KASHMIR: EARTHLY HEAVEN, A TURBULENT HISTORY

April 29, 2022

Jammu and Kashmir has a fascinating history. Since 1846 the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which also included Ladakh in the northeast, bordering Tibet as well as Gilgit–Baltistan in the northwest bordering (now) China’s Xinxiang Province, was ruled by a Rajput Dogra dynasty. The composite state was partly clubbed...

Pursuit of impossible possibilities fuels the American dream

August 12, 2021

When Jeff Bezos and three crewmates including, apart from his brother, an 82-year old woman aviator Wally Funk and an 18-year old Dutch physics student Oliver Daemen lifted off to touch the edge of space and return safely in less than 11 minutes, I wondered about the constant drumbeat: Oh,...

Hardball diplomacy needs hard power

July 29, 2021

In spite of the fact that service and consumer economy has been a major contributor to India’s GDP, it’s not good enough to meet the rising aspirations of the high-tech digital generation; nor does the service economy enable India to face the complex challenges of national defence, diplomacy, and international...

A journalist’s road has become more perilous than ever before

July 7, 2021

In June this year, the Hong Kong police arrested top journalists of the city’s largest pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily that had been a relentless critic of the government in Hong Kong and mainland China. Its bank accounts were frozen and the paper was forced to shutter. Its fearless owner-activist Jimmy...

DEFENDING CYBERSPACES IS AKIN TO DEFENDING OUR SOVEREIGNTY

June 9, 2021

America created cyberspace in its own image—free, open, decentralised, distributed, and self-governing. If the Internet had been created in China or Russia, its architecture would have been very different. Unfortunately, its very openness and freedom have become the source of its vulnerabilities. Authoritarian nations find the freedom of cyberspace very...

India turns towards marketplace capitalism for rapid growth

March 11, 2021

The recently announced privatisation plan would lead to a radical power shift and greater decentralisation of economic activities, necessitating a new form of generative mechanism and cooperative partnership between the Centre, states, and the private sector. From Jawaharlal Nehru’s socialistic vision of controlling the commanding heights of the economy to...