Critique

Legislation By Judges: Where Is The Line Between The Judiciary And The Legislature?

It was held in Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain that the separation of power is a part of the basic structure of the constitution and cannot be violated. Democracy does not demand the judiciary to take up administration, even during an emergency. The judiciary should stop micromanaging every aspect of the economy or there will be drastic unforeseen consequences that even they will not be prepared for.

Now reading

Book Review: Behind The Scenes Of One Of The Biggest Events In China's History

This book is an essential read for anyone interested in China.

United States’ Hasty Exit From Afghanistan Can Be Catastrophic: Part II

A report by the U.S. intelligence community obtained and highlighted by the Wall Street Journal indicates that the government in Afghanistan could collapse and Kabul could be captured as soon as six months after the American withdrawal. Although the fact that Kabul is in the government's control, there are many other regions that the US forces have left as open wounds just to be scavenged and repurposed by the Taliban.

United States’ Hasty Exit From Afghanistan Can Be Catastrophic: Part I

Afghanistan is often referred to as the graveyard of empires. This seems to be apt, observing that not only the US but several other countries have poured in billions of dollars in the form of troops, resources and aid into Afghanistan. The efforts to withdraw from Afghanistan have been futile year after year, which has lasted for around three full US Presidential terms.

More liberal. Less sensational.

Knowledge

History & People

Snubbing the Gandhis

For NT Rama Rao's legacy to survive, it must brave not just time, but also the Delhi-centric mediahouses responsible for India's skewed political discourse. It would be wise to remember, that long before the Aam Aadmi Party came to be called India's "first political startup", NT Rama Rao and Chandrababu Nadu's Telugu Desham Party had done the unthinkable in Andhra Pradesh.

History & People

Rabindranath Tagore: A Mind Without Fear

His political views are difficult to classify — while partaking in the fight for freedom, he was deeply critical of the nationalism that, in large part, drove the movement. His critique of nationalism stands on several prongs, but central to it is his rejection of idolatry.

Analysis

World

A New Vision For Indo-Israeli Relations

Benjamin Natenyahu (Israel) and Narendra Modi (India)

The Indo-Israeli relations are often overlooked and underestimated. While India does have allies on both spectrums of the diplomatic aisle (like the USA and Russia), smaller yet strategically crucial nations such as Israel are equally crucial. The alliance between India and Israel has prospects for enormous headway to be made.

World

China - Soon To Be The Hegemon Of The Antarctic?

Image of Chile's Bernardo O'Higgins army base at Antarctica

With China’s goal to become a global superpower by 2049, the Antarctic treaty is just another step in its long journey. The quest for economic benefit in the Antarctic had started in 1955, when China was offered a chance to enter the treaty, but with a condition – Taiwan must be excluded from it.

Critique

Technology

AI Is An Exciting Prospect, But Are We Ready For It?

There are several regulatory problems concerning AI—for instance, which entity will be held liable when an autonomous machine causes harm, the programmer or the manufacturer of the machine? Or the hypothesised problem of loss of general control over AI, where, to put it crudely, it may elude the control of humans and start functioning as an intractable entity?

Politics & Policy

What Is Religion's Place In 'Modern' Society?

French protesters against the Anti Extremism Bill

If secularism entirely shuns any mention of religion in academia, civil society or other spaces in the public sphere, religion becomes a rigid category and the religious tend to feel alienated. Moving away from the prejudiced notion that the term religious implies anti-modern or illiberal would free up the space required to question, criticise and reform elements of religion.

Wide Angle by Tejas Nageshwaran

Education & Infrastructure

Wide Angle: India’s Rocky Roads to Growth

Courtesy their long gestation periods, and often riddled with delays and lapses, infrastructure projects demand a different kind of borrowing and spending. While ideas like a corporate bond market are more ideally suited for the task, these remain severely underdeveloped in India. The alternative proposed by the government, is a DFI — a Development Finance Institution.‍

Politics & Policy

Wide Angle: Ayodhya May Not Be The Only Temple Defining The Future Of The BJP

PM Narendra Modi at the ground breaking ceremony for India's Ram Temple

How the Ram temple at Ayodhya became so significant to the Hindutva ideology is an interesting premise to explore, with far reaching implications for the present and the future of the ideology, the identity and the party.

Politics & Policy

Wide Angle: The Coalition Conundrum

Aspirations of a grand alliance against the BJP juggernaut are not new. Be it the 2018 photo-op of opposition leaders holding hands at Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in, or Mamta Banerjee’s United India rally at Kolkata in 2019, India’s opposition has routinely promised a grand gathbandhan, but never really delivered.

Politics & Policy

Wide Angle: In Bengal, No One Has It Easy

In a dramatic development in the Rajya Sabha, just before the House was adjourned till March 8, Dinesh Trivedi, founding member of the Trinamool Congress, requested to be allowed to speak out of turn. He asserted that his voice was being stifled in the party, rendering him helpless against the violence and anarchy being unleashed in Bengal.

Timeless reading

Books & Essays

Artwork depicting Lord Ram fighting Raavan

The Slander Of Ikshvaku

To be sure, Amish is not the first writer to take creative liberties when it comes to narrating the story of Ram. But it must be noted that when Kalidasa, Goswami Tulsidas, Nirala and many others take liberties, they do so with elements of the story that do not have a bearing either on the coherence of the narrative or the centrality of the virtues on which the narrative is built.

Education & Infrastructure

Are We Building A Nation Of Losers?

The plight of young India is such, that if a stranger asked us to name the battles we won, we’d be at a loss for words. Surely the history classrooms we sat in as children have a thing or two to do with this unfortunate situation. An under-developed sense of civilisational identity, which is a direct result of the above function, continues to confuse and distort our perceptions.

Critique

Legislation By Judges: Where Is The Line Between The Judiciary And The Legislature?

Now reading

Book Review: Behind The Scenes Of One Of The Biggest Events In China's History

United States’ Hasty Exit From Afghanistan Can Be Catastrophic: Part II

United States’ Hasty Exit From Afghanistan Can Be Catastrophic: Part I

Knowledge

History & People

Snubbing the Gandhis

History & People

Rabindranath Tagore: A Mind Without Fear

Analysis

World

A New Vision For Indo-Israeli Relations

World

China - Soon To Be The Hegemon Of The Antarctic?

Critique

Technology

AI Is An Exciting Prospect, But Are We Ready For It?

Politics & Policy

What Is Religion's Place In 'Modern' Society?

Wide Angle by Tejas Nageshwaran

Education & Infrastructure

Wide Angle: India’s Rocky Roads to Growth

Politics & Policy

Wide Angle: Ayodhya May Not Be The Only Temple Defining The Future Of The BJP

Politics & Policy

Wide Angle: The Coalition Conundrum

Politics & Policy

Wide Angle: In Bengal, No One Has It Easy

Timeless reading

Books & Essays

The Slander Of Ikshvaku

Education & Infrastructure

Are We Building A Nation Of Losers?

History & People

Kashmir Has Been Festering For Centuries, Not Decades

Politics & Policy

The Need For Preventive Healthcare Is Now, Not Later

History & People

PV Narasimha Rao And The Truth Of 1991