Opinion

By Andrew J. Scott The global demographic transition, characterised by declining birth rates and rising life expectancy, has been one of the most consequential transformations of the past century, with population aging fueling a steady stream of gloomy economic forecasts. If academic economists, international organisations,...

To drape a genuine Sambalpuri saree is to carry a piece of living geography. Originating from the weaving clusters of western Odisha such as Bargarh, Sonepur, and Barpali these textiles are celebrated for their striking geometry and complex Bandha (tie-and-dye Ikat) technique. Artisans pre-dye warp...

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a large and well spread-out organisation by its own admission. It has today glamorous buildings and well-appointed offices across the country. It has marked its 100th anniversary with a host of celebrations, and a commemorative stamp and a coin...

In a county in northern Virginia, a family’s electricity bill has doubled. A few miles away, a windowless building the size of a shopping mall hums through the night—yet another AI data centre, consuming more power than the town it was built beside. The dispute...

Melvin Durai There’s an old saying that “slow and steady wins the race.” Many people believe that it’s the moral of the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare.” The hare grabbed a big lead in the race, got complacent and took a nap before the...

Kaushik Basu Something strange is happening in the US labour market. The latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the US economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, yet the unemployment rate actually fell to 4.1 per cent. A closer look helps...

Purna Chandra Jena In India, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has, since 2017-18, become the most reliable indicator for states to assess their labour markets. For Odisha — long stereotyped as a mineral-rich but job-scarce economy — the PLFS now reveals a markedly different...

Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom Sixty years ago, harsh autocratic rule dominated a region at the eastern edge of a continent. Quixotic quests for political change seemed to have little chance of succeeding—until they did. By the end of the 20th century, competitive elections had become the...

For five centuries, raw materials have flowed out of Africa and Brazil at low cost to be used as inputs elsewhere—often returning to their source countries embedded in expensive finished goods. The energy transition offers a critical opportunity to escape this extractive dynamic. The key...

India’s ethanol policy has become a classic case of solving one problem by creating several others. A programme designed to reduce oil imports has expanded into sugar, rice, maize, water, food stocks and even livestock-feed policy. The question is no longer whether ethanol can be...