Opinion

By Arun Sinha Which way will the farmers vote in the elections in UP and Punjab? That is a serious worry for the BJP. The signs are not good for it, and the Budget has not made them any better. The fire of farmers’ anger is still not extinguished. They recently observed a Vishwasghat Diwas (Betrayal Day) […]

BJP is not sure whether religion as a card will be able to deliver the State for it

By Prof Devi Prasad Juvvadi India liberalised its economy and opened up its markets in 1991 but the agricultural sector remained a deterrent as it was largely unorganised and at the same time protected and insulated. Thus in the years post-liberalisation, it became apparent that while industry and services prospered under the reformed system, agriculture […]

By Arun Sinha Midway through the election battle Mamata Banerjee has realised she cannot defeat the BJP alone. She wants the Congress to come along with her. That was not the case in the beginning. She came on a high horse from Bengal, gung ho, adventuresome and cocksure she could vanquish the BJP in Goa […]

By Professor Madabhushi Sridhar It is absolutely constitutional for any, more so for a Chief Minister to ask for a new Constitution or changes in it. A ruling party MP wanted the Chief Minister to be charged with sedition for seeking an amendment to the Constitution. The Constitution of India has given the power to […]

Soon after presenting her shortest Budget speech yet that lasted for some 92 minutes, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the media, directly. There were no opening statements. Sitharaman’s fourth Budget in a row neither tinkered with tax slabs nor raised the standard deduction, which was widely expected in view of elevated inflation levels and the […]

By Ratan Mani Lal Defections prior to any election are not uncommon in Uttar Pradesh. In the Assembly elections in 2012 and 2017 too several leaders had quit one party and joined another, with varying results. But the defections this year have been remarkable in the sense that the many defectors are not only high-profile, […]

By Dr Saswat Kishore Mishra Covid-19 has thoroughly exposed our shambolic state of healthcare infrastructure and human capital. After the brutal onslaught of the Delta variant, India showed terrific resilience and it seemed that our economy was limping back to normalcy. But suddenly we find ourselves amid the third wave, once again plunging us into […]

By Krishank Manne The union Budget 2022 is yet another moment of expectations for the corporates, salaried classes, and huge statements of targets such as doubling the income of farmers, $5 trillion economy, tax rebates, price decrease, etc. There are also requisites from the State, be it long-pending demands or contributory permissions in infrastructure building. […]

By Dr N V Madhuri, Dr Vanishree Joseph Restrictive social and economic norms, fear of infection, isolated family life, school closures, lack of support networks, loss of loved ones, difficulty of combining working from home with full-time childcare, financial challenges, increased exposure to domestic violence, drug use and mental illness in family members due to […]

By Dr T Prabhakar Reddy  According to the International Labour Organisation, “social protection or social security is a human right and is defined as the set of policies and programmes designed to reduce and prevent poverty and vulnerability throughout the lifecycle”. Social protection and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are intricately related insofar as the former […]

By B Yerram Raju Omicron is unsympathetic to the small man and farmers are no exception. In the wake of the withdrawal of the three farm laws, the Finance Minister has challenges to provide resources to the farm sector. Investment of Rs 1 lakh crore was unlocked for agriculture in 2021, although the extent of, […]

By Dr Sarbapriya Ray, Dr Ishita Aditya A man willing to work and unable to find work is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under the Sun — Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian and philosopher. The transformation brought about by the pandemic has had an enduring impact on our social and economic lives. Economic […]

By Arun Sinha Of all the States going to polls next month, Uttar Pradesh is where the BJP’s stakes are the highest. The party has been using the State as a laboratory for testing a ‘Hindu model’ of government —a model that, in the words of Prime Minister Modi, combines virasat (heritage) with vikas (development). […]

By Chandan Mitra Every life on earth is interdependent and man is only a strand in this delicately balanced web of relationships. Every time a strand is snapped, and a species becomes extinct, man, the destroyer himself, moves closer to his own destruction. This is not only applicable to all living species but also to […]

By Pramod K Nayar Some years ago Finland announced plans to build its 6th nuclear reactor at Hanhikivi Cape in Pyhäjoki. Besides the usual protests, which many countries have seen, against nuclear power and atomic testing, Finland saw an interesting response — from artists. Curie’s Children A group of artists including Erich berger,  Charlotte Clark, Mari Keski-Korsu, Christina […]

By Devi Prasad Juvvadi Agriculture in India has suffered a plethora of structural ailments that has contributed to the continuing crisis of the sector for long while nearly 50% of the workforce is still engaged in the farm sector. Every government that comes to power promises a better tomorrow for farmers in particular and the […]

By Nayakara Veeresha The Law Commission of India in its draft report has stated “saving public money” as one of the main reasons for recommending simultaneous elections. India’s 17th general elections in 2019 cost the public exchequer over $6.5 billion, ie, more than Rs 6,500 crore. This expenditure is more than the cost incurred in […]

By Amitava Mukherjee In 2022, the eastern Himalayas may again pose a grave threat to India, graver than what has been happening in the Ladakh sector. There are reports that China has been recruiting Tibetan youths for raising local militias in the Chumbi Valley, a strategic trijunction of India, Bhutan and China. This is in […]

By Martand Jha Of late, news from the arena of outer space has caught the attention of many space enthusiasts. India’s first dedicated space think-tank ‘Spaceport Sarabhai’ was launched by a bunch of entrepreneurs and lawyers who want to create a space for themselves in a system that is still largely governed by ISRO. Across […]

DNA profiling generates genetically imagined communities, as the search moves from individual to family, community and race 

By Amb Ashok Sajjanhar The last few days have witnessed unprecedented violence, bloodshed and frenzy on the streets of many cities of Kazakhstan, including the capital Nur-Sultan and the largest city and former capital Almaty. As per initial accounts, the peaceful protests against the increase in the price of car fuel were quickly hijacked by […]

By Olatz Ukar Arrien Recently, in addition to the threats of the global pandemic and the shortage crisis, there have been added threats of possible fuel shortages, the increase in the price of electricity and a possible large-scale blackout. Just imagining a possible generalised electrical blackout makes us tremble, since practically everything we use requires […]

With almost no contribution, the party is trying to create an impression that it is the next big thing in Telangana