Editorials

Even by its volatile standards, our Southwest Asian sub-region has lately been unusually turbulent, as reflected in issues ranging from India-Pakistan tensions to the approaching denouements of crises in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan. The oil market, too, has been inclement. Against this disorderly context, it is no small wonder that …

There is more to the Swedish teenager-activist’s point of view than mere emotion and passionate commitment She is being looked at as an emotionally charged icon of environmental struggles, but there is more to Greta Thunberg’s point of view than mere emotion and passionate commitment. If we decipher all the …

The Modi factor looms large in national elections, but States are more competitive The fact that the BJP and its allies won the Assembly election in Maharashtra with a reduced majority and the BJP emerged only as the single largest party in Haryana has raised questions about whether a section …

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday [October 29] flatly decreed that all American public schools, which still remain segregated, must desegregate at once. From now on, the Supreme Court ruling said school districts must operate only unitary schools which both white and black students can attend. Yesterday’s decision was as historic …

The Centre must change the situation in Kashmir, not just the global perception of it On the face of it, the government’s decision to allow the first foreign delegation to visit Srinagar, nearly three months after the decision to amend Article 370 of the Constitution and split the State of …

Innovation is inevitable in the longestand oldest of cricket’s many formats In these times of instant gratification, Test cricket with its five-day tenure might seem an anachronism. To make it seemingly worse, these long-winding contests can also throw up a draw, which flies against sport’s result-oriented culture. Yet, despite a …

India’s publicity overdrive about development can come back to bite it at the WTO While on the one hand, the official narrative in India is that of a country making rapid developmental strides since 2014, on the other, when it comes to developmental status at the World Trade Organization (WTO), …

Fair trade is often an excuse to raise more protectionist barriers to serve domestic special interest groups Free trade, which enjoys almost unanimous support among economists, has come under severe attack from politicians across the world. According to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, the U.S.-China …

The Tamil Nadu government should match its outreach activities with speedy decision-making Tamil Nadu is not known to be a State that markets itself on a large scale to grab the attention of the rest of the world. Even when the process of economic liberalisation gained momentum in the late …

Bright-line recusal rules demand that a judge looks not to his moral sense but considers what a reasonable person thinks The right to a fair hearing is at the heart of the rule of law. But in India today this notion increasingly appears to be a chimerical dream. The latest …

After the visit by MPs of the European Union to the Valley, India’s rejection of mediation will seem contradictory Now that the visit of European Union (EU) parliamentarians to Kashmir has ended, it is time to assess what it achieved. Was it a clever gambit that could change the discourse …

In long and verse sweetness has through the ages been equated with goodness but some hard-hearted research scientists have now found that one of the sweetest substances in existence, the cyclamate, spells danger for the consumer. Cyclamates are hydrocarbon compounds 30 times sweeter than sugar and since they are also …

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 …