The court stops short of reiterating that all couples, irrespective of caste, religion and creed, enjoy such constitutional freedoms

Long before bans and warning labels, we chose to stay offline — and now I’m learning to trust that choice

Anyone who has signed a hospital consent form knows that it is quite often an exercise in blind faith rather than informed choice. The DPDP Act forces transparency into such a system.

The growing politicisation of funding decisions further undermines the credibility of the proposed framework.

We expect GDP growth of 6.7 per cent and inflation at 5 per cent, largely driven by the low base effect, in fiscal 2027

The irony is that markets are trying to do a desirable job that policy makers have themselves been unable or unwilling to (a rupee depreciation is effectively a subsidy to exporters).

The High Court’s strict textual reading sits uneasily with the spirit of a law that was designed to protect the most vulnerable.

He means well when he talks of organisational decentralisation; a recurring theme that remains largely unaddressed despite some synthetic steps taken of late. Congress needs a serious reboot

We were shell-shocked when Trump unilaterally slapped 25% tariffs on Indian goods, later upped to 50%. Our foreign office appeared to have little inkling of Hurricane Trump hitting our shores. But signs were evident in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

When a wedding is too over-the-top, it almost feels like the host is trying to buy a guarantee of a successful marriage. Alas, an Instagram-worthy show doesn’t always equal a fairy-tale ending. If anything, the messy realities of marriage may feel especially deflating, after a spectacular beginning.

When India enacted the MGNREGS in 2005, it was a proxy for genuine unemployment insurance. Job guarantees as a concept are not recent inventions nor ideological indulgences. They have existed from the pre-colonial era as famine works.

As Shashi Tharoor wrote in this newspaper last week, parliamentary democracy is today in danger of total collapse, and this is something that we all need to be worried about. But it will almost certainly be revived some day in the not-too-distant future. What will be much harder to revive is pluralism.

While the world celebrates Christmas, it seems to be a low-key affair in a number of states in our country, where miscreants are attacking Christians in their homes and places of worship

He wrote about modest people living in mundane circumstances, though their inner lives seem to be touched with magic

This Christmas, playing Santa felt hollow in an India where justice bends before power, and the future of girls looks ever more uncertain

In this moment of political transition, Rahman is no longer simply a returning exile or opposition figure. He may well emerge as one of the most consequential actors shaping the country’s future direction

Policing today stands at a crossroads. We can cling to distance and authority and watch trust erode. Or we can choose visibility, explanation and fairness, even when it is uncomfortable

The investigation into the terror attack will put Pakistan in the dock on international platforms, said the Union Home Minister

The rationale for central government control lies in nuclear power’s high cost. This is why administered pricing is not the way to go. State discoms, in precarious financial condition, should not be burdened with mandated procurement of high-cost power

Neither of them is a Bal Thackeray who would have taken the opportunity to galvanise the state. However, Raj and Uddhav can take a cue from M K Stalin or Mamata Banerjee on how to make regionalism more appealing in order to counter the BJP’s religionism

When social sector spending is viewed as a share of total state budgets, a different picture emerges. Despite rising expenditure, the proportion of budgets devoted to social sectors has declined over time in several states

Even what may be called ‘bad writing’ or ‘poor English’ has its place: At least it is a person’s voice. In the Indian context, it may be the voice of a marginalised person, or of a field expert who has not had the privilege of an elite education

One century after the Helgoland breakthrough, quantum principles have entered popular culture through the mythical Schrödinger cat. So profound was this work that every reigning doctrine — from communism and Buddhism to Vedanta — took positions on what quantum science means for its worldview

It is not about moving away from job-creation concerns. It is about recognising that in an AI-augmented, increasingly automated global economy, cheap labour can't be India's competitive advantage

Local authorities must provide the protective gear needed for such work. People from across castes should participate in waste management; they will do so if the profits that accrue from the economy of waste management reach those who perform these hazardous tasks