Thankfully, Dead on Arrival
In his weekly column for The Indian Express, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram critiques the NDA government's introduction of the 130th Constitution Amendment Bill, which seeks to remove ministers jailed for over 30 days (even without charges or conviction), arguing it undermines due process.
"If the Bill to remove arrested ministers is passed, India will join the ranks of Belarus, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo (DRC), Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe which routinely jail Opposition leaders," he writes.
The NDA does not have the numbers to pass a Constitution Amendment Bill in either House. The NDA’s strength in the Lok Sabha is 293 (out of 543 members) and in the Rajya Sabha is 133 (out of 245 members). The numbers fall short of the magic number of two-thirds in each House if all the members of that House are present and voting...The Bill will not pass if the MPs cast 182 votes in the Lok Sabha and 82 votes in the Rajya Sabha against the Bill. But, ironically, not all Opposition parties are in opposition to the NDA! The YSRCP, BJD, BRS and BSP, and some smaller parties, have tended to support the NDA government. AITC and AAP are opposed to the NDA but whether they are with the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is dependent on the issue.P Chidambaram, The Indian Express
PM’s Ghuspetiya Outrage: Isn’t It Too Little, Too Late?
Writing for Deccan Chronicle, Pavan K Varma critiques Prime Minister Modi's sudden focus on 'illegal intruders and migrants' from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar during Bihar’s election season, arguing that it is a politically timed attempt to divert attention from failures in governance.
The argument that illegal immigrants will usurp jobs in Bihar begs the question: Where are the jobs to be taken? Bihar has the country’s highest rate of unemployment. That is why lakhs of Biharis leave the state to find jobs in far flung corners of India, working on unacceptably low wages and living in miserable conditions...For too long the interests of the people of Bihar has been sacrificed on the altar of religion or caste. The cost of such politics is not merely electoral gamesmanship; it is the slow poisoning of India’s social fabric.Pavan K Varma, Deccan Chronicle
Harnessing the Power Triad
Writing for Deccan Herald, Ashwin Mahesh argues that India’s development can no longer rely solely on state leadership, with markets and society positioned merely as followers. Instead, he proposes harnessing a balanced 'power triad' where the state, the market, and civil society act together as equal partners to drive progress.
Merely tweaking the business environment will not produce such an equal relationship. What the State giveth, it can also take away. Or just dilute – it is also noteworthy that the drumbeat of Ease of Doing Business has not meant much to the majority of businesses. Nor has there ever been any commitment to improving the Ease of Citizens Engaging with Government. There’s a lesson in that for all those joining the reform chorus.Ashwin Mahesh, Deccan Herald
Saving Climate Action in the Age of Global Fragmentation
In the Hindustan Times, Arunabha Ghosh writes that with multilateral forums at a standstill, bilateral climate agreements must shift from donor-recipient models to partnerships based on mutual benefit.
The world is navigating turbulent times. Conflict continues in West Asia and Ukraine. US trade tariffs loom large over India and global commerce, and China’s restriction on rare earth exports disrupts supply chains. Energy security is back on top of national agendas, with several major powers retreating from their climate commitments. In this fragmented world, the multilateral climate regime faces its greatest test yet. At the same time, the climate crisis itself cannot be ignored. News of extreme heat waves and flash floods inundating cities are commonplace across nations.Arunabha Ghosh, Hindustan Times
What Moral Imagination Means in Our Polarised Times
Writing for Deccan Herald, retired IAS officer Gurucharan Gollerkeri reflects on our 'fractious age' and challenges the notion that the world is now hopelessly divided by politics, identity, and belief.
He encourages the reader to practice moral imagination, or the capacity to empathise with and see things from another person's point of view, as an antidote to polarisation. This imaginative empathy, he argues, allows us to recognise shared humanity rather than reinforce alienation and suspicion
In a world saturated by binary thinking, cultivating this capacity may be one of the most radical acts we can undertake. But here is the paradox: for all the noise, something vital is missing. Listening. Not just passively, but actively – listening with the openness that comes from moral curiosity. What drives the person I disagree with? What are they afraid of? What stories shaped their convictions? What grief or aspiration animates their anger? These questions do not excuse injustice, but they illuminate its human context.Gurucharan Gollerkeri, Deccan Herald
Unfinished, Urgent Business
Tavleen Singh, in her weekly column for The Indian Express, writes that India faced a week of diplomatic humiliation, marked by US tariffs and accusations over Russian oil. She argues that structural reforms are the only credible way forward through such setbacks.
In the face of this biased and unwarranted public humiliation India has chosen so far to maintain a dignified silence. Well done, India. But now that Trump has stabbed us in the back and made a mockery of the Hindutva enthusiasts who were so in love with Trump that they organised elaborate Hindu rituals to celebrate his second term, what should we do? Well, for a start, we need to spend much more time on comprehensive economic, judicial, educational and agricultural reforms than on bringing about the Hindutva cultural revolution. Far too much time has been wasted on deciding what people should eat, drink, love and wear. And on how they should worship. It turns out now that we do not have the luxury for a cultural revolution until we get our basics right.Tavleen Singh, The Indian Express
Need an AI Smiley Between Eureka and Kodak Moments
Writing for The New Indian Express S Vaidhyasubramaniam says that India now stands at a crossroads between immense opportunity and the risk of stagnation when it comes to AI in education.
"Numerous studies have indicated the economic effect of AI adoption—there is good and bad to the economic story. Let us focus on the good and begin with the India AI story, which is primitive with promise," he writes.
The development and adoption of AI is becoming a superpower showdown as the global ‘AIms race’ gets brutal and scarier. The effect of AI is seeing its premature outcomes faster than ever. OpenAI and Google Deep Mind won gold in the International Maths Olympiad much ahead of the time it was predicted to...This may be unbelievably true but markets need to adapt and adopt AI in an unprecedented manner. Big markets mean bigger adoption.S Vaidhyasubramaniam, The New Indian Express
Ageing, Decline and Resilience in Literary Imagination
In the Tribune, Bindu Menon writes that society often overlooks the needs of the elderly, diminishing their dignity and autonomy. Through personal stories and literary references, she calls for a more compassionate and inclusive understanding of ageing.
The literary imagination has long grappled with questions of ageing, decline and resilience. At a literary festival, barely three years before her death at 90, Mahasweta Devi spoke of ageing with unflinching honesty: “Was yesterday not full of a thousand possibilities? That was the life! What has changed since then? You feel weak, insipid, a dreadful, debilitating listlessness worse than malaria fever. It is far, far worse. You are alone.” Yet she tempered this starkness with resilience: “The end of strength is not quite a full stop. Nor is it the last station where you get off the train. It is simply a slowing down.Bindu Menon, Tribune
Flames That Doused the Fire Within
In The Indian Express, Anjali Chauhan reflects on the tragic case of Nikki Bhati and asserts that marriage in India, often idealised, remains a dangerous institution for women trapped in dowry-related violence. To end this systemic violence, she calls for a cultural revolution that prioritises women's autonomy, economic independence, and redefines marriage as a choice and not a woman’s destiny.
Justice for Nikki cannot only mean jailing her husband and in-laws. It must mean creating conditions where no woman has to live in fear of being killed for resisting. It must mean economic independence for women, swift legal redressal for survivors, community networks that intervene and, above all, a cultural revolution in how we view honour and women’s lives.Anjali Chauhan, The Indian Express