Opinion

The TRS government has implemented a mixed development plan of capital-intensive infrastructure with socioeconomic welfare schemes, commensurate with the objectives of the new State.

By Pramod K Nayar Heroes adorn poetry, whether in Greek epics or Hindu ones. Their valour, their appearance, their chivalry and their inspirational actions have served poetry well. So what would poetry about dictators, villains, tyrants and evil-doers – real and mythic – be like? The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges once said in his […]

By G Nagaraj, T Damodaram India is in a paradoxical situation with respect to edible and vegetable oils. It is one of the largest producers and also the largest importer. Naturally, it has also become the major consumer of edible oils in the world. Despite vast sources available, India has been importing a sizeable quantity […]

By Avi Dutt India is now at a crucial stage where infrastructure investment will play a vital role in sustaining economic growth. However, land acquisition, aggressive bidding and non-performing assets are key challenges to infrastructure PPPs (public-private partnerships). Further, India is dealing with a high level of stressed assets, and there is a need to […]

By Vibhavari Desai, Moitrayee Das Since its introduction to the Indian market in 2015, Tinder has become a popular dating app. It’s no surprise that the nationwide lockdowns saw a surge in its usage — approximately 31 million Indians were using Tinder in 2020. According to a Tinder Pressroom release, on 3rd May 2020, Indian […]

By Arun Sinha It is going to be interesting to watch how the BJP navigates its ship through the strait the JD(U) storm has spun it into in Bihar. Although the party’s national core committee has said it will win 35 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in the State in 2024 — a valorous […]

By T Vijay Kumar, A Giridhar Rao All government schools in Gujarat have begun mandatorily teaching English to six-year-olds at the start of primary school, from June. “We are doing this so that students start learning the language at an early stage and don’t face problems in the future,” said Gujarat’s education minister. The policy […]

By Venkatanarayana Motkuri Telangana, once considered an educationally backward region, is now a progressive State in the same domain. Almost all of its 6-14 years-age children are attending schools, near universalisation. My estimate based on the unit-record data of the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS-III) 2019-20 shows nearly 99.5% of the children in the […]

By Avi Dutt, Atul Sanganeria The government’s thrust on infrastructure projects just received a new lease of life through the PM Gati Shakti programme. This programme cuts across transport and connectivity, industrial and urban development with the end goal of improving movement of goods, services and passengers. Since 2014, the government has made commendable efforts […]

Jacques Derrida writes in his Sovereignties in Question: The Poetics of Paul Celan: ‘There is a holocaust for every date, and somewhere in the world at every hour. Every hour counts its holocaust’

By Jagannadha Pawan Tamvada, Rashedur Chowdhury There’s a good chance that you would like to see Covid disappear for good. And you may also wish for an end to the war in Ukraine – or any other war for that matter. But would you feel the same way if you were the head of a […]

By Craig Jeffrey, Jane Dyson Young people have been taking to the streets across India, demanding governments act to provide more jobs. In Bihar, large numbers protested recently at delays in filling public sector vacancies. Some of them had passed the required examinations but waited several years for their job to start. In July and […]

By William D O’Connell There is a well-known saying shared by both crypto experts and sceptics: “Not your keys, not your coins.” The phrase, popularised by Bitcoin entrepreneur Andreas Antonopoulos, refers to how the contents of a crypto wallet are the property of whoever has access to that wallet’s digital “keys.” This means that unless […]

By ManMohan S Sodhi, Christopher S Tang Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has elicited a strong response from China: three days of simulated attack on Taiwan with further drills announced, plus a withdrawal from critical ongoing conversations with the US on climate change and the military. This strong reaction was predictable. President Xi had […]

By Thomas E Doyle, II Every five years, the nearly 200 member states of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons meet to review their progress – or lack thereof. After being postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the month-long conference is now meeting in New York and opened with a stark warning. The […]

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 […]