Nalanda University in Rajgir

The Reconstituted Nalanda: Can it Leverage its Civilizational Memory to Become an Alternative Academic Hub for the Global South?

Nalanda serves as a counterweight to the historic monopoly of Western universities over social, political, and ecological theory. It invites Asian and African scholars to address regional dilemmas such as resource sovereignty, post-colonial statehood, and sustainable modernization using indigenous analytical categories.

'Girls going to schools would be the real revolution in Afghanistan'

The daughters and granddaughters of these warlords, like those of several key Taliban commanders, live and study abroad. Sabori’s school in Archi is half-closed, owing to the ban on education for girls over 12 years of age. Several underground schools have sprung up where even some Taliban foot-soldiers send their daughters. 

Where Happiness is a Measure of Governance: What Bhutan’s Democratic Consolidation Can Teach Global South Nations

As democracies around the world confront public dissatisfaction, Bhutan reminds us that the health of a democracy cannot be measured only through the ballot box.  It must also be evaluated through the well-being, dignity, security, and trust experienced by citizens.

India's Education Deficit: Real Reforms Lie in Making Coaching Redundant

India's digital infrastructure can certainly deliver free coaching to millions. But an even greater achievement would be to build an education and employment system in which families no longer feel compelled to buy coaching in the first place. Making bottled water cheaper is useful. Making the water from taps trustworthy is the real solution.    

More on Education and Gen Z Voices

Adieu K.R. Gouri, 'Iron Lady' of Kerala and inspiration to women leaders

Gouri Amma had a mind of her own and always lived life on her own terms which did not go down well with the patriarchal society in Kerala 

The Virtues of A Rose Elude most Thorns, sadly

Enmity and Jealousy both see Virtue as a thorn

Can’t take life seriously

Hold the hand of Silence

Be Sensible, Say Merci Beaucoup

Wear your mask, keep your distance, be Sensible

Ne l’oublions pas (Lest we forget)

All was ablaze, bizarre the scenes

Why India's Covid battle is making the rich-poor gap starker

Obviously, when the gap between availability and requirement of facilities is so huge, there would be a tendency among the rich to buy them at any cost, whereas others like politicians, bureaucrats, policemen, judges, journalists, etc are going to ‘buy’ the same facilities by peddling their influence

I Wonder

Is it wiser to remain the fool that you are

Take Heed, O Lord, Thou Art Yourself in Danger

Things, O Things, all cluttered around

In stay-at-home time, a low-cost air-conditioning system that needs no electricity

In these times of the COVID-19 pandemic when the air pollution and temperatures in the cities are increasing and more and more people and families are forced to stay inside their homes during the lockdown, they need to have a comfortable stay, especially in hot summer months

Time, the Resident Infidel

What is Time, I often wonder

Academic life facing the brunt of the pandemic

The ongoing second wave of coronavirus has hit India with much greater fury than before. It’s a nightmare come to reality with the number of cases soaring to over 400,000 dail

The Dance of Democracy, When it’s Ugly

People, like those who like true Democracy

Tagore the universal man: A tribute from Trinidad

Tagore the universal man had conceived of a world where man would be integral to nature and where cosmogony would find moorings in the full soul force, a world where cultures would talk, integrate and assimilate and where the creative impulse of man would unfold and seek fulfillment in merging with infinite consciousness

Dame Fortune is a Fickle Mistress

Do not pluck flowers from my garden

Conquest

Let’s look at the world from