Columnists

Sanjaya Baru

The writer is Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi.

Former NSA Bolton’s book raises questions about US commitment to India’s national security

Mon, Jun 29, 2020

India’s priorities and national security concerns have not changed in these past two decades. The elements that shaped the US-India relationship in the first decade of this century remain the defining ones even today.

G-12 must include respect for human rights, adherence to international law, multilateralism in trade and security

Fri, Jun 05, 2020

Sanjaya Baru writes: President Trump is not doing India a favour by wanting to invite it into the new group. As the world's largest free market democracy India deserves to be a member of not just a G-12 but of even a new G-7.

It’s not trade dependence that makes India vulnerable but inadequacy of its human capital

Thu, May 14, 2020

For India to be truly self-reliant and self-confident, public investment in education, human capability and research and development has to increase.

Management of lockdown, its aftermath, will shape balance of power between Centre and states

Tue, Apr 21, 2020

The return of big government and the prospect of a potentially larger role for the state in the economy raises the question, certainly in India, of what it would mean for Centre-state relations, and for national and provincial politics.

No, Coronavirus crisis is no turning point for globalisation

Wed, Mar 25, 2020

In the short term, there will be flight to safety of people worried about a pandemic, as there is of capital during a financial crisis. When normalcy returns, the globalised Indian will fly away once again.

Trump’s visit comes when mutually beneficial framework of bilateral relationship stands disrupted

Mon, Feb 17, 2020

To hide the lack of substance in the relationship the Trump visit will focus on hype and Prime Minister Modi has perfected the art of diplomacy as mass entertainment

We are moving to an era of unpredictability. A new Middle Powers coalition may be needed

Tue, Jan 14, 2020

There is a view among some policy analysts at home that India too can adopt a “disruptive” approach as a clever tactic in foreign affairs. This is an illusion. Disruption is not an end in itself. It has to be a means to an end. Powerful nations can afford disruption as tactics.

Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons

Sun, Dec 22, 2019

An analytical inquiry into the development experience of some of Asia’s major economies and why there might be ground for optimism

Mr Bajaj speaks again: In 1993, he voiced business’s ‘concerns’, today he voices its ‘fears’

Wed, Dec 04, 2019

In 1993, the then finance minister, Manmohan Singh, was publicly dismissive of the concern Bajaj and friends articulated about the threat to domestic business from external economic liberalisation.

Recent events are beginning to challenge the narrative of a Rising India

Fri, Nov 15, 2019

Rising India narrative is suffering due to re-hyphenation with Pakistan, slowing growth, retreat from RCEP, Trumpism.

How to make friends: Delhi needs to invest in systematic and sustained outreach to opinion-makers

Wed, Oct 23, 2019

What is not recognised is that it is the business of media to reach out to anyone who wishes to seek them out. Lend an ear, but be professional in what and how you report.

Mahabalipuram dialogue was part of a striving for more balanced India-China ties

Mon, Oct 14, 2019

Given Xi’s 100-year perspective, both countries have to learn to live with year-to-year bumps while journeying together towards a new Asian Century.

Asian cats, Western monkeys

Tue, Aug 27, 2019

Across Asia, focus is turning to multiple geopolitical quarrels. Western powers are back in play, arbitrating.

The state has its reasons

Wed, Aug 07, 2019

A soft solution to the Kashmir dispute has had no takers in India and Pakistan since 2014. The changing global environment may have influenced New Delhi to opt for a hard solution

Budget and the world

Tue, Jul 09, 2019

Resisting the temptation to print money and spend one’s way to growth, the finance minister has opted for incentivising private investment and borrowing abroad.

Two and twenty at Osaka

Fri, Jun 28, 2019

G-20 meets in the midst of a crisis in world trade. It must not let US-China bilateral overshadow the summit

Trump, trade and trust

Tue, Jun 04, 2019

US president needs to be convinced that helping India’s economic rise will be in the US’s interests in the long run

By destabilising regions that supply oil and gas, US is keeping Rising Asia off-balance

Sat, May 18, 2019

If President Trump is insensitive to India’s concerns, New Delhi will have to seriously rethink its foreign policy options since sustaining high economic growth with low inflation is a fundamental developmental priority and a key strategic objective.

Listing of Masood Azhar can open a new phase in India-China relations

Fri, May 03, 2019

Radical Islam keeps raising its head in newer places across Asia, as it recently did in Sri Lanka, and now poses as much a challenge to China’s rise as it does to India’s. Both countries must work together towards a win-win strategy on over-powering it.

Economy, media, message

Wed, Oct 17, 2018

Government needs a shared understanding and an effective and credible spokesperson on economic policy