.S.’s current policy in Afghanistan puts India in a tough spot and Pakistan in a good placeLess than two months after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly called off talks with the Taliban, Washington is laying the ground to resume them. That this is happening before Afghanistan has a new …

Rajputs appear in history roughly 1,200 years ago in regions now known as Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, the Western Gangetic plains and Bundelkhand. For generations they have skilfully used bards, ballads and epic poetry to turn defeats at the northern frontiers of India into moral victories. Raputs lost to Ghazni about …

Development economics has changed a lot during the last two decades or so, mostly due to the extensive use of ‘randomised control trials’ (RCT). ‘Randomistas’ are proponents of RCTs to assess long-run economic productivity and living standards in poor countries. Three randomistas, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, were …

In Jose Paulo Coutinho v. Maria Luiza Valentina Pereira (2019) , the Supreme Court has yet again revived the debate on a uniform civil code (UCC) and referred to Goa as “a shining example of an Indian State which has a uniform civil code applicable to all…”. There are rumours …

The Legislative Assembly elections in Maharashtra this year took place in the shadow of the Lok Sabha election held less than six months ago. The alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena swept the Lok Sabha election, with the Indian National Congress being practically decimated and …

Hartal was observed throughout Punjab today [October 28] in memory of Mr. Darshan Singh Pheruman, who died in Amritsar yesterday on the 74th day of his fast for the inclusion of Chandigarh in Punjab. The offices of the Punjab Government also remained closed. The last rites of Mr. Pheruman were …

The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder-leader of the Islamic State, is a major setback to the dreaded terrorist organisation. Baghdadi, who rose to international notoriety in July 2014 when he appeared in the pulpit of Mosul’s grand al-Nuri mosque as the leader of the new ‘Caliphate’ announced by …

While retaining power via a post-poll tie-up, BJP will have to recognise the mandate’s nature By winning the support of the JJP to form a government in Haryana, the BJP has surmounted its failure in the recent Assembly election to win a clear majority from the people directly for a …