The future of Indian higher education may depend not on greater central control, but on creating autonomous institutions operating within a strong framework of accountability.
Pakistan’s absence is not without costs. Diplomatic exclusion is only one facet of the spectre that looms over the country: limited transit access, reduced prospects for integration into Bay-centric supply networks and weakened soft-power influences across the Indian Ocean littoral.
It has been formally recognised in the Report of the Advisory Committee on Women Pradhans, Transforming Women’s Representation and Role in Panchayati Raj Institutions: Efforts to Eliminate Proxy Participation, which recorded that elected women representatives are often “represented by their husbands or male relatives” and recommended the imposition of stringent and exemplary penalties to curb such practices.
When the university community itself has not succeeded in resolving many serious problems confronting higher education, on what moral basis should students simply be asked to remain silent and trust the system?
The progression from Purab Aur Pachhim to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to Dangal is not a neat policy timeline. It is something subtler: a cultural echo of India’s journey from caution to engagement to assertion. The shift is not just in policy documents or diplomatic speeches; it is embedded in how stories are told, how characters behave, and how audiences respond.
The social media takes advantage of the reward systems in the brain, especially the dopamine circuits within the basal ganglia and the prefrontal cortex. Using signals of micro-engagement, including the duration of time a user hovers over a video or the number of times a user rewatches a clip, algorithms develop a feedback loop that over time redirects the feed of a user to more intense or provocative content.
The loss of 403 young lives is a stark wake-up call for Bangladesh. Schools and colleges are meant to nurture dreams, not silently witness the suffering of students. A collaborative effort involving the government, educational institutions, and families is urgently needed. With empathy, awareness, and institutional support, many of these young lives can still be saved.
India’s diversification strategy, often cited as a mitigating factor, provides only partial relief. The country now sources crude from over 40 countries, and in recent years has increased imports from Russia, the United States, and West Africa. In fact, about 70% of crude imports are now routed outside Hormuz, reflecting a conscious shift in sourcing strategy.
What is unfolding across South Asia’s cities is not just an urban crisis, it is a reflection of deeper tensions within development itself. Growth is happening, but it is not translating into stability. Opportunities exist, but they are unevenly distributed. Systems are expanding, but not fast enough to keep up with demand. Cities, which have long been seen as places where people come to improve their lives, are increasingly becoming spaces where people struggle to sustain them.
In modern South Asia, Shakti has been reborn in a different way through social reforms, feminist movement and gender equality policies. Rather than being rooted mainly in the kinship systems, feminine power now becomes more manifest in legal rights, schooling, political involvement and social movements. South Asian feminist movements have been inspired by world notions about gender justice and local cultural practices. In most situations, activists rebrand the concept of Shakti to mean the power of women, their independence and their struggle against patriarchy.
India’s experience shows that strategic autonomy, strong institutions, and long-term thinking remain the most effective tools for safeguarding national interest in an unequal global system, where power is concentrated in the hands of a few states and pressure on independent countries is a constant reality.
Social scientists argue that witch-hunting is a complex social phenomenon rooted not merely in superstition but in structural inequalities. Scholars studying rural India, including Surinder Jodhka, note that accusations of witchcraft often intersect with caste conflict, gender discrimination, and disputes over property or land. Elderly women, widows, and socially marginalized individuals frequently become easy targets because they lack protection within local power structures.
The valour of Gorkha regiments in the Indian Army is often used by the community as the ultimate proof of their Indianness. Since 1947, Gorkha soldiers have participated in every major conflict, be it Indo- Pakistan wars of 1947,1971,1999 or the Indo-China war of 1962. However, this valor is frequently undermined by the very state they defend, as civil and administrative bodies often treat them as "foreigners" even as they receive gallantry awards.
Greenland’s geopolitical prominence illustrates how a distant region can reflect deeper shifts in global power, economics, and security. For countries like India, Greenland is not about territorial ambition; it is a reminder that structural shifts in global power dynamics transcend geography. In a realist world, engagement is not optional; it is necessary for safeguarding long-term interests in a system where power continually redistributes itself.
Reservation in education has achieved moral legitimacy and expanded access, but it has also created new inequalities and stagnation. Its future lies not in expansion or abolition, but in redefinition. Affirmative action must evolve from symbolic arithmetic to structural reform, grounded in data and fairness.
In this exclusive conversation, Mehran Shah sits down with Ashok Sawhny Sahil, a renowned businessman and celebrated poet.
Jagaiyo Na Mujhe Yaan̈
Bohot Andhera Hai
Let’s Think Again Impatience they say,
now holds sway Impatience will bring forth gains,
What good is imprecation?
Why would you harm invoke?
