Opinion & Edits

Inside Track: Learnt from a Master

Coomi Kapoor writes: Shah traces the story of Modi’s success as a poll strategist not to the Gujarat chief ministerial or 2014 campaigns, but way back to 1987, when Modi was given charge of the BJP campaign in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation polls.

Time for a re-set 

P Chidambaram wirtes: We cannot depart from the path of an open, liberal and market-based economy. That would be suicidal. Yet, we must take stock and, considering the global and domestic developments, re-set our economic policies. That requires the courage, clarity and speed of 1991

What Arivu’s fight and faith taught me

Everybody desecrates the past. Everybody endangers the future

Who is to blame? And is being divided over everything the only way?

On Ukraine, India must choose a side

Manish Tewari writes: It can stand with the aggressor or with the Western democracies, howsoever imperfect they may be.

Europe is looming larger than ever in India’s strategic calculus

C. Raja Mohan writes: The Ukraine war has shown that India needs strong commercial and security partnerships with Europe that stand on their own merit and bring the many synergies between them into active play.

PM Narendra Modi’s tour will point to shifts in old ties with a Europe roiled by war, beset with new anxieties

The US-led West, which claims to understand India’s position on Russia and yet asks it to “choose the right side” will be watching to understand how far Delhi is prepared to go on this visit in making common cause with Europe.

Wars as acts of cultural cleansing

War is more than the mere desire to conquer and occupy. It’s fuelled by a revulsion towards difference

India must use markets to decarbonise

Ajitabh Sharma writes: A carbon-trading scheme can generate conditions necessary for the economy’s green transition.

Could S Jaishankar don the Kissingerian mantle?

Vikram Singh Mehta writes: If there were an India-led peacemaking initiative, Jaishankar might be the best qualified to crack the Ukrainian diplomatic impasse

Why caste among Muslims must be studied

Shireen Azam and Srinivas Goli write: It is crucial for understanding Muslims — their impoverishment, educational backwardness and occupational precarity

Ukraine rethinks on hyper-globalisation. Nations need to de-risk against overdependence on few suppliers

Hyper-globalisation and leveraging comparative advantage work well in a world sans geopolitical frictions or natural disasters (recall what the 2011 Thailand floods did to the computer hard drive supply chain). In the real world, countries need to de-risk against overdependence on few suppliers.

Access to justice framed conversation at meet presided by PM, CJI. Executive and judiciary must work together to realise it

A quicker process of appointing judges and increasing sanctioned strength of judges is a recurring ask from the judiciary to the government.

What to expect from India’s new foreign secretary

K P Nayar writes: Observing the minutest of details is first nature to Vinay Mohan Kwatra. Economic diplomacy can, therefore, be expected to be an important part of the new Foreign Secretary’s agenda, given his personal experience in matters of commerce and business.

India must make the most of the diplomatic attention it’s receiving

Shyam Saran writes: A rare but perishable opportunity has presented itself to significantly advance India’s long-term prospects. It must be grasped with single-minded tenacity.

Embedding yoga in the global consciousness

It is an ancient knowledge system that must be cherished and protected.

Indianness is citizenship, not caste

P Chidambaram writes: If we equate caste with Indianness, we will find ourselves on a dangerous slope. I have no illusion that caste consciousness or caste-based discrimination will vanish overnight, but there are encouraging trends toward getting rid of the caste system.

Legs matter, more than they should

Leher Kala writes: The mini-skirt has been visible onscreen in Hindi films since the 1960s. One of the first and most memorable images is of Dimple Kapadia wearing a polka dotted top with a short, black skirt in Bobby —perhaps the first “good girl” to flash ample leg in a movie.

Why they are afraid of Jignesh Mevani

Suraj Yengde writes: Mevani represents the state of the ordinary public, who look at him as their hero fighting for their rights. Though Mevani is an Independent legislator, he has a nationwide reach.

Why Lanka’s failed dairy experiment is glass half full

Nirupama Subramanian writes: Crippled by an acute shortage of dollars, Sri Lanka has restricted all its imports, including essential food items. At the time Kurien ventured into Sri Lanka, the country’s annual milk powder import bill was $60 million.

Stop this violence

Tavleen Singh writes: Mohan Bhagwat deserves respect for saying what he did. What is very hard to understand is why it was not the Prime Minister who took the lead in saying something about the deliberate targeting of the Muslim community by his chief ministers, ministers, acolytes, Twitter warriors and party spokesmen.

Placing semicon diplomacy at the heart of India’s foreign policy

Sagar Sharma, Urmi Tat write: Doing so would make sense, both strategically and economically.

The one nation, one language fallacy

Mrinal Kaul writes: India has never done justice to its linguistic diversity or focused on quality language learning. Languages, instead, have become instruments of exercising hegemony.

Pan-Indian success of South Indian films reveals emergence of new region, language-agnostic audience

Never before has the average moviegoer had such access to the cinematic variety that India offers. It should not be turned into an opportunity for one-upmanship over language.

Research now proves what every dog lover already knows: Breeds don’t matter

A study published in the Journal of Science found that the correlation between breeds and behavioural characteristics in over 18,000 dogs was minimal.

We have entered the era of new technology billions

Menaka Guruswamy writes: The Elon Musk-Twitter deal is a beginning. More and more self-made, innovative billionaires will seek to acquire and transform publicly traded companies into private entities.

Long before The Kashmir Files, Israel fell in love with Hindi films

Khinvraj Jangid writes: Filmmakers like Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt who made films promoting egalitarianism, universalism and peace were agents of India’s soft power

What the Prashant Kishor-Congress episode tells us

Suhas Palshikar writes: It is symbolic of the party’s abdication of centrist, non-sectarian politics. It also raises fundamental questions about nature of party politics