Richer, and poorer: Inequality will continue to scar the economy long after Covid leaves us
When Covid goes away, hopefully soon enough, it will leave behind a more unequal world. This is contrary to historical...
TOI Edit Page blog
What about us? In government versus social media fights, there’s only one loser: the user
By Mishi Choudhary & Eben Moglen GoI-Twitter hostilities are a variation on a current geopolitical theme. Social media platforms offer...
Peace Agent in the Security Council: India gets UNSC’s rotating presidency in August. Its value is a calm voice amidst conflict
With the world in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, on January 1 India returned to the United Nations Security...
BJP, BSY and a big plan: Yediyurappa’s exit is a calculated risk by saffron party’s central leadership
Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who resigned on Monday, is the only mass leader BJP had in the state, and...
New cabinet’s new job: Speedy delivery in three key areas. Liberate education. Hurry privatisation. End exemption raj
Recent expansion and reconfiguration of the council of ministers offers a fresh opportunity to accelerate and deepen structural reforms. The...
Indian muddle class: Reforms produced a large middle class. But it hasn’t played an emancipatory role
One of the consequences of economic liberalisation was a major change in the size and composition of India’s middle class....
Don’t invite a third wave: Higher seropositivity doesn’t preclude the emergence of another dangerous Covid variant
India’s latest sero survey suggests 68% of the population has been exposed to Covid – a substantial jump from the...
Many snooping questions: Official response to Pegasus must be clearer. Plus, system of authorising surveillance is flawed
By Apar Gupta and Vrinda Bhandari That spyware was installed in mobile phones of some Indian citizens – those targeted...
How we fail our culture: India is a great civilisation. But no government makes institutional investment protecting its heritage
The late Ram Niwas Mirdha, aesthete and politician and former chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, once expressed his deep...
Reading between pandemic’s economic shockwaves: Among worst hit are our teachers and small business owners
By Mrinalini Jha and Rosa Abraham How has the pandemic’s economic shock hurt Indians across professions? We use Consumer Pyramids...
A new economy moment: As startups line up IPOs, it’s learning time for retail investors and entrepreneurs
There is a lot of buzz around startup IPOs lined up in Indian bourses. And questions abound. How should Indian...
Let go, BIT by BIT: World is watching, GoI should not contest Cairn, Vodafone awards in Indian courts
The decision of a French court to allow Cairn to take control of 20 GoI properties in central Paris, reportedly...
Just get the jab done: Continuing vaccine battles show India still hasn’t got the hang of federalism
When an average of more than 60 lakh people were vaccinated daily in the week of June 21, when the...
How to read Indian politics: Without immersive ground reporting & fieldwork, backed by large data sets, we’ll never grasp complexities
Now that spring elections have passed, our minds have already fast-forwarded to the next round of polls. The question is:...
Should we reopen our schools? There are legitimate concerns. But there are reasons to also seriously consider it
By Shilpa Aggarwal and Deepa Mani Many are critical of Telangana’s decision to reopen educational institutions from this month. Their...
Slight objection, Milord: CJI is right. Elections don’t guarantee democracy. But judiciary’s delays & overreach are also issues
Chief Justice NV Ramana, speaking to a virtual audience in the 17th Justice PD Desai Memorial Trust lecture, underscored what...
Gratitude can do wonders for your temperament
By Sandeep Chakravorty ‘Gratitude for the gift of life is the primary wellspring of all religions, the hallmark of the...
CCP at 100: Great success, big questions – China’s technocratic communists want world domination. But political, economic tensions abound
Today, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) celebrates its official centenary. Official because there is some evidence to indicate that July...
Economy: Revival after April-June: Thanks to boosters of vaccination, ample liquidity and upswing in global growth
India’s economy and its citizens have just endured a harrowing experience with the second Covid wave. But as we look...
Forgetting our floyds: Police brutality victims rarely find justice here because there’s little systemic acknowledgement
When President Joe Biden in his statement on the George Floyd hearings (and the conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin)...
Dictatorial mindset led to emergency: But democracy’s roots have deepened, no one will dare meddle in citizens’ fundamental rights in the future
Forty-six years ago, a dark chapter of India’s history was written when the Congress government of the day led by...
Delta+ Calls for caution, not panic: Virus will mutate. That’s its nature. But its spike protein & antigens are being pounded by vaccines
Designation of the newly emerged Delta-plus as a “variant of concern” has triggered a debate on implications for viral transmission...
What Mumbai can learn from New York: India should lower entry barriers for companies wishing to float IPOs. SEBI should be more like SEC
Arvind Panagariya and Rajeev Mantri Equity capital markets sector was among the early beneficiaries of the economic reforms launched in...
India can’t vaccinate the Mahi way: A one-day record means little. Supplies are still constrained. And bigger states have the most catching up to do
India’s record of having vaccinated nearly 86 lakh people on Monday would have raised hopes in many that the government’s...
For 21st century democratic cities: Debates over plans for Delhi should be part of a larger discussion on reimagining urbanism
Every city embodies the socio-economic philosophy of the times. Older cities will often contain the remnants of past intellectual frameworks...
Wake up, grand old party: Regional parties do not add up to a pan-Indian whole. Opposition desperately needs a Congress revamp
Two myths about the Congress party need to be re-examined. The first is that, given its electoral reversals, it is...
