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.    

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If I could swim the meadows and walk the rivers

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Expand Ehsaas, Extend Lockdown

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India can shape the new world order

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Institute a global social contract to defeat pandemics

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Indian Armed Forces at the forefront of COVID-19 war

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1918 flu pandemic killed 12 million Indians, and British overlords' indifference strengthened the anti-colonial movement

In India, during the 1918 influenza pandemic, a staggering 12 to 13 million people died, the vast majority between the months of September and December. According to an eyewitness, “There was none to remove the dead bodies and the jackals made a feast.”

Communal profiling and media hate-mongering may have grave consequences

Arthur Koestler, a Hungarian British author, and journalist, once observed that “Man's deadliest weapon is language. He is susceptible to being hypnotized by slogans as he is to infectious diseases

In India's cities, life is lived on the streets – how coronavirus changed that

India’s coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people is unprecedented in size and scope, particularly in a country where city streets are so thronged with life in all its guises

The wrath of the gods

The frenzy that we see around
The trepidation and the terror,

India should use its temple gold reserve to lift economy

Extreme times call for extreme measures. India is reeling under a chronic economic crisis. If the Indian government takes these measures then it will go a long way in mitigating the economic fallout of the COVID-19

The Ashok Desai I knew: A tribute

On 13 April 2020 Supreme Court advocate Ashok Desai, a legal luminary and former Attorney General of India, passed away in Mumbai. He was 77