Opinion

Martian democracy: The direct-to-consumer model

05 Dec 2022 01:40 AM IST

Elon Musk in an interview with Vox media recommended that if civilization were to be setup in Mars, it should follow the model of direct democracy. Even the initial models of democracy on earth were direct in nature. Although they never meant universal suffrage. The Athenians had established citizen’s assembly

Demystifying Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model of development

05 Dec 2022 01:18 AM IST

Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model, where transparency and good governance are the overriding themes, is a classic success story. Today Vadodara is emerging as a big pharma and medical hub, Ahmedabad is an education hub, Sanand is India’s biggest automobile hub, Surat is a textile hub, Sabarkantha is a hub for

Weak growth patches ahead for Indian economy

03 Dec 2022 11:45 AM IST

with the quarterly economic data on Wednesday last, it has thrown many insight into the present state of affair of the economy. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) showed 6.3 per cent during the July-September (Q2) quarter—below the expectation. Other data only shows that the pain may be more acute in

Nadav Lapid refuses to change opinion regarding Kashmir Files

03 Dec 2022 11:39 AM IST

Israeli film maker Nadav Lapid who headed the jury at the recent International Film Festival in Goa has declined to take back his comments on Vivek Agnihotri’s, ` Kashmir Files’ and continues to maintain that what he expressed about the movie was his professional opinion. Lapid had stated that the

Impact of Bhopal gas tragedy still continues

03 Dec 2022 11:34 AM IST

On 3 December 1984, India woke up to one of the worst industrial disasters in Bhopal in the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. The accident happened due to the leak of 27 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) in a pesticide plant at the outskirts of city of Bhopal.

Qatar’s Tilt towards China helped Seal 27-year LNG deal

02 Dec 2022 15:14 PM IST

While the world is talking about Qatar FIFA World Cup as the world cup of “firsts”, the tiny island state of Qatar, marred by criticism and tangled in international politics, is the first Islamic state to host a “winter” FIFA world cup. It’s the second Asian country is hosting a

India-US relations irritate China

01 Dec 2022 00:03 AM IST

In a 196-page report titled, “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2022”, which the Pentagon presented to the US Congress, India finds several mentions in the context of the threat that China’s aggressive military policies pose to India’s territorial integrity. At one place the report mentions,

Social discrimination: Time to discuss the gender disability of the Third Gender

01 Dec 2022 00:03 AM IST

In 2014, the Supreme Court of India in National Legal Services Authority vs Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 438, declared that the hijra community will be considered to be a third gender for the first time after the Bhoorah case. This judgment has given gender identification to the hijra

What India can expect from new Pakistan army chief

01 Dec 2022 00:03 AM IST

Marriyum Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s Information Minister, announced the appointment of Lt. Gen. Syed Asim Munir Shah as the new Chief of the Pakistani Army on Twitter. He will take charge over the incumbent, General Qamar Bajwa, after a stalemate over the new selection. His appointment comes at a time when Imran

Kejriwal’s dilemma: Delhi MCD or Gujarat?

30 Nov 2022 00:31 AM IST

Is it more important for Arvind Kejriwal to win the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections or to focus on making a sizable debut in the Gujarat Assembly polls? Delhi is Kejriwal’s karam-bhoomi and what is giving him his political raison d’ etre. But Kejriwal is dreaming beyond the borders of

‘Skill India’ mission needs sharper planning, rigorous implementation to be more effective

30 Nov 2022 00:29 AM IST

Almost a decade back, the term “demographic dividend” was coined and it was predicted that skilling youth was the only answer to one of our major problems that is unemployment. In the last decade, we got exposed to many new things which we had not anticipated like prevalence and power

Public funding needed to boost higher education

30 Nov 2022 00:25 AM IST

There have been hints that the forthcoming budget may focus on the education and health sectors. It is hoped that it would accord high priority to higher education too. Universities and higher educational institutions have been reeling under financial crunch and hoping against hope that the assurance of the new