The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdowns in many countries have led to a resurgence of authoritarianism because of which the liberal democratic model again finds itself at peril from reactionary forces
India’s Targeted Policy Shift and Return of Chinese Capital
Apart from the changing geopolitical dynamics, economic factors further reinforce the China-oriented dimension of the policy shift. China is India’s second largest trading partner with bilateral trade reaching $127.7 billion in FY 2024-2025, and this figure continues to grow. This trade growth however is marked by a significant imbalance, with India’s trade deficit with China widening by about 17% to $99.2 billion from $85.07% in the same FY.
Why Workers Are Leaving Delhi: When Policy Needs to Align With Ground Reality
What emerges from this moment is not a singular crisis but a layered one, shaped by global disruptions, local cost pressures, and structural vulnerabilities. Workers are leaving Delhi not because the city has stopped offering work, but because it has become increasingly difficult to live sustainably in the capital city while working.
Price Tag of Deception: How Fast Fashion Exploits South Asia’s Supply Chain
It is high time South Asian countries not only pass stricter environmental regulations but also strictly enforce them, making sure that there is no factory releasing waste water without adequate treatment. Besides, upholding legally binding labour standards must also be a priority together with ensuring safety of the workplace environment.
How Korean Noodle Brands Captured the Indian Market
The Korean noodle story is not really about noodles. It is about what happens when cultural influence travels faster than commercial infrastructure and faster than regulatory awareness. India's Gen Z - and possibly that of other South Asian countries - did not wait for brands to tell them what to eat. They watched K-dramas, did spice challenges, and built market demand that brands, regulators, and consumer education campaigns have simply not kept up with.
More on Open Forum
World leaders should join hands to save humanity
For the first time the world finds itself caught in the sufferings unleashed by COVID-19. No one is safe from the virus which has impacted almost every nation on the planet
'India is your introduction': Recalling the legend of Don Bosco
The COVID 19 lockdown recall continues. In 1990 I was sitting pondering at my misfortune of having landed the job of looking after the material requirements of a large naval dockyard when in breezed the pint-sized ex gunnery officer of a missile corvette we had commissioned together in the (former) USSR in the late seventies
Nature's retribution
Not as pretty as a flower
We are in this for the long haul: WHO Regional Office
Amid rising cases of COVID-19 and as countries in WHO South-East Asia Region ease lockdowns in a graded manner, WHO today said careful assessment of local epidemiology should guide future actions to combat the virus
Reckoning or redemption: Travails of our planet caused by COVID-19
In a world when COVID-19 has brought humanity to its knees and exposed the haughty posturing of many nation-states the lesson of its interconnectedness in combating the pandemic is in stark contrast to the situation four months ago
First comprehensive estimates of district-level trends of child mortality and child growth failure in India: 2000 to 2017
This initiative was launched in 2015 as a collaborative effort between the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and a number of other key stakeholders in India, including academic experts and institutions, government agencies and other organizations, under the aegis of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
India-Gulf ties in need of repair and restoration
India’s ties with the Gulf countries that have been robust in the past have come under strain owing to a number of factors
Lockdown musings: Life simplified but is there gender equality at home?
I slept a lot, but I was doing that in any case before the lockdown. I read some but it is becoming increasingly difficult to focus for long with my failing eyesight
India needs to be realistic, should lift lockdown
Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared lockdown all over India around 40 days back, which caught the countrymen by surprise and led to a feeling of uncertainty
Ominous are the portents today
If I could swim the meadows and walk the rivers
COVID-19 will leave a temporary scar; world economy will bounce back
In living memory, the worst disaster and miseries took place during the World War II. A large number of manufacturing units, airports, and seaports were destroyed and buildings demolished. Japan suffered the worst when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing the death of millions of innocent people
India's response to coronavirus is based on fear, not planning
There are indications/allegations that COVID-19 or coronavirus was accidentally released from a Wuhan lab
Expand Ehsaas, Extend Lockdown
Pakistan’s health crisis could explode, gravely crippling the economy and national security, if the lockdown is lifted prematurely. The whole world is grappling with the lives vs. livelihoods debate
India can shape the new world order
At a time when America’s role is tragically missing and as the world steps up its scrutiny of China, global leadership is suffering from a crisis. It is India that can step in to fill this void in leadership
