Opinion

Toby Ord The COVID-19 pandemic underscores just how tightly interwoven humanity has become. A single infected animal somewhere in China set in motion a chain reaction with effects that, nearly a year later, are still reverberating in every corner of the planet. This should not...

Rup Narayan Das The selection and appointment of vice-chancellors (VCs) at times attracted media attention for very many reasons. The latest instance is the suspension of the VC of Delhi University. Ironically he was appointed by the same regime. In the educational edifice of the...

Michael Bröning Europe’s progressive intelligentsia have come to scorn political ‘centrism.’ A misguided focus on the middle ground, critics argue, precludes the formulation of political alternatives, leading to the rise of extremist parties on the left and right. Seen through this lens, the corollaries of...

Federico Finchelstein, Pablo Piccato, & Jason Stanley Many Americans can see that voting for President Trump is tantamount to endorsing white nationalism and the kind of conspiracist, magical thinking that denies real threats like pandemics and climate change. But it also must be recognised that...

Bharat Jhunjhunwala Prime Minister Narendra Modi has enumerated a number of positive signs in the economy seen in September and expressed hope that GDP growth rate will pick up in 2021-22. He has pointed out that agricultural production is at record levels; a 15 per...

Kanhu Charan Biswal It is an irony that hunger problem exists in India although there is surplus of food in the country. Both seem to be contradictory to each other but it is a fact. It is also a fact that food is the third...

John Agyekum Kufuor An African proverb says, “When the music changes, so does the dance.” As governments around the world strive to protect their populations from the Covid-19 pandemic’s health and economic effects, the role of decisive leadership has never been more important – not least...

Anita Saluja Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were never friends but they were forced to join hands, given political compulsions in the state. The results of Bihar Assembly elections will once again decide whether they will be seen together, or...

Elizabeth Drew Following the US elections on November 3 – although its final resolution may take longer – the partisan arrangements of almost the entire US federal government are subject to change. Only the House of Representatives appears certain to remain in the same party’s...

Melvin Durai The upcoming U.S. presidential election will decide who will lead the country for the next four years: 74-year-old Donald Trump, the incumbent president, or 77-year-old Joe Biden, the former vice president. India, meanwhile, is being led by a relative youngster: Narendra Modi, who...