Industrial accident

Making Workplaces Safer in South Asia: Prevention Less Costly than Catastrophe

Workplace accidents impose costs far beyond the immediate loss of life and injury. Families lose breadwinners, enterprises suffer productivity losses, projects face delays and governments incur healthcare and compensation costs. The social consequences can be particularly severe for migrant and informal workers

Is Delimitation Becoming a Penalty for Good Governance for India's Southern States?

For decades, these states invested heavily in women’s education, public health, industrialisation, literacy and population control. Fertility rates in many southern states have already fallen below replacement levels. In contrast, several northern states lagged behind for years on precisely these indicators. If parliamentary representation now shifts overwhelmingly toward states with higher population growth, the message becomes deeply perverse: governance discipline weakens political power.

Denial of Voting Rights to Undertrials: Blinds Spots in India's Democracy

At its heart, the challenge to Section 62(5) is a test of constitutional sincerity, of whether the Indian Republic truly believes that citizenship endures even behind bars. Enacted in the infancy of the republic, the provision has long outlived its moral logic. It collapses the distinction between confinement and culpability

Reforming Higher Education: A Reset Moment for Kerala Universities After Years of Drift

To its credit, the new state government’s policy declaration recognised this reality. It emphasised skill development, industry-linked learning and stronger connections between educational institutions and emerging sectors of the economy. Whether those aspirations translate into measurable reform remains to be seen.

More on Public Policy and Governance

Should Hindus alone carry the responsibility of India?

India, like the rest of the world, is a vast garden of diverse cultures and traditions. To single out Hindus as solely responsible for the country is divisive. All Indians, regardless of their religion, share equal rights and responsibilities in shaping the nation’s future.

Modi to visit Sri Lanka in April with investment and security issues in mind

One of the concerns of India has been the expanding Chinese presence in Sri Lanka. The China-funded mega projects like Hambantota Port and Colombo Port City have caused some discord in the India-Sri Lanka relations. Growing Chinese presence in South Asian nations - Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka - has been a cause of major security concern for New Delhi.

EU-India love fest: After EU leadership visit, Belgium woos India with a jumbo biz mission

Diamonds remain a cornerstone of the Belgo-Indian economic relationship, but in recent years strong growth has been visible in various other sectors. The port city of Antwerp is considered to be the international centre of diamond trade which is dominated by Indian diamond traders mainly from Gujarat.

The US in ‘shock and awe’: Need for cautious engagement with an intemperate leadership

It is good to be ever wary of a nation and a leadership that is and has historically been all about itself at the cost of others, driving others to misery as it gobbles up resources and pushes the idea of American exceptionalism. 

Improving economic condition of India's religious minorities: Affirmative action is the need of the hour

It is in this light that one welcomes a new report from US-India Policy Institute and Centre for Development Policy and Practice, ‘Rethinking Affirmative Action for Muslims in Contemporary India’. This report takes an approach away from quotas for Muslims as a whole. They recognize that Muslim community has different economic layers.

Tharoor at crossroads: Popular parliamentarian paying for his independent views on issues

Tharoor is acutely aware that he is not particularly liked by the Congress leadership, especially the Gandhi family because of his independence. Things have come to a stage where even Tharoor posting a selfie of him with India’s Minister for Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal and Britain’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds is seen as unfurling the red flag.

To whom does this land belong? Waves of migrations have shaped India

The assertion of "first comers" is central to sectarian nationalism but contradicts the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. We must aspire to equality for all citizens, regardless of language or religion. Digging into history to serve political ideologies should be left to academics, not wielded as a tool for divisive politics.

Where is India going wrong on investments? Need to still simplify regulatory and compliance frameworks

Despite venture capital investments in Indian startups, recent innovation has been lacking. Many Indian companies are run by MBA graduates, business heirs, or marketers. Successful western startups, however, are often founded by engineers. Engineers have a higher propensity for innovation, and promoting this culture may help foster investment.

Unabated cross-border terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir needs appropriate payback

In past years, Indian Army was making its Pakistani counterparts pay by way of bombarding its locations/defences along the Line of Control (LoC). However as per an agreement between India and Pakistan in February 2021, this practice was stopped for the sake of peace for the civil population residing in the LoC belt. Otherwise, Pak army was paying at least some price for every terrorist attack in the Kashmir Valley by terrorist groups that it supports.

Why the dollar dominates the global economy

The rise of India and China in the 21st century will surely challenge the hegemony of the dollar. India’s rise is benign, while China’s rise threatens the west. Their evolving bilateral relationship will surely shape world trajectory as well as affect the dollar’s dominance.  But for now, the dollar is king

Shackled Indian deportees expose US hypocrisy on human rights

The Trump administration is now redefining the migrant policy and methodology of dealing with the migrant issues for the rest  of the world to observe, evaluate and practice.It is likely that those from South Asia and a few other countries would  think several times before trying to enter the USA in an illegal manner and perhaps would stop indulging in such misadventure.

Modi in US: India must draw a clear line with Trump

The planned deportation of 20,000 Indians from the US will require an endless stream of flights, if all of them are to be sent back, not to speak of more who are being caught as raids by US immigration continue. None of them should be allowed to be detained without access to lawyers, medical aid and humane conditions in the facilities they are kept. None of them should be allowed to be sent back in chains.

Journalists in South Asia must speak up loudly for justice and freedom

Three journalists were murdered in Bangladesh last year, and authorities detained four journalists seen as supporters of erstwhile Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, unseated by the ‘monsoon revolution’ last August after a despotic 15-year rule. The subsequent caretaker government has targeted dozens of journalists, whose reporting was considered favourable toward Hasina’s government, in criminal investigations.

PECA 2025: Pakistan attempts to regulate and shape the digital space

While no legal framework is entirely immune to exploitation, democratic societies must continuously refine their regulations to balance security and individual freedoms. Rejecting PECA 2025 outright ignores the fact that unregulated digital spaces can be just as detrimental as overly restrictive regulations.

Whither Viksit Bharat? Country's rising inequality not addressed in budget

Overall, India needs 7.0 to 8.0 % growth for 25 years continuously to become a developed economy. This does not seem to be plausible or possible at present.  It appears that the government is neither able to define the term Viksit Bharat clearly and in detail nor has it been able to design the pathway to Viksit Bharat.