Opinion

By Pramod K Nayar One of the most celebrated photographs that had the (mis)fortune to be withdrawn from official exhibits was Richard Drew’s “Falling Man”. Drew, entirely by accident, captured the man falling/leaping off the World Trade Centre (WTC) on 9/11. Drew’s photograph along with other photographs of people jumping/falling from the Towers, were later […]

By Arun Sinha In a recent address at Bengaluru, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu lamented that the anti-defection law had failed to check mass defections and suggested an amendment to the law to stop it. The lamentation and suggestion coming from someone who had been the BJP president sound bold, as several mass defections in recent years […]

By Emma McClean, Aidan Hehir The day after Russian troops crossed the border to begin their invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations Security Council drafted a resolution condemning the invasion and calling on Russia to withdraw unconditionally. What happened next was predictable enough: Russia vetoed the resolution. As one of five permanent members of the […]

By Seela Subba Rao Most of the federal governments are vested with powers to raise tax revenues while the States are responsible for undertaking a large part of the public expenditures. The allocation of taxation powers vis-à-vis responsibilities per se creates an imbalance known as vertical imbalance. Further, the existence of vast regional disparities contributes […]

By Sayantan Ghosal, Dania Thomas Sri Lanka recorded the first casualties from its spiralling economic crisis several days ago, with one protester dead and 24 more injured. This was from police firing gunshots into a crowd who were demanding the removal of a government they hold responsible for the country’s predicament. At present: • Citizens […]

Nonalignment may be sensible policy for individual states, but it could spell trouble for international security

By JR Janumpalli Telangana on June 2, 2014, became the 29th State of India. Many new States were created after independence — some on a linguistic basis and some on tribal identities, geography and culture. The statehood of Telangana was different from other new States. It was for political freedom. It was a demerger of […]

By Pramod K Nayar Counter-balancing the fictional/fantastic account of Star Trek, the first major spacetravel saga on TV, were images from the moon, from spacecraft leaving the solar system and the ‘Blue Marble’ photograph. Now there is also a genre of travel writing from outer space — the astrojournal. Footprints beyond Earth The critic Mary […]

By Dr Ranjith Reddy Fertilizer is a magic wand for the farmer to push his productivity and production but could be a sceptre for the government for it has to procure the produce for distribution under the national food security scheme, for exports, etc. It is the same ‘magic wand’, which helped the country sail […]

By Dr K Srinivasa Rao The global economy is under stress due to geopolitical hostilities and continuing risks of Covid-19 on increased mobility. Rising inflation and repercussions of global portfolio redistribution owing to policy rate hikes in the western world are exacerbating risks to emerging economies. Due to their internal constraints and policy objectives, emerging […]

By E Revathi and Venkatanarayana Motkuri The State government has taken up an important task of strengthening public school education under the flagship programme of Mana Ooru-Mana Badi and Mana Basti-Mana Badi. In the aftermath of Covid 19, there has been a massive shift from private schooling to public schools due to loss in household […]

By Dr Sonal Mobar Roy Early childhood development is a prerequisite for an individual’s growth and development that would ultimately also reflect on the country’s human resource. Hence, the government has been focusing on planned interventions in this direction. The Integrated Child Development Scheme is one such programme that started in 1975. It provides food, […]

By Pramod K Nayar When Sue Coe, a celebrated artist known for her activist-art against animal cruelty in works like Factory Pharm (2001), set out to capture the horrors of Covid-19, she did so with a realism that can only be termed traumatic. What Coe does is to align human suffering from the virus with the history […]

By Arun Sinha The noted economist Surjit Bhalla’s argument that food subsidy has wiped out extreme poverty in India is highly erroneous. Bhalla, who arrived at this conclusion in a recent study done for the International Monetary Fund with two other economists, wants to make us believe that if only the stomachs of the poor […]

By Gisèle Yasmeen Nearly one in three people in the world did not have access to enough food in 2020. That’s an increase of almost 320 million people in one year and it’s expected to get worse with rising food prices and the war trapping wheat, barley and corn in Ukraine and Russia. Climate change […]

By Srividhya S Millets are regarded as heritage crops owing to their cultivation and use as a staple food since ancient times in several parts of the world, especially India. They are being cultivated on varying scales in various parts of the country, mainly by tribal and marginal farmers. But sadly, their place in the […]

By Dhananjay Tripathi The Russia-Ukraine war has stirred international politics, and we are slowly but surely entering into a new world order that will be multipolar where India’s role is critical. The recent visit of foreign dignitaries to New Delhi, including foreign ministers of China, Russia, and the UK, underlines the significance accorded to India […]

By Pramod K Nayar Charles Darwin enabled (or troubled) us to rethink our origins —  without asking, of course, whether the apes were even impressed by this connection —  and our lines of descent.  Theological and mythic creation stories apart, this evolutionary theory remains the single most influential account of life on earth. This story […]

By M Sridhar Acharyulu “Had I wanted, the Telangana Assembly and government could have collapsed. I could have simply not permitted the Legislative Assembly session to commence on the day as the government wanted. Then on the grounds of exceeding 6 months prescribed gap between two sessions, the Assembly could have automatically dissolved”. This was […]

By Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao The Governor of Telangana met the Prime Minister and union Home Minister, and later addressed the media that (her) government is not bestowing due respect to her. She also mentioned protocol violations to her. The Governor further said that since she was not satisfied with the recommendation of the government […]

By Joseph Wright, Abel Escribà-Folch Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presents foreign policymakers with few good options to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin, or to deter these types of aggressions in the future. The US government, for example, continues to push for additional sanctions on Russia in response to news of Russian military atrocities, even though […]

By Amitava Mukherjee The Congress is now going through a customary charade. As it happens after every other election, a group of senior Congress leaders has voiced its despondency at the miserable performance of the party at the recently concluded State elections. This is not the first time that the leaders feel ‘pangs of conscience’ […]

By Nandini Nayak India’s food subsidy programmes have the capacity to respond to increased demand. Thoughtful adjustment would reap large-scale benefits. Covid-19 lockdowns aggravated food deprivation in India. The pandemic also revealed opportunities to expand the country’s food subsidy programmes. India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) offers subsidised foodgrains to eligible households. Public pressure during Covid-19 […]

It is time to recognise migrants and the rising cases of injustice against them