Opinion

Charudutta Panigrahi In 1978, the Supreme Court did something that raised eyebrows and chuckles in equal measure—it declared that temples could be classified as “industries.” The ruling, in Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board v. A. Rajappa, broadened the definition of “industry” to include any...

S Raghotham A petition seeking an independent, court-monitored investigation into the AI171 crash in Ahmedabad last June was stalled yet again on Tuesday with the Solicitor General of India seeking another week’s time to submit a progress report on the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Board (AAIB)...

Dani Rodrik What is an economy for? Since Adam Smith, economists have given a straightforward answer to this question: the economy increases our consumption possibilities. A well-functioning economy is one that provides a widening array of ever-more affordable goods and services, from food and consumer...

Melvin Durai A Bangalore woman named Silpa recently shared a video on Instagram that showed her walking home from her office. “Google Maps said 38 minutes and 2.7 kilometres, but it was more than that,” she said. Summarizing her results after two weeks of walking...

Daniel Sachs Proliferating wars and shaky alliances are hallmarks of today’s brutal new political reality, one that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. But the geopolitical rupture currently underway is no accident of history, nor is it simply the result of strongmen, weak institutions,...

Severely singed by Iran's missiles across West Asia, India may have to go for drastic changes in the Union Budget by the monsoon session as prices soar, gas crisis derails households and businesses, FPI outflows near a record, and the rupee has a mighty fall....

Few United Nations Security Council resolutions have been as one-sided as its recent condemnation of Iran’s “egregious attacks” on regional neighbours such as Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Leaving little room for interpretation, it describes those attacks as “a breach of...

By Jamal Ibrahim Haidar & Adeel Malik For decades, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have exported oil and recycled petrodollars through Western markets and received military protection from the United States. This arrangement has often been described as a strategic alliance. The US-Israeli war...

By Avilash Roul To begin with, managing freshwater, the elixir of life, has once again been put at the top of the unresolved scheme of the world. Several conferences, workshops and hybrid consultations are being organised to set the agenda for the Third UN Water...

By Nikunja Bihari Sahu Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink, writes Samuel Coleridge in his ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariners’ as the ship of the ancient mariner sailed from the land of mist and snow and treaded into the calm, uncharted waters of...