Editorials

India must strengthen partnerships across the Indo-Pacific to stand up to China’s belligerent stand on Line of Actual Control

The sale of AI is good for the government, the consumer, and possibly for the Tatas because, free of much of its debt, AI, even in its present shape, may well turn in an operational profit

The Supreme Court said the National Green Tribunal does have suo moto powers and can take up environmental issues on its own

India has a hard task ahead. Boost security, nab terrorists, ensure communal peace. Figure out a Kashmir strategy that combines democracy, dignity, and rights for all

On October 2, the Union government released a consultation paper on amending the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980. Environmentalists have criticised it on various grounds. These are serious criticisms, and for formulating a robust forest law, the government must address them before moving further.

Strategic imperatives bind the two nations. The government has taken a political risk in deepening ties with DC. Washington must not export its own battles with Moscow to the Indian theatre and it must keep an eye on the bigger challenge.

Some sectors are thriving, with supply-side issues; other sectors are struggling, due to a demand crunch

The Centre, Delhi and neighbouring states must figure out a joint response to help farmers stop stubble burning

The Facebook outage is a reminder of the fragility of the digital ecosystem, which in past decades has seen power increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few.

The test involves a doctor inserting two fingers in the vagina to detect if the hymen is present, to test the vagina’s size and laxity, and the sexual history of the victim — all of which are completely irrelevant in a case of sexual assault

Hold those guilty of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence accountable. Reach out to farmers. If there is a time for statesmanship to resolve this issue, it is now

With elections due early next year in two states whose farmers are part of the protests, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, it is unlikely that a political solution to the crisis will be found before mid-2022, if then. The SC would do well to resume hearing petitions challenging the legality of the farm laws — it is among the important cases, including the challenges to the abrogation of Article 370 and on electoral bonds pending before it — and, for starters, perhaps convert its observations on blocked roads into an order.

While significant investment is necessary in collecting and transporting solid waste, as SBM 2.0 promises to do, it is important that the government and civil society push the concept of refuse-reduce-reuse-recycle much harder. This is not a new concept for India; it needs to be refreshed and popularised among citizens for a sustainable and waste-free future.

Recent years have indicated that the patchiness or unevenness of even a normal monsoon is now a trend, not an aberration. Climate science bears this out — the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report specifically mentions erratic monsoons. Better forecasts, climate crisis-mitigating tech, and new crop varieties are the need of the hour

The churn in the Opposition suits the BJP’s narrative of Narendra Modi as a stable hand at the wheel for 2024

The extension of the scheme to pre-primary students and the development of nutritional gardens can help enhance children’s mental and physical growth

To be sure, both the Centre and the states are gaining a fiscal windfall from taxes on fuel. In the interest of a sustainable economic revival and preventing inflation and, more importantly, keeping inflation expectations from increasing further, both the Union government and the states must agree to reduce taxes.

Will the Opposition take the Bharatiya Janata Party on from a centre-Right or centre-Left position? This ideological confusion in the Opposition is both a sign of BJP’s hegemony and perhaps explains the failure to challenge it.

Navjot Singh Sidhu’s resignation is a classic example of flawed decision-making of the high command of the Congress party

In Germany, a closely contested election has seen the Social Democrats (SPD) pull marginally ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU)

Following their first in-person summit in Washington, Quad countries — Australia, India, Japan and the United States (US) — announced a set of principles that will guide how they design, develop, govern and use technology

As other parties smell the Congress’s weaknesses, they are attempting to fill the vacuum — be it in the form of the steady election campaign the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is running in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa or the TMC’s attempt to poach disgruntled Congress leaders in a bid to unite them under a federal umbrella or in the form of movements (for instance, the farm agitation) setting the narrative on an issue.

The lack of access to seating works as a strong impediment to women’s participation in India’s workforce

The India-US strategic relationship remains robust, Quad is here to stay and there is clarity about the challenge

Given India’s multiple challenges at the moment, the Centre is right about moving ahead with the 2021 census, without caste enumeration

In Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand, the party faces stiff challenges ahead of the next year’s assembly elections. To be taken seriously in 2024, the Congress needs to get 2022 right.

The World Health Organization’s new metric on pollution levels highlights the scale of India’s challenge. India must focus on cleaning up its power, industry, and transport sectors, set up interim targets, and plan a more nuanced regional approach to provide the clean air to its citizens.

In the face of the poaching challenge, the Assam government’s decision to publicly burn horns sends out a strong message that the body part has no commercial and medicinal value, and that India values its wildlife heritage