Long view from Ladakh: Galwan’s lesson is that India needs allies against China. Three kinds of alliances are possible
It has been a year since the incident at Galwan, eastern Ladakh where 20 Indian soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice,...
Seven steps to beat third wave: How we can reduce the next big bout of Covid to just a common cold
Symptoms of Covid in a few vaccinated patients can be more than the common cold but it is very unlikely...
How to help the economy: Vaccinate all for free, jobs programme for urban poor, GST cut for consumer durables
The Indian economy, having barely started showing some signs of flickering life, is bracing itself for another round of negative...
A vista for the future: Central Vista spending isn’t hurting other priorities. And iconic buildings won’t be demolished
Much confusion has prevailed over the Central Vista Project (CVP). What does it aim to accomplish and what are the...
Yogi factor in UP polls: CM’s probably delivered to Hindutva voters. But his record on economy is much more mixed
It is interesting that as soon as BJP sent senior officials to Uttar Pradesh to assess the party’s prospects in...
A guide to unlocking India: States must be smart in devising criteria. Maharashtra’s are better than Delhi’s
Maharashtra and Delhi have unveiled their plans for graduated release from lockdown. Wanting to restore momentum to the economy while...
How to be a wealthy nation: Covid reminds us that national strength needs massive, non-farm, formal job creation
Ten rich countries got the first 80% of Covid vaccines, American disposable income per person is 27% higher than February...
A cultural vista: Central Vista plan is now a given. But there’s still scope of reinvention
True the Delhi high court has dismissed a public petition to halt work on the Central Vista redevelopment plan. But...
NaMo’s still the man for India: Why despite Covid, country under Modi is on the cusp of positive transformation
The second wave of the Covid pandemic has caused immense devastation. But from the peak to now, daily cases have...
The state of officers of the state: Centre-Bengal tug of war over a senior bureaucrat shows why consultation, and even consent, is crucial
The year was 1995. I was a Secretary in the Government of Kerala. I had been on central deputation from...
The virus humbles victors: Stories of national success in the pandemic have an embarrassingly short shelf-life
The oft-asked question – which nations are winning the fight against the pandemic – now has only one coherent answer....
The logjam need not be: A list of administrative means for reducing India’s painful judicial pendency
It was reassuring to note that recently the head of the apex judicial institution, the outgoing Chief Justice of India...
A flawed diplomacy: Vaccine Maitri has been well-intentioned but not well-planned
Vaccine Maitri is based on a sound principle. The corona pandemic is global in its ferocity. No country can, therefore,...
Power’s new dimension: No rules of the road protect cyberspace, where we live our lives today
America created cyberspace in its own image – free, open, decentralised, distributed, and self-governing. If the internet had been created...
A case for lives & livelihoods: Safely continuing the infrastructure projects will help return our economy to health
There is a strong case for continuing large-scale construction and infrastructure projects where there is good capacity to control the...
We are imperishable
By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Trying times bring out our ability to endure, prevail, and emerge stronger, kinder and wiser. The...
Vaccinate the parents, quickly: The third Covid wave will attack children. Here’s how we must prepare for it
One of India’s best virologists, Dr Ravi from Nimhans Bengaluru, predicts that the third wave is likely to attack children...
A more nuanced democracy: There is no need for it to be only what the West says it must be
Three global democracy watchers, Freedom House of the US, the Economist’s Democracy Index and V Dem of Sweden have downgraded...
Colonisation by debt: Where China begins as an economic partner of a country, and ends up its economic master
American statesman John Adams famously said, “There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country: One is by the...
The Quad’s economic imperative: Participating nations should cooperate and benefit beyond the security framework
The leaders of Quad nations came together this March (virtually) for a meeting that was veritably 17 years in the...
Save lives, and jobs: Vaccinate the young, mobile, wage-earners first. Focus on the worst-hit states and districts
Bhagwan Chowdhry and Deepa Mani In a recent presentation to Niti Aayog, our faculty colleagues from ISB raised an alarm...
Sickly state, healthy democracy: Elections held during deadly pandemic surge expose India’s real flaws and strengths
Those of us who see these as dark times for Indian democracy can take heart from the recent elections, not...
Trinamool fortress stands: How Mamata managed to withstand the siege laid to her citadel by BJP
By Shibashis Chatterjee and Sumit Ganguly The West Bengal election results have demonstrated that despite the battering rams that BJP...
Ray, a hundred years on: This film auteur gave us a spectacular oeuvre which distilled contemporary times
In a recent interview marking the 100th birth centenary of Satyajit Ray, three days from today, his son Sandip Ray...
Averting the next massive wave: India needs to commit a much larger and faster investment to vaccine manufacturing
Even as we battle the massive wave of Covid-19 infections, it is important to take steps to avert the next...
The crisis that’s coming: Soon we will run out of skilled personnel to treat Covid. Here’s how to tackle this
“Patients are dying in ICU because there are no nurses and doctors” is going to be the headline news after...
Tackling gender equality early: Adolescents are very responsive to normalisation of progressive attitudes in schools
By Anna Rego and Shagun Sabarwal “Mummy ki roti gol gol, papa ka paisa gol gol.” Mummy’s roti is round...
The pushback against China: Now, the European Union has released its own Indo-Pacific strategy too
Till a few months back, China’s rise was taken as a given. It still is in many ways. China is...
