Opinion

By Pramod K Nayar That poetry is the most compressed form of expressing the strongest emotions is now a truism. Think of how Imtiaz Dharker in ‘They’ll Say: “She Must be From Another Country”’ describes a nation’s rulers: fat old fools, the crooks and thugs who wear the uniform that gives them the right to […]

By Arun Sinha When Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for an end to the ‘revadi culture’ on July 17, he might not have expected that two weeks later a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana, hearing a petition seeking curbs on the distribution of ‘freebies’ by political parties, would decide to set […]

By Elsabe Loots Over the past 25 years there has been lots of research and debate about the concept, history and state of globalisation, its various dimensions and benefits. The World Economic Forum has set out the case that the world has experienced four waves of globalisation. In a 2019 publication, it summarised them as […]

By Dr Oruganty Prasada Rao Over the years, ‘freebies’ have become an integral part of politics for parties to either win elections or stay in power by offering them as ‘bait’ to woo the voters. Political parties vie with each other to provide freebies and add new ones to the list with each election. These […]

Pramod K Nayar What ostensibly distinguishes the human race from other species is its incessant need to preserve its memories in art, literature and prosthetic devices. The glories of ancient kingdoms, the devastations of wars, the achievements of scientists are recorded with the presumption that later generations will want to know these details of their […]

By Meredith Oyen US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Aug 2 – a highly controversial trip that has been strongly opposed by China. Such is the sensitivity over the island’s status that even before Pelosi’s plane touched down in the capital of Taipei, mere reports of the proposed trip prompted a warning […]

By Seela Subba Rao The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India’s report on Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) presented to Parliament in December 2021 showed mixed results – the good, the bad and the downright ugly. After examining a total of 607 CPSEs as on 31 March 2020, the picture brought out by CAG […]

By Abhijeet Anand and Priyanka Kaushal Whether we’re running a country or a household, we always need to spend within our budget. The Earth also has a budget – the ecological budget, where income and expenditure take the form of natural resources. Like every budget, the Earth’s is limited. Today, humans are using the resources […]

By Dr K Srinivasa Rao With the change in the operating ecosystem driven by technology and the evolution of the gig working community, the archaic labour laws need reforms. The possibility of process reforms, automation and enhanced scope to use tools like artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and robotics calls for improved capacity of […]

By B Yerram Raju In India, 98% of manufacturing micro and small manufacturing enterprises (MSMEs), estimated at 1.6 crore, are single-owner enterprises even if they are proprietary or partnerships and family enterprises or private limited enterprises. Stages of their growth are similar to biological organisms like the seeds transforming into flowering or fruit-bearing trees. This […]

By Wendy Whitman Cobb Russia intends to withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024, according to an announcement from Yuri Borisov, the new head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, in a meeting with Vladimir Putin on July 26, 2022. Borisov also said future efforts will focus on a new a Russian space station. […]

By Dhananjay Tripathi The last couple of years has not been good for South Asia, which, in all respects, stands divided. Politically and economically, South Asia is regarded as one of the world’s least integrated regions. This post-colonial, post-partition region has failed to stand united despite establishing the South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation (SAARC) […]

By Arun Sinha India’s two prominent economists — Arvind Panagariya, former vice-chairman of NITI Aayog and Columbia University professor, and Poonam Gupta, director-general of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) — have in a policy paper batted for privatisation of all public […]

By JR Janumpalli The national executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party held in Hyderabad was at its belligerent best, which involved a total assault on Telangana. But, the party could not garner enough traction commensurate with its effort and desire. For, the BJP is not in power in the State and the local party […]

By T Muralidharan The following four key provisions under the GST regime spell disaster for the MSME sector: • Taxpayer must pay the entire GST dues before filing the GST Summary Return (GSTR 3B) • GSTR 3B cannot be filed until and unless the delayed payment interest at 18% is also paid • Taxpayer is […]

By Dr Manoranjan Sharma The imposition of the windfall taxes and export duty evoked considerable debates across the development spectrum. The basic justification for the windfall taxes and export duty tax on petrol, diesel and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) hikes imposed on July 1, 2022, stems from the fact that some oil refiners were raking […]

By Amit Mishra Startups in online education saw a spike as a result of the ‘stay-at-home’ Covid policy. Now, as India gets back to the ground, a large number of ed-tech employees are going home. A stock market meltdown earlier this month did not bode well for the wider economic world, and as a result, […]

By Kevin Trenberth When politicians talk about reaching “net zero” emissions, they’re often counting on trees or technology that can pull carbon dioxide out of the air. What they don’t mention is just how much these proposals or geoengineering would cost to allow the world to continue burning fossil fuels. There are many proposals for […]

By Salla Vijaya Kumar Three important Acts, the States Reorganisation Act, the River Boards Act and the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act were enacted in 1956 to resolve inter-State issues. The States Reorganisation Act has reformed the boundaries of Indian States and territories, mainly on a linguistic basis. The Telangana region of erstwhile Hyderabad […]

By Mark Davison When World Trade Organization (WTO) members agreed in June to ease patent rules on Covid-19 vaccines, they stopped short of waiving patent protection. As the vaccines flowed into some parts of the world in late 2020, bringing relief, hope and a ticket out of lockdown, other countries’ vaccination rates lagged far behind. […]

By Dr Moitrayee Das, Saanya Verdia The need for a culturally competent practice of psychology has become an important issue today. Continuous globalisation has led to an increase in the intercultural interactions between different communities. These interactions have led to the exchanging of cultural knowledge, ideas and forms of healing. Different forms of healing are […]

By Nayakara Veeresha The political fallout of the Maharashtra Vikas Agadhi (MVA) regime in Maharashtra has reignited the debate on defections and their role in democracy. Political defections and the subsequent government’s downfall in Maharashtra are nothing but a betrayal of the people’s mandate and democracy. It seems political parties are least bothered about respecting […]

By Kristie Patricia Flannery Footage flashed across television and smartphone screens this week showing rowdy crowds of Sri Lankan protesters mobbing Temple Trees, the official presidential palace in Colombo. Cameras panned across the compound’s lush gardens as jubilant young men jumped into the swimming pool and splashed in its blue waters. Men clad in sandals, […]

By Biswajit Dhar The World Health Organization (WHO) has called it “vaccine apartheid”: developed economies who can pay for Covid-19 vaccines have much higher rates of vaccination than developing economies. Only 21% of people in low-income countries have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, partly because pharmaceutical companies have refused to temporarily waive their […]