Opinion

Melvin Durai A matrimonial ad placed by a 37-year-old man from West Bengal recently went viral on Twitter. It was first shared by Nitin Sangwan, an IAS officer in Ahmedabad, who made this intriguing comment: “Prospective brides/grooms, please pay attention. Matchmaking criteria are changing.” Are...

Ian Buruma In his quest for the secret of US democracy in the 1830s, the French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville reflected on the important role played by religion in American life. Having escaped from the authority of the Pope, he argued, American Christians were free...

Dr. Bhubanananda Sahu The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the USA sent the first-ever unique satellite to Space called cosmic background explorer (COBE) in 1989 to measure the scatter infrared and microwave radiations from the early universe. It is reckoned that COBE can visualise...

Saeed Naqvi Jaswant Singh’s final goodbye acquired extra poignancy. Ushered into his study in my mind’s eye by the reliable Thomas, his secretary, I can see him induce a smile by way of politeness, gesture with his right hand, slowly nodding his head disapprovingly. He...

Sophia Kalantzakos The climate crisis and the Fourth Industrial Revolution – with its breakthrough technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G networks – are setting the world on a geopolitical collision course. Both the drive to decarbonise and the battle for global technological supremacy depend...

Ratikanta Panda Thomas Robert Malthus in his essay on ‘Principle of Population’ argued that unquenchable urge to reproduce will be permanent; and that while resources will continue to grow in arithmetic progression, population shall grow in geometric progression. There are claims and counter-claims to the...

Bharat Jhunjhunwala Good news is that our exports were more than imports in the April-June of the current year 2020-21. The combined trade is known as “Trade Balance.” Excess of exports over imports is known as “trade surplus.” We have made such a trade surplus...

Dr. D K Giri Prime Minister Modi made an impassioned speech on September 22 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. The crux of his speech was its reform and expansion and India’s membership of the UNSC. He implored, “How long...

Iain Campbell & Caroline Winslow Air conditioning (AC) may be cooling us, but it's cooking our planet. Countries around the world have experienced scorching temperatures this summer. This August was the second hottest on record. Global warming and more intense summer heat waves, coupled with...

Prof Radhakanta Barik The Odisha Universities Act, 1989, has been replaced by a new law through an Ordinance of the Odisha government. Under this, universities will not have autonomy in terms of formulating courses and in recruitment of teachers. These would be handled by the...