Navigating towards a ‘Paris Agreement for the oceans’?
By James Fahn The first ever UN Ocean Conference came to a close on June 9 with a “Call For Action”, over 1,300 voluntary commitments made to support ocean health, and aspirations for a new…
Opinion
Dogs of war, the gunner bear and World War II ‘s other unusual combatants
By Vikas Datta The Second World War was truly a “world” war — for, apart from encompassing most of the globe, it saw all military forces drawing in additional “personnel” beyond the planet’s dominant species….
Why Modi avoids the media
By Amulya Ganguli In another two years, Narendra Modi may well enter the Guinness Book of Records for failing to hold a press conference. In that event, he will be the first Prime Minister of…
‘Confused’ Comey’s ‘covfefe’ cocktail!
By Arun Kumar Washington, June 10 (IANS) It was billed as the greatest show in town, rivalling what was supposed to be a nail-biting India-Pakistan cricket match. All TV remotes across America pointed to the…
Why withdrawals from the Bank of Dad need to hurt
By Nury Vittachi The train was so tightly packed that when I checked my current account balance on my phone, four people breathed in sharply and gave me sympathetic looks. But then the girl left…
In Pakistan’s Sindh water is only for rich and powerful
By Mustafa Talpur In the late 1990s when we were working on an irrigation reform project in Sindh, Pakistan, an old man in his 70s walked into the office and narrated the story of unequal…
Trumpexit could be good news for India as Modi meets Macron
By Rajendra Shende Newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted 24 times within two hours as news, on June 1, came from across the Atlantic. US President Trump declared that he has broken away from the…
Corbyn closes gap: Will he go past?
By Saeed Naqvi Prime Minister Theresa May and the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, have been pitted against each other on a host of issues but nothing has caught the popular imagination…
A new era of shared clean-energy leadership begins in China
By Christian Zinglersen There is a new reality in clean energy. The world’s major emerging economies — including China, India, and several others — are moving to the centre stage of the clean energy transition….
Need to guard against demographic dividend becoming demographic burden
By Amit Kapoor It has been an eventful three years for the Narendra Modi government. Back in 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had inherited a system that was peppered with corruption scandals and where…
Liberalism’s prophet: Scourge of small minds and tyranny of thought
By Vikas Datta The concept of liberalism and its key facet of tolerance are most vital to human freedom and development, but in these treacherous times, they are under unflinching attack by “right-thinking” sections of…
Remembering John F. Kennedy and his legacy
By Frank F. Islam On May 29, the United States and the world will celebrate the 100th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s birth. Tragically, President Kennedy, or JFK as he was known universally, did not…
French communist office: ‘Does anyone live here any more?’
By Saeed Naqvi Imagination conjures up sounds of the organ as I stand in the shadow of that brooding architectural wonder. It feels like I am at a service for the repose of the dead….
BJP’s Dalit outreach under threat
By Amulya Ganguli There is a long way to go before Uttar Pradesh can become Uttam Pradesh, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised after his party’s massive victory in the assembly elections. The caste violence…
Whither India’s culture? The curious silence at the top
By Saket Suman It seems to be yesterday once more with the deafening silence of the Sahitya Akademi and other cultural institutions over the provocative threat that acclaimed actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker…
A ‘Bonded’ career: Roger Moore as 007 and more
By Vikas Datta With his suave, debonair mien including the incredulous raised eyebrow, his refined accent and smooth voice, he was a natural choice to portray the world’s most famous British spy after the first…
To transform, India needs to improve competitiveness of its states
By Amit Kapoor India has become the fastest-growing economy in the world. The next logical steps are to make this trend sustainable and to ensure that the benefits of this growth percolate down to the…
Why coalitions among NE militant groups won’t work
By Kula Saikia Chronic attacks of the insurgency virus for decades has made the people of northeast apparently immune to the scourge. The relentless operations by security agencies have forced some of the militant groups…
Unconventional but alluring ‘heroes’: Byron’s kin down the ages
By Vikas Datta In human affairs, things exist before they are formally named and continue to thrive even when people don’t know or forget the name. Take this type of literary character, who continues to…
Rajnath chairs security meet with five CMs, hikes border development funding
Gangtok, May 20 (IANS) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday chaired the first security review meeting with Chief Ministers of five states bordering China, and enhanced the Central Assistance for Border Area Development Programmes…