Eleven years: A critique
In his column for The Indian Express, former finance minister P Chidambaram reflects on Narendra Modi's 11 years in power, which makes him the third-longest serving prime minister of India. However Chidambaram argues that India is not better for all or stronger or fairer place today than what it was in 2014 based on three parameters — economic reforms, social justice and diplomatic relations.
By all accounts, every power is concentrated in the hands of Mr Narendra Modi. He may deserve to claim sole credit for the government’s achievements; he should also bear sole responsibility for its failures. When I ask myself ‘Am I proud to be an Indian?’, the answer is yes. When I ask myself ‘Am I happy with the way India is governed?’, the answer is no. I look forward to the day when India will become a better (for all), stronger and fairer country.P Chidambaram
Time to reassess safety priorities of airline sector
In his column for Hindustan Times, Amit Singh argues that the recent Air India crash should serve as a wake-up call to re-evaluate the aviation sector’s safety priorities beyond infrastructure and certification— shifting focus on readiness of systems and people to respond when things don’t go as planned.
Another concern is that the landing gear remained extended during the climb. Leaving the gear down significantly reduces climb performance, especially critical if thrust is compromised. Whether this was due to workload saturation, distraction, or checklist omission remains to be seen. However, it illustrates how a high-stress environment can interfere with routine procedures, even in a modern cockpit.Amit Singh
Inside Track: Emergency Tactics
In her column for The Indian Express, Coomi Kapoor writes on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, recalling how Indira Gandhi employed drastic “sledge‑hammer” methods—cutting electricity to Delhi newspapers, enforcing strict censorship, inserting police into media bodies, and intimidating foreign correspondents—to silence dissent. 50 years on, she addresses a frequently-posed question: Can India have an Emergency-style repression of the media again?
My own methodology to assess the index of media independence is based on three factors. The media should be financially stable and not dependent on government largesse. It should not be a stakeholder in business interests which could conflict with its role as a purveyor of truth. (It is therefore troubling that India’s two richest men, Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, have expanding media empires.) The chill factor is another impediment to a free press. The media sometimes self-censors for fear of reprisal from the state which has been known to book journalists under non-applicable laws.Coomi Kappor
World of wars and bonfire of G7 vanities
In his column for The New Indian Express, Shankkar Aiyarcritiques the G7’s 50th-anniversary summit in Canada, arguing that lofty declarations of peace, security, and economic stability starkly contrast with an unstable world marred by real wars. He highlights how global markets oscillate between optimism over US–China trade détente and fear triggered by Israeli strikes on Iran—illustrating the fragility of international order.
The conflict overshadows all else. The magnitude of challenges, the spectre of a polycrisis facing the G7, is daunting. The timing of the G7 meet in Canada, as its people re-assert their Canadian identity in the face of Trumpism, affords an opportunity for Prime Minister Mark Carney to shepherd the agenda towards resolutions. He could leverage his stature as a central banker. He has shown sagacity by distancing himself from the past and inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Shankkar Aiyar
Marriage, and space for women saying No
In her column for Hindustan Times, Namita Bhandare examines the chilling case in Meghalaya where 25-year-old Sonam allegedly conspired to murder her husband Raja Raghuvanshi. Namita argues that tucked away behind the screaming headlines is a story of love, longing, and marriage in modern India.
Four months ago, Sonam met Raja in an arranged marriage set up where details such as caste, class, and income come with a family-vetted stamp...Why on earth did Sonam agree? We know very little of what was going on inside her head...But in a country that in 2021 reported 33 murders in the name of “honour”, many women don’t have the freedom to say No — No to a man picked by their fathers, No to walking out of unhappy marriages, and No to marriage itself.Namita Bhandare
Crowds, cynicism, and the crisis of authority
In his column for Deccan Herald, Gurucharan Gollerkeri argues that the tragic stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is not just a local administrative failure but us emblematic of a deeper, systemic ailment that afflicts our institutions: the inability to anticipate, to learn, and above all, to reform. He focuses on the failure of governance paradigms that have not evolved to meet the public where they are – online, outraged, and organised.
In Bengaluru, thousands thronged the gates not just to celebrate, but to participate in something larger: a shared spectacle, a moment of identity and belonging. This is not just crowd behaviour – it is crowd emotion, amplified by online buzz, nostalgia and a longing for collective experience. Managing such emotive crowds is not merely a matter of headcounts and barricades; it demands the foresight of systems thinking, the empathy of public leadership, and the rigour of administrative design.Gurucharan Gollerkeri
The Favourite, the Eloquent and the Martyr, Who will Congress Side with?
In his column for The New Indian Express, Pushpesh Pant critiques internal divisions within the Congress party over Shashi Tharoor, Jairam Ramesh and Rahul Gandhi. He argues that though Tharoor may yet pip the RaGa favourite to the post of CM in Kerala but the issue is much larger than Tharoor's future.
Congress has repeated ad nauseam in recent days that the BJP lacks spokespersons that’s why it has had to press Dr T into the job. The fact is that it’s the Congress party that with the exception of Jairam Ramesh has no one who can perform the job to convince the general public that the party still matters.Pushpesh Pant
Tragedy and horror
In her column for The Indian Express, Tavleen Singh recounts the Ahmedabad Air India crash, drawing on her personal proximity as she was on a flight en route to New York in another Air India flight when the disaster occurred. She recalls the 1985 Air India crash and underscores her relief that terrorism may not be behind this crash, while warning that if it is, the implications would be deeply disturbing.
Somehow, the crew of my flight had no knowledge of the crash and at JFK, the only thing Indians in the queue at passport control were concentrating on was the fear that they may not get into the United States. Donald Trump’s deportations and visa cancellations have made even ordinary tourists nervous.Tavleen Singh
Bollywood flops as the South shines
In his column for The New Indian Express, Prabhu Chawla compares the recent failures of Bollywood films on box office with the success of South Indian films and argues that if Mumbai fails to smell its nemesis, it may find Bollywood a ghost town by 2035. He asserts that Bollywood's future hinges on a single truth—only by rewriting its script to reflect all of India can it reclaim the spotlight.
This star-studded slump is strangling India’s entertainment industry, which employs over 2 million people and relies on a shrinking number of big screens. In 2024, 1.2 billion tickets were sold, but the footfalls dropped 10 percent from 2023, with Hindi films capturing only Rs 4,679 crore of the Rs 11,833-crore total box office, a 13 percent decline. Only six original Hindi films crossed Rs 100 crore in 2024—Stree 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, Singham Again among them—compared to 16 in 2023.Prabhu Chawla
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