But for Gandhi, India's political destiny would have been vastly different and her moral stature vastly inferior.
When Development Uproots the Roots: Reimagining India's Development Policy
Before asking how quickly a project can be implemented, policymakers should ask whether it can be redesigned to reduce displacement. Before acquiring new land, can existing degraded land be used? Can infrastructure be built around communities rather than communities being moved around infrastructure?
The Forensic-Security Convergence: Mitigating Cross-Border Identity Fraud and Financial Subversion
Identity and financial crimes that occur across India's borders never begin with anything overtly fraudulent. They generally begin with a small breach in routine authentication processes. Biometrics, forensic document examination, and audit trails can each
Constitutional Supremacy vs. Parliamentary Sovereignty Debate: Parliament is a Creature of the Constitution, not its Master
India’s constitutional design operates on the line of a fully functional parliamentary democracy anchored in constitutional supremacy rather than parliamentary sovereignty. In an era of evolving challenges, the supremacy of the Constitution continues to serve as the ultimate safeguard of Indian polity.
Born Together, Governed Apart: How India and Pakistan Became Two Different Political Civilizations
Eighty years after Partition, the overarching lesson of this comparative history of India and Pakistan is that national trajectories are not preordained by culture, talent, or geography. They are determined by the rules and values a state enshrines for itself in its formative years.
More on Governance, Public Policy and Law
The long road to the ‘Right to Health’ in India
Clearer commitments and standards on access and quality, making oversight and redressal mechanisms more participatory, and allocating adequate financial resources alone would make the right to healthcare to all citizens a reality.
How India won the race to Siachen
The book is a must-read for all policymakers, diplomats, academics and civil and military personnel who have an interest in Siachen.
India needs to be more open to free trade
In a world slowing down due to a recession, even if our share of trade goes up from 3 to 4 per cent, that would be a huge boost for the Indian economy. And that is eminently feasible only if we are less afraid of open and free trade.
Recalling a 'black chapter' in Punjab's history: Flawed decision-making that proved costly for India
The book, in many ways, is the last word on the tragic and defining years of Punjab’s turmoil that took a large number of lives.
Unique military-industry cooperation boosting Indian Navy’s warship production
There are currently 41 ships and submarines under construction, 39 are being built in Indian shipyards, while in-principle approval is there from the Defence Ministry for 47 ships to be built in India.
Is war an inevitability? How prepared should India be?
The author’s prognosis of a major contestation in the not-so-distant future is situated in the South China Sea. The compelling logic portends China’s proclivity to fight one or possibly two major wars before 2035, either with Taiwan or India before the major US-China war.
Can a 'self-reliant' India edge out Vietnam as an alternative to China for supply chain manufacturing?
Riding the global strategic shift in manufacturing, India is on the cusp of attractive large-scale domestic and foreign investors by incentivizing supply chain manufacturing
A blueprint for a developed India
It would be appropriate to design a comprehensive plan for India to create 10,000 unicorns in the next 25 years and with a few hundred becoming decacorns - enterprises with a valuation of over $10 billion. These enterprises alone could add over $12 trillion to India’s GDP.
South Asian solidarity and support for flood-devastated Pakistan: Calling South Asian nations to come together for flood relief and rehabilitation in the neighbourhood
It is important to note that India has sufficient food stocks to be able to help the affected people in flood-ridden Pakistan. There is an urgent need to ease border restrictions at least to the levels of 2009 to provide easy access to food and relief materials
Checking anti-India activity in Assam and Northeast India
While the Assam government must sustain its present moves against radicalisation, New Delhi must be firm in ensuring that insidious attempts/activities by anti-Indian elements/groups are neutralised effectively in the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and some other states
The world's fifth largest economy: A reality check
So, the assessment for the fifth largest economy is that this is a slowing phase, as growth drivers need to pick up along with investor sentiment
Developing unity in diversity: A prescription to unite India culturally
Efforts should be made to translate the literary heritage of each state and union territory into each of the national languages of India. This will create a whole new education, employment and business ecosystem in the publishing and media industries, sensitising each Indian to the national and civilisational heritage they inherited and building a sense of unity and common purpose.
Sealing the Ozone Hole: Lessons from the Montreal Protocol
The progress of the Montreal Protocol till now is, however, not without hiccups and bumps
INS Vikrant in its new incarnation marks India as a major warship-building nation
Both these carriers, which are floating cities with massive flying and firepower, still do not adequately fulfill India’s maritime force requirement. With two vast seaboards and the Indian Ocean region and two rogue adversarial nations, the considered assessment by old-salt veterans is that even three aircraft carriers, meaning two on the sea and one in refit, are not enough
