Columns, Leading Columns, Indian Express Columns

Spectacle and substance

February 28, 2020 4:30:56 am

President Trump’s visit had the right optics. Attention must now turn to India-US priority areas

No gains for taxpayers

February 28, 2020 4:22:01 am

Budget proposals on tax slabs and dispute resolution are unlikely to gain traction

The guilty of Delhi

February 28, 2020 3:40:23 am

Opposition has stoked fears and passions, and tried to misguide the people.

Disenchantment in Paris

February 28, 2020 3:58:06 am

Decline in Emmanuel Macron’s popularity, his protracted battle over pensions in France, are a cautionary tale on perils of personality-driven politics.

Dishonouring a pledge

February 28, 2020 3:30:10 am

Events in Delhi have taken a high toll. Apex court and government must act urgently to restore confidence, and to ensure that minority rights do not remain on paper.

The Delhi darkness: Our rulers want an India that thrives on cruelty, fear, division, violence

February 28, 2020 7:33:29 am

India is descending into a night of dread and despair. The ongoing riots in Delhi are not a tactical aberration, some absent-minded lapse of attention. They have been in the making for a while, and represent the future that our ruling classes have imagined for us.

Cost of a spectacle: Donald Trump succeeded in boosting the American economy when India is in a slowdown

February 27, 2020 11:16:39 am

The spectacle put up at huge public expense by the Narendra Modi government to welcome President Donald Trump in Gujarat speaks volumes about the penchant for exhibitionism and the utter servility of the people in power towards the US.

Secular hypocrisies: Marginalised intellectuals are using discourse of secularism to stoke imaginary fears of majoritarianism

February 27, 2020 11:40:22 am

Multiculturalism survives not because it allows people of all religious and cultural shades to enjoy the fruits of freedom but because all people genuinely believe in diversity and cultural and historical legacies beyond their religious limitations.

Capital omen: Minorities in India are coming to believe that there is a campaign to make them second-class citizens

February 27, 2020 11:20:32 am

For the present, let it be said, that if the price of proving their nationalism and patriotism is blood, then the minorities of India have overpaid.

An unreasonable levy: Government should grant relief to telecom companies, waive interest and penalty

February 27, 2020 11:41:54 am

The government has the necessary power to waive them if it is necessary to do so in public interest.

Donald Trump put on a good show for PM Narendra Modi

February 26, 2020 11:45:08 am

If India is to be one of the richest nations, it has to fashion trade deals. Modi may yet be the prime minister who liberates the Indian economy from its old shackles of protectionism and makes it as large and nearly as prosperous as the US economy. He can if he uses his friend Donald Trump well.

Trump’s India visit indicates that bilateral relations are set to deepen to mutual advantage

February 26, 2020 11:44:55 am

Bugbears in India-US relations are fewer today. There is far greater appreciation of India’s concerns on cross-border terrorism even as the US is once again looking at Pakistan through the prism of its interests in Afghanistan.

Victory of hardliners in Iran’s elections diminishes hopes of rapprochement with the West

February 26, 2020 11:34:34 am

It goes without saying that the consolidation of power by Iranian hardliners will open a new chapter of illiberalism and state violence in Iranian politics.

Cop out in Delhi: Police response invariably reflects the bias of the ruling party

February 26, 2020 11:25:29 am

The police are, no doubt, to blame for not being able to function in an objective and impartial manner. There is definitely a failure of leadership also. But can political parties across the spectrum escape the blame for continuing to use the police as an instrument to further their political agenda?

Is Hafiz Saeed’s sentencing a genuine blow to terror infrastructure in Pakistan?

February 25, 2020 10:38:49 am

The moot point is whether the action against Hafiz Saeed is indicative of a new direction in Pakistan’s counter-terrorism policy, or merely a tactical ploy, as before, to escape economic sanctions.

A year after Balakot: Pakistan’s options have reduced, India has more room for manoeuvre

February 25, 2020 10:45:05 am

All this may point towards Pakistan adopting a more rational course in J&K and preventing situations which it will clearly be in no position to handle.

‘Namaste Trump’ in Ahmedabad signalled a new politics, local and national

February 26, 2020 11:42:36 am

At the Trump event, a line of camels was in place and at least one of the mounts was seen repeatedly mimicking a salaam like a dancing doll. So far, one has noticed a deliberate design in Modi’s moves. What is not clear is who exactly is this elaborate spectacle designed for?

Mitigating human-wildlife conflict must factor in incentives for local communities

February 25, 2020 10:55:54 am

India is a unique country with respect to wildlife conservation. Despite a billion people we still have most of our large wildlife species.

Harappans would have scoffed at modern advocates of vegetarianism

February 25, 2020 11:00:38 am

The animals that Harappans kept and consumed is rather well known. What is less known is the range of wild animals enjoyed by them and the fact that these contributed greatly to their diet.

Delhi must deal with Trump’s determination to recast the global trading system

February 25, 2020 11:11:58 am

The threat to the sovereignty of India and China does not come from occasional statements by the White House, resolutions in the US Congress or stinging editorials from the New York Times. The real threat to their sovereignty comes from policies that deepen internal conflicts.

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