Who is singing, who is dancing?
In his column for The Indian Express, P Chidambaram argues that amid high tariffs imposed by the US on India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not seem to be calling the tune anywhere. He asserts that PM Modi is caught between India’s largest export destination (USA) and largest import country-of-origin (China). Chidambaram adds that the causes and reasons why both countries seem inclined to turn around must be carefully analysed.
He is caught between tariff threats and trade dependence. He is caught between QUAD and SCO/RIC. Mr Modi, like Mr Trump, believes his political instincts are always right. Hence, his style of personal diplomacy. After suffering setbacks, he should abandon dosti diplomacy, hugs and hand-in-hand strolls, and heed the advice of the Indian Foreign Service and seasoned diplomats.
Use GST recast mood to cast reform net wider
In his column for The New Indian Express, Shankkar Aiyar argues that though the recent rate cuts in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are much-needed measures, propelled by the challenges arising due to slowing demand amid Trumpian tariffs, the question is: Will the cuts boost consumption? The loss of revenue to the government, estimated at Rs 48,000 crore—effectively, money moved from the public to the private sector—is expected to stimulate an economy of Rs 330 lakh crore.
The headroom in the government’s balance sheet is limited—the commitment to bring fiscal deficit down to 4.4 percent and the recent upgrade of ratings by S&P will inform the quantum of funds made available. This brings the spotlight on the old chestnuts: asset monetisation and disinvestments...The biggest opportunity to raise moolah is in unlocking the value of government holdings in public sector enterprises.
Dead names, ghost voters
In his column for Deccan Herald, Venkatesh Nayak writes on how a large chunk of the populations is at the risk of being disenfranchised ahead of Assembly elections in Bihar. About 65 lakh men, women, and transpersons have been kept out of the draft electoral rolls published under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar. The reasons are that they were ‘absent’, ‘shifted’, or ‘dead’ (ASD) or ‘already registered elsewhere.’
How many people on the ‘deleted’ list in Bihar will be re-enrolled remains to be seen. But very few people are aware of the legal position regarding the rights of ASD voters. Despite being on the ASD list prepared by the electoral bureaucracy during summary revision exercises, they can vote on polling day. Their votes must also be counted. Of course, they are required to satisfy the Presiding Officer about their identity, with permissible evidentiary documents, to vote in person or through postal ballots. The election laws and rules do not disenfranchise them just because they are on the ASD list. But how many people on the ASD list successfully cast their vote in every election?
India and China meet on the floor. The waltz can wait
In his column for Deccan Herald, Srikanth Kondapalli contends that though PM Modi's visit to China raised expectations on offsetting the damage caused by Trump's 50 percent tariffs, ushering in a multipolar world, and normalising border relations with China, the outcome of the bilateral meeting was limited. He asserts that China's suggestions on furthering trade are fraught with problems.
While Russia agreed to open its markets to Indian goods, China continues to restrict Indian exports through non-tariff barriers. China is also exerting tremendous pressure on India to further open the 400-million consumer base in response to India’s desire for stable border regions...As China also faces US tariffs, its export-led economy is suffering, with growth rates plummeting from 10 percent a decade ago to less than 3 percent. It needs the Indian market, but does not initiate de-escalation on the border.
Inside Track: Evolving RSS
In her column for The Indian Express, Coomi Kapoor writes on the changing ethos of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which were apparent during the organisation's centenary celebrations recently held in Delhi. At the event, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat conceded that there has been a delay in appointing a new BJP Chief — JP Nadda has overstayed in his post by over 1.5 years — but denied that the delay is because of the RSS.
Bhagwat fielded questions from journalists for nearly three hours. His media team, modelled on corporate lines, invited both Indian and foreign journalists. Unfortunately, beat reporters who cover the Sangh daily were relegated to the back and foreign correspondents were seated in front. Translations of speeches into English, Spanish and French were available on headphones. Some 50 representatives from the diplomatic corps attended, including the ambassadors of China, Israel and Switzerland.
Big Tech is bad news for news
In his column for Deccan Herald, Roger Marshall argues that the Big Tech is authoritarian and its algorithms are discriminatory against people of colour or those belonging to marginalised groups. But they are rarely held accountable for the unintended consequences of their innovations. He adds that the Big Tech is now contributing to the war in Gaza by weaponising code, something which could become worse with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
If Israel’s NSO group can hack into journalists’ phones, why not anyone’s phone? And why stop at hacking when journalists can be killed at will by drones whose targeting software is written by a whole host of IT companies in the US, Israel, and elsewhere...IBM’s motto for decades has been a single word: ‘Think’. But was IBM really thinking when the company permitted its technology to be used to automate the bureaucratic processes for enforcing apartheid in South Africa, identifying those of Jewish extraction in Germany for subsequent extermination, identifying mixed-race individuals on the island of Jamaica for forced sterilisation, or using secret CCTV footage of New York City residents to improve their facial recognition technology’s ability to discriminate based on skin colour?
The UGC and a uniform curriculum
In his column for The New Indian Express, Dinesh Singh contends that the University Grants Commission (UGC) is taking a retrograde step by introducing misleading and even dubious mathematics in the name of topics such as Vedic Mathematics at a time when the world is making advances in various realms of technology, science, medicine and other disciplines through the uses and applications of mathematics.
It seems that the UGC is prescribing a common syllabus for the study of undergraduate level mathematics for the entire nation. This has been necessitated by the fact that so many of our universities have abysmally low standards. However, this way of tackling the problem has the grave danger of proving to be counterproductive. All undergraduate institutions would end up teaching the same things in the same manner. One of the first casualties of such a move shall be the destruction of local urges and aspirations to teach topics and themes that could be different. The same institution may also want to teach different things to different batches. Such diversity helps build intellectual and academic enthusiasm, vigour and energy.
The West’s last tantrum and Asia’s inevitable dawn
In his column for The New Indian Express, Anand Neelakantan writes that the West, whether led by Great Britain in its imperial pomp or the US in its current state of decline, has always viewed us through the prism of the white man’s burden. And that a civilisation as ancient, complex, and spiritually diverse as India has always been an uncomfortable reality for them. He argues that Trump’s tariffs are not a trade calculation but the raw, unfiltered expression of this discomfort, an echo of a racist past they pretend to have overcome.
Western powers constantly lecture us about who our friends should be. The latest absurdity is being penalised for purchasing Russian oil, a move India’s foreign ministry rightly pointed out is steeped in hypocrisy, noting “it is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia.” We are being punished for a “vital national compulsion” by nations for whom it is not. This isn’t about principles; it’s a colonial hangover, a thinly veiled racism that bubbles to the surface whenever a non-white nation asserts its own interests.
Seeing clearly the pain, our part in it
In his column for The Tribune, Rajiv Mehrotra writes on how heavy monsoon rains have triggered widespread flooding and devastating landslides across northwestern India and argues that the disaster is nothing but our own doing. He asserts that there is work ahead, beyond relief and rebuilding — the dismantling of the greed, indifference, and ignorance that make such disasters not just possible but increasingly probable.
The floods reveal our interconnection in the starkest terms. The forests we stripped upstream become the mudslides downstream. The warnings we ignored become the casualties we mourn...This is not abstract ethics. Look at what remains of the Khada Danda route — cracked, subsiding, declared unsafe for vehicles over a certain weight. It was widened three times in the last decade, each time cutting deeper into the hillside, each time praised as development. Now it is neither developed nor developing; it is only dangerous.