Opinion

Opinion | Building BRICS In New Delhi

For India as the host nation, chairing the summit tests the core tenet of its modern foreign policy: strategic autonomy.

Opinion | 9/11, And The Price Of Fighting Terror For A Quarter Century

Twenty-five years later, 9/11 is more than just a lived memory for those who witnessed it in real time, as I did as a UN official

Blog | Why You Should Care Whether Schrodinger's Cat Is Dead Or Alive

Imagine going on a romantic Alpine getaway and returning with the equation that runs the modern world. The only snag: nobody can quite agree on what it says about reality.

Opinion | Why India's Bureaucrats Have Learnt That Doing 'Nothing' Is Safer

India's bureaucracy has perfected a peculiar survival strategy: make a decision, you may be punished; make none, and you are usually safe.

Opinion | Mumbai's 'Marathi' Test For Cabbies, And The Art Of Fixing The Wrong Problems

All these years, India's financial capital has worked just fine without a Marathi mandate for its taxiwallahs. Whose problem is the new language rule actually solving now?

Opinion | 79 Years On, India's Enduring Answer To Those Who Had Predicted Its Collapse

Seventy-nine years in the lifespan of an ancient civilisation is a mere heartbeat; yet, in the annals of modern nation-building, it's an audacious triumph.

The Coast Pays, Delhi Collects: What The Centre's Mineral Bill Takes From States

India's mineral wealth may lie with the states, but the power to tax it is increasingly travelling north.

Opinion | 84 Years After Quit India Movement, The Nation We Must Still Build

The collective spirit of 1942 cannot remain locked in the past

'A Breaking Point': An Open Letter To Nandan Nilekani On How To Fix India's Exams

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor offers a radical blueprint to the man leading the Centre's exam reforms task force.

Opinion | For The Great Passport Debate, A 'Common-Sense' Cure - By Shashi Tharoor

There is a gap between legal theory and the practical realities of a passport. But an easy fix can resolve this manufactured crisis.

Opinion | Iran War: Has New Delhi Lost Out, And Has Pak Really Gained? By Shashi Tharoor

To imagine a Nobel Peace for the terrorist-sponsoring Field Marshal Asim Munir may be a fantasy too far. The world sees clearly the difference between an autonomous actor and a message-carrying stool-pigeon.

Opinion | The Story Of A Hotel Check-In, And An India That No Longer Exists

Recently, a Muslim BJP leader was denied a room in a hotel in Aurangabad. Therein lie both the tragedy and the irony of our times.

Opinion | The Beijing Spectacle: Two Weary Giants Carve Up Their Share Of The World

For the world's middle powers, including India, the solidification of Washington and Beijing's duopoly presents an acute, existential dilemma.

Opinion | 'Who Else?' - The Hubris That Shattered The Left In Kerala

The LDF's slogan, "Matt aarunde?" ("Who else is there?"), complete with towering portraits of Pinarayi Vijayan, was intended to project stability and a lack of alternatives. Instead, it projected an arrogance that voters found stifling.

Opinion | The 'Donnyland' Donnybrook: How To Conduct Foreign Policy In The Age Of Ego-Geopolitics

What's next after Ukraine's 'Donnyland'? Arc De Trumphe? Mount Trump-more? Trump Mahal?

Opinion | A Year After Pahalgam, India Contends With Desperate Enemies, Distracted Friends

The most challenging question on this anniversary is what might happen if another Pahalgam-scale attack were to occur today. New Delhi finds itself in a strategic pincer.

Opinion: The Great North-South Debate, And Prickly Questions About 'Fairness'

A strict population-based delimitation could produce a Lok Sabha in which a handful of large northern Hindi-belt states hold a permanent majority, enabling them to shape national policies even against the preferences of the rest of the country.

Opinion | India Sits Atop 500 Million Tons Of Gold Ore. Why Isn't It Being Mined? - By Shashi Tharoor

We mine a pittance - barely one and a half tons a year - while draining our foreign exchange reserves to import hundreds of tons annually from mines in Australia, Ghana, and Peru.

Opinion | On April Fools' Day, A Reality Check For US, Iran And The World

Both sides are currently incentivised to escalate: the US to prove its deadlines aren't hollow, and Iran to prove that its "survival" doctrine can withstand direct kinetic pressure.

Opinion | Why The Current LPG Crisis Is More Than Just A 'Supply Chain' Hiccup

In 2013-14, India imported roughly 77% of its crude oil requirements. By 2025, rather than insulating ourselves, we saw that figure climb to over 85%.