Editorials

As war clouds hover over Ukraine with the Western countries warning of an imminent Russian military invasion, there is still scope for diplomatic interventions to de-escalate the tensions and prevent a catastrophic war. While United States President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have cited intelligence inputs to claim that Russia is edging […]

One more round of ban on Chinese mobile apps has just been announced, citing security threats. The trend had started soon after the Galwan Valley clash and continued amid the growing tensions between the two countries. The question is whether the moves have resulted in giving a push to home-grown technology companies. The irony is […]

The Centre’s response to the plight of stranded Indians in Ukraine, caught in the escalating tensions with Russia, has been tardy and inadequate. With war clouds looming large following a massive Russian military build-up on the borders, thousands of Indians, particularly students enrolled in Ukrainian higher education institutes, are a worried lot. The advisory issued […]

Billed as the mother of all IPOs, the upcoming public offer of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) could prove crucial for the government’s efforts to meet the disinvestment targets. However, there seems to be no appetite for such mega issues as it comes amid challenging times with markets being volatile and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) […]

The gross underutilisation of the Nirbhaya Fund, meant for schemes aimed at improving the safety and security of women, shows an inexcusable apathy towards the issues concerning women’s safety. A parliamentary panel has pointed out that of the Rs, 9,549-crore allocated under the fund, created by the Central government in the wake of the nationwide […]

The resignation of Ravi Chopra from the chairmanship of the Supreme Court-mandated Char Dham panel illustrates how the environmentalists are getting increasingly frustrated over the continued apathy of the government in protecting the fragile ecology of the region. In his resignation letter to the apex court, the chairman of the high powered committee has pointed […]

The Reserve Bank of India’s decision to keep the repo rate unchanged at 4% for the 10th time in a row and to maintain the accommodative stance reflects a more cautious approach in the wake of an erratic economic recovery and the continued impact of the pandemic. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in its last […]

There is a growing tendency among the authorities to invoke the national security clause to suppress and silence any form of dissent. The Centre’s ban on the Malayalam news channel — MediaOne — is the latest instance of how critical voices are sought to be muzzled in the name of protecting the interests of national […]

Celebration of diversity and plurality defines the soul of India. Any attempt to alter this fundamental identity will damage the country’s social fabric. If backed by a political agenda, such attempts can lead to disastrous consequences. Invoking the xenophobic narratives to rake up the communal divide has been a familiar electoral strategy of the BJP […]

The deal for supply of BrahMos supersonic missiles to the Philippines, the first major military export, comes as a shot in the arm for India’s efforts to become an exporter of defence hardware. This is also seen as a strategic move to outsmart China whose belligerent behaviour in the disputed South China Sea has soured […]

The Rohit Sharma-led team celebrated India’s 1,000th one-day international match on Sunday with an emphatic six-wicket win over West Indies in Ahmedabad. India has come a long way ever since they played their first one-day international match against England in Leeds in 1974. The first few years of India’s show in the ODIs were disastrous […]

As a host of an international sporting event, Beijing was expected to rise above bilateral tensions

The Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order staying the Haryana government’s law on quota for locals in private sector jobs is a welcome development. It’s an apt judicial intervention to correct a flawed policy. According to the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020, private companies are required to reserve 75% of the jobs, […]

Displaying an unabashed streak of hegemony and territorial ambitions, China has been quite aggressive over the last few years in building infrastructure along the border while India has a lot to catch up. The ‘Vibrant Villages’ Programme, announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech, will hopefully help New Delhi effectively counter the […]

The NDA government’s decision to tax crypto assets without first creating a regulatory framework for their transactions is baffling. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement, in her Budget presentation, that any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset would be taxed at the rate of 30% reflects the Centre’s eagerness to dip into the digital […]

Neglecting progressive States like Telangana once again demonstrates that Modi’s catchphrase “Team India” is just a slogan

The first India-Central Asia Summit, hosted against the backdrop of developments in Afghanistan and the changing geopolitical dynamics, demonstrates India’s growing role as a stabilising force in the volatile region. With Pakistan trying to fish in troubled waters and China flexing its muscles in pursuit of its hegemonic ambitions, India has a historic opportunity to […]

The latest revelations raise disturbing questions over the conduct of government agencies in the entire episode

It’s a sort of ‘Ghar Wapsi’ for Air India to return to the Tata Group nearly seven decades after it was nationalised, capping years of struggle by the government to sell the struggling airline that became a burden on taxpayers. Successive governments had pumped in $15 billion to keep the ailing airline flying. The handover […]

While the Indian economy is on the path of overall recovery from the worst hit it took at the start of the pandemic, the situation remains volatile in the face of the rapid surge of the Omicron variant and the informal sector continues to be in the red. Quite a few international agencies have downgraded […]

A new era in space exploration has just begun with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the most sophisticated space laboratory ever built, successfully reaching its destination — a gravitational parking spot in an orbit around the Sun nearly 1.50 million miles from Earth. There are several fascinating scientific possibilities arising out of this extraordinarily complex […]

The dividing line between two Indias — the haves and have-nots — has now become too sharp and stark to ignore. The pandemic has widened the gulf between the rich and the poor in ways that the country never experienced in the past. The top and bottom of the pyramid absorbed the pandemic shock in […]

At a time when global concerns are growing over climate change and man-made environmental degradation, the NDA government’s move to incentivise the States, through a star rating system, for speedy green clearance to projects appears flawed and ill-conceived. Any attempt to unduly hasten up clearances is bound to lead to dilution of the environment protection […]

Never in the recent past the threat to federalism was as serious as it is now. The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has been systematically undermining the spirit of federalism by usurping the rights of the States and taking unilateral and arbitrary decisions. On every issue with federal ramifications, it has been arbitrary and […]