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The spiralling retail inflation is emerging as a major cause for concern. The consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation for April skyrocketed to an 8-year high of 7.79%, much above the Reserve Bank of India’s comfort zone of 6%, for the fourth straight month. The latest data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) presents a […]
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The institution of marriage, built on the premise of equality, should not be allowed to be used as a cover for sexual violations. It should not give any special male privilege or a licence for unleashing a brutal beast. Looking at the way the current laws are being implemented, one wonders whether marriage automatically grants […]
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The dangerous meltdown in Sri Lanka, in the wake of public anger and violence spiralling out of control, can have security implications for India. The situation needs to be handled with sensitivity. As a close neighbour with historical ties, India has demonstrated its support and extended a helping hand in the hour of crisis. However, […]
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The NDA government’s sudden decision to take a relook at the sedition law, a piece of colonial baggage, is a welcome move but the Supreme Court, which is hearing a batch of petitions on the matter, must be allowed to take the review process to its logical conclusion. One can only hope that the government’s […]
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India is caught in a paradoxical situation on the energy front. On one hand, it needs to continue to exploit fossil fuels like coal to meet its growing demands but on the other, meet the international goals on climate change by phasing out fossil fuels and adopting clean energy technologies. Intense heatwaves across India, with […]
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Even after two years of gruelling work, the Delimitation Commission’s final order for the union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has left many disappointed. The proposal to have an additional six Assembly seats for the Jammu region, from 37 earlier, and raising Kashmir’s tally by one to 47 has ruffled feathers in the Valley. Regional […]
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India may have every reason to dispute the methodology adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for calculating the number of Covid deaths in the country but it is an undeniable fact that the Centre had bungled the handling of the pandemic during the second wave. There can be no dispute that the ruling dispensation […]
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The Reserve Bank of India’s sudden decision to hike the policy rate may have taken the market off guard but it has become inevitable to tame the soaring inflation. The decision, taken at an unscheduled meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank, sends a clear signal that rising inflation is going […]
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The fall in India’s position in the latest World Press Freedom Index reflects the sorry state of affairs. The reports of Hindutva forces, emboldened by the ideological position of the ruling dispensation at the Centre, trying to muzzle the voices of dissenting media are causing alarm. No wonder the country has dropped eight places to […]
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As if the ongoing controversies over Hijab, Azaan and Hanuman Chalisa are not enough, another row has erupted over the perceived linguistic supremacy of Hindi. This is a totally avoidable controversy in a country that celebrates pluralism and diversity in all aspects. Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn stirred a hornet’s nest by tweeting that Hindi alone […]
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The writing on the wall is very clear. The scorching heatwave currently sweeping large swathes of India is a grim reminder of the dangers of climate change, a result of the unbridled exploitation of natural resources like coal and other fossil fuels. Such intense heat waves, with many areas recording the hottest March temperatures in […]
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Among the many ills plaguing the Indian judiciary, poor infrastructure in courts is an important and pressing one that needs to be fixed urgently. Improving infrastructure in courts is a key component of the larger reforms to ensure speedy and efficient delivery of justice. Chief Justice of India NV Ramana’s suggestion for the establishment of […]
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The recent plenary session of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi had two significant takeaways – one that it served as the platform for a soft launch of the pink party’s campaign with a clear direction of the path that it would take as part of the electoral strategy, and secondly, the party’s whole-hearted thumbs up to […]
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One often wonders why India, despite being endowed with copious resources, talent and ideas, remains a country where dreams and aspirations of millions of people remain unfulfilled and the possibilities remain unexplored. The pace of development has been excruciatingly slow while others in the region like China are miles ahead across all parameters. There is […]
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The defeat of the politics of polarisation and hatred in the recent presidential elections in France holds significance that goes beyond Europe. President Emmanuel Macron, who represents centrist politics, won by a fairly comfortable margin over Le Pen of the far-right ideology, thereby arresting the tide of right-wing extremist tendencies in a society that is […]
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It’s a moment of reckoning for the fledgling electric vehicles (EVs) industry as more and more vehicles are being recalled in large numbers to plug the possible defects. A spate of fire accidents, including explosion of batteries, has shaken the industry and could potentially bring down the growth rate and supply of EVs at least […]
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The spurt in terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir, coinciding with the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching development projects, comes as a reminder of the challenges in the way of restoring normalcy in the volatile region. Contrary to the claims of the NDA government, the spectre of terrorism continues to loom large […]
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There can be no two opinions about the need to reform the higher education sector to ensure that the country realises its full potential in the knowledge economy. The rot that has set in over decades and the structural flaws that impaired the growth needed to be removed to achieve real transformation. The decision to […]
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Blending traditions with modernity can throw up a new set of solutions and lead to new endeavours. While it is laudable to promote traditional systems of medicine that have wide public acceptance, there is a need to develop a mechanism to authenticate the product quality and regulate this sector so that it conforms to the […]
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The biggest risks of the unregulated cryptocurrency market are money laundering and terror financing. It is for this reason that India has made a strong case for regulating cryptocurrencies at a global level. Since the regulation cannot be done by a single country within its terrain, it has to be a global initiative to figure […]
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The woes of the middle class and the poor, already reeling under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, are expected to worsen in the days ahead with the soaring inflation. The latest figures released by the Centre show that the wholesale inflation, as measured by the wholesale price index (WPI), rose to 14.5% in March, […]
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India’s expenditure on healthcare accounts for just over 1.17% of the GDP, one of the lowest in the world. It also has one of the lowest health workforce in the world. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the gaps in the country’s healthcare infrastructure and should ideally serve as a wake-up call to revamp the sector […]
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One of the key lessons the coronavirus pandemic has taught the policymakers around the world pertains to the importance of reliable and accurate data. The absence of such an ecosystem leads to faulty policy framing with disastrous consequences. India is among the countries that do not have an authentic data ecosystem. The horrific second wave […]
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When the world’s richest person goes shopping, one would expect that all the things that are desired would find a place in the shopping cart. But it’s a delicious irony that the world appears to be conspiring against its richest person, Elon Musk, to prevent him from buying Twitter, the popular microblogging site. It only […]
