Cockroach Janata Party protest in Pune

A Mature Democracy Must be Confident Enough to Hear Youth Anger: Domestic Unrest can Become Global Politics in Hours

Democracies need dissent. Young Indians have every right to demand credible examinations, transparent recruitment, accountable institutions and a responsive government. To delegitimise all youth anger as foreign manipulation would be intellectually lazy and politically dangerous. But it is equally naive to pretend that geopolitics ends at the border of domestic protest.

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

More on Public Policy and Governance

Crying for justice: Need for Indian government to make speedy justice delivery a mission

The time for half-hearted attempts, and/or conventional methods, has gone by when it comes to delivering justice in India.

Bangladesh Army's stellar role in bringing peace and development to CHT

Local sources claim that multiple tribal terrorist groups are holding hundreds of thousands of people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts as hostages. These groups are active in controlling and influencing their areas through various sabotage and terrorist activities, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, attacks, and counter-attacks.

India celebrates Navy Day commemorating its operational power and maritime history

Indian Navy celebrates Navy Day on 4 December to commemorate "Operation Trident", the Navy’s lethal attack on Karachi harbour during the 1971 war.

COP28 commitments: Need for India to go beyond lip service and gimmicks

The pollution severely affecting the health of the population is of no consequence to India's politicians. It is high time our policymakers look at themselves in the mirror.

Roots of terrorism: Wrong to blame it on a religion

In recent years, a central phenomenon that spurred the rise of terrorist groups has been the United States cultivating fundamentalist Islamist groups through the CIA in client states such as Pakistan. 

Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) framework needs incorporation in India's Blue Economy vision

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is working towards making the UDA framework an agenda for the multilateral forums in the IOR. 

Free food and election promises: Why India's food security system needs an overhaul

The Niti Aayog estimates using a multi-dimensional approach, that poverty has fallen below 15 percent. Why then are 58 percent of Indians getting free food? Or even if their food security needs have to be addressed, would this be better served by direct benefit transfers?

Why RSS is paying lip service to Ambedkar: Two poles of Indian political spectrum

Ambedkar was for implementing the concept of fraternity; on the contrary, the politics of majoritarianism has spread hatred against minorities, leading to violence and polarization of society.

Furore over 70-hour work week: The message Narayana Murthy could have given instead

It may serve Infosys to have zombies but it can never serve the nation to valorise this as the route to a national revival. Many in India suffer low wages, zero benefits and long work hours. Murthy’s remarks will be used to legitimise these malpractices. 

Amid growing Chinese presence, resumption of old ferry service will boost India-Sri Lanka connectivity

Sri Lanka has always been a very important and strategically critical Indian Ocean neighbour and removing the bottlenecks in their relationships has been a top priority for New Delhi.

Need to put an end to India-Canada friction

Justifiably, India and Sri Lanka are unhappy that the Canadian government is giving the freedom to operate to separatist movements in Canada and is keeping its eyes and ears closed to the violent objectives of the separatists.

Fighting hunger in India that the government refuses to acknowledge

The report notes that India has the highest child-wasting rate in the world, at 18.7 per cent, reflecting acute undernutrition. It places India way below a neighbour like Bangladesh, which has a score of 19, a rank of 81 and is categorised on the GHI Severity of Hunger Scale as “moderate” – a class jump over the Indian numbers.

Same-sex marriage verdict militates against human rights

The verdict certainly is an impediment to the quest for self-respect, individuality and self-esteem of its citizens.India could have set an example with positive affirmation of this right as only Nepal and Taiwan have recognized same-sex unions in Asia.

India needs to pay greater attention to urban planning to avoid future disasters

Townships in our hilly regions are mushrooming in a grossly unplanned and unscientific manner, generating excessive pressure on the rock surface, which can manifest in catastrophes. 

Pakistan has strict protocols in place to prevent chemical and biological terrorism

Pakistan’s CWC Act 2000, Pakistan Bio Safety Rules 2005 and Pakistan Export Control Act 2004 are the evidence of Pakistan's sincerity to the implementation of CWC and BWC. Because of the dedicated efforts of science and policy leaders in Pakistan, the country is on the road to becoming a regional role model in ensuring biosafety and capacity for biosecurity.