Opinion

By Gordon Brown As the pillars of the post-1945 global order—support for human rights, multilateral cooperation, the rule of law, humanitarian aid, and environmental stewardship—crumble, and as country after country reduces or even terminates funding for international organizations, the next United Nations secretary-general faces a staggering...

By Rajdeep Sardesai  A fortnight ago, I was in Pune. And something rather unusual caught my eye. From hoardings to lampposts, from signboards to banners, one political face seemed to be staring at me everywhere I went: Rahul Gandhi. For a moment, I had to...

US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is convinced, and prominent economists agree, that AI will meaningfully increase labour productivity. Don't bet on it. In fact, wider adoption of these models could reduce output per worker. Widespread adoption of new technologies is a cornerstone of economic dynamism....

Onam and Nuakhai celebrate harvest and homecoming. For many households, however, these occasions are sustained by distant earnings: historically from overseas in Kerala, but from factories and construction sites elsewhere in India for Odisha. Yet the migration economies differ. Kerala relies more on international migration...

The 26th Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) concluded in Bishkek on 1 September, marking 25 years of the grouping. The summit adopted the Bishkek Declaration — signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian...

Brahma Chellaney The world's largest dam is rising in one of the world's most geopolitically treacherous and seismically unstable regions. Just a few kilometres from the heavily militarised border with India, China is constructing an unprecedented hydropower project in Tibet on the Yarlung Tsangpo, the...

Melvin Durai Scientific studies are among my favourite things to read. Let me be more precise: I like reading about scientific studies that make me feel good about my bad habits. I love scientists who say to themselves: “What poor habits do people have? Let...

Shivaji Sarkar The Nepal floods are a grim warning for not only India, but the entire region. Afghanistan to Tibet, the Himalayan region is one territory – continuous and contiguous geographical unit – that has to share happiness and more than that turmoil together. Each...

Ajit Ranade The Reserve Bank of India recently gave a small but revealing lesson in economic policymaking. On 5 August, Governor Sanjay Malhotra was asked whether the special FCNR(B) scheme, designed to attract foreign currency deposits from non-resident Indians, might be closed before its scheduled...

A very strong Super El Niño is currently brewing in the tropical Pacific, with sea surface temperature anomalies expected to exceed the 2°C threshold by late 2026. Climate scientists predict a high likelihood of this becoming one of the most powerful events on record. Models...