All Indians Matter

I came across a musical Daastangoi performance, ‘Jo Dooba So Paar’, by chance. And it showed me how the arts can bring people together. It’s much needed, especially in these times of great social fissures. The show embodied the message of harmony that the intertwined lives of Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusrau delivered and reminded us that communities across the world are in need of something to bring them together as a unified so...

The recent gangrape of a Brazilian tourist in Jharkhand underscores why India suffers from a serious perception problem. Several foreign governments have issued advisories to women tourists asking them to be careful while travelling in India. Tourism industry leaders have also demanded greater safety measures.

As women travellers leave scathing reviews and horrifying news reports of sexual assaults appear with alarming regularity,...

India is a late starter in the quest for lithium as it transitions towards new-age energy. It has picked up five lithium blocks for mining in Argentina and is looking for more across the world.

If it has to reduce its dependence on China for lithium and to catch up with it, India will need to pick up pace not just in mining but also processing of the ore. But it’s not easy, takes a long time and there are serious environmental co...

The top 1% of Indians earns 22.6% of the national income and holds 40.1% of the wealth. This inequality is among the worst in the world, finds a recent study.

This ‘Billionaire Raj’ has been pronounced since Narendra Modi came to power, the report said, and is founded on “an authoritarian government with centralisation of decision-making power, coupled with a growing nexus between big business and government”. There is an urgent n...

Micro-entrepreneurship can be one of the solutions to poverty and a means of sustainable income generation in developing countries like India.

Central and state governments have launched several programmes to aid micro-entrepreneurship but has enough been done and what more is needed to raise income and employment levels, especially in rural India?

Amit Patjoshi, CEO of Palladium India, which runs micro-entrepreneurship programme...

A recent report warns that India is on its way to becoming the “cancer capital of the world”. While tobacco and alcohol abuse remain among the major drivers, artificial preservatives, junk food, cellphone towers, food adulteration and exposure to pollutants are leading causes too.

The solution spans not just more screening facilities but also greater awareness and the use of data for evidence-based policy decisions.

Please listen...

Signed in 1960, the Indus Waters Treaty gives India control over the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers, while Pakistan manages the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. Now, as populations burgeon and climate control wreaks havoc on water resources, India says the treaty must be renegotiated.

The Indus Basin aquifer is the second-most stressed in the world but on it rely millions of Indians and Pakistanis. It’s their water security at stake as the...

The rise of right-wing nationalism and intense polarisation is defining political debates and electoral outcomes across the world. So, many believe that the outcome of the US and Indian elections will be make or break for global democracy. What does the hard swing towards the right mean for all of us?

Rohit Tripathi, a policy advocate on a wide range of public issues spanning the halls of the US Congress to policymakers in India, ...

Unsafe, contaminated water is killing millions of Indians and dragging down the economy. There is a desperate need to clean and conserve our water sources, and for policies that ensure sustainable use of the world’s most precious resource.

India has 16% of the world’s population crammed into a landmass that’s one-third the size of the US. What’s worse, it has only 4% of the world’s fresh water. Safe water supply, therefore, is a p...

India has more land under cultivation than any other country and is among the leaders in the production of rice, spices, milk, eggs and wheat. Yet, our food system is under immense pressure. It faces many challenges, ranging from depleting natural resources to climate change, fragmented land holdings and increasing urbanisation.

Meanwhile, populations are expanding and diets are changing, which means that people are demanding more...

Professor GN Saibaba is finally free. But not before his severe disability was tested by horrifying conditions and treatment in jail. His acquittal is a significant blow for human rights and freedom but there are way too many political prisoners still in jail for anyone to celebrate.

And they are in jail because the state fears the truth coming out. It fears the truth being recognised as the truth and the backlash that will follow...

India, along with the rest of the world, is witnessing a wave of layoffs. Over the past two years, an estimated 100,000 people have been laid off by tech firms alone in India and other sectors have not been immune to the contagion either. Blame it on choppy revenue figures, falling valuation, supply chain disruptions and other factors.

The job losses come at a time when unemployment is high and prospects seem bleak. Also, other th...

Farmers in India have been on the march demanding greater procurement prices and financial support from the government, among other things. Meanwhile, farmers across Europe are up in arms because of falling prices for their harvest, access to credit, pesticide regulations and food import policies. Globally, agriculture is in turmoil and this doesn’t bode well for food security and farm incomes. Please listen to the latest episode o...

Trust in the Supreme Court and the wider judiciary is eroding fast. This comes on the back of disappointing rulings over the past few years, inaction in some cases and what seem to be contradictory utterances. In a constitutional democracy, courts play an important counter-majoritarian function and are a check on the executive. Many think the Supreme Court is failing in these functions.

If the judiciary doesn’t take corrective mea...