Photo: Rayees Masroor

Jammu & Kashmir's Drug-Addiction Crisis is a Multidimensional Threat: Joint Civic and Institutional Campaign Against it has Generated a Sense of Shared Responsibility

A particularly noteworthy initiative has been the implementation of the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (NMBA), the national de-addiction campaign. In Jammu and Kashmir, this national mission has gained remarkable traction. The recently conducted 100-day intensive campaign under NMBA has created widespread awareness and engagement across all districts. It has mobilized stakeholders from all sections of society, including educational institutions, law enforcement agencies, civil society groups, and community leaders.

Indian Elections: Big Changes and Some Bigger Questions

At the end of the day, this is a political battle that shows the BJP to be an unstoppable steamroller, now controlling power across the North, the West and the East. The Opposition parties, which have been unable to come together with a cogent way to stand up and fight the political fight for the long haul, will have to once again think of the road ahead. It is clear that the BJP of today will stop at nothing in doing the deals it needs to take power

India Should Scale up its Fast Breeder Reactor Program to Meet Rising Energy Needs

The constraint on India’s expansion is fissile inventory, particularly between 2035-2045. At present, the breeder program depends on plutonium from a limited set of eight unsafeguarded reactors. Meanwhile, India has accumulated spent fuel from uranium imported for its safeguarded reactors. This significant plutonium is lying idle because we lack safeguarded reprocessing facilities. 

A Thousand Splendid Wounds: Afghanistan through Hosseini’s prophecy

India's engagement with the Taliban is strategic as much as it is humanitarian, a counterweight to Pakistani influence, a gateway to Central Asian connectivity. And the Taliban's continued erasure of women and minorities sits as a profound moral contradiction at the heart of any diplomatic embrace.

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Modi's silence on atrocities against minorities is disturbing

Modi's singular aversion to media engagement starkly contrasts with the active media engagement of leaders like Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's one year in office. A notable analysis of his public relations strategy (Sydney Morning Herald, 20 June) reveals his tireless efforts to engage the public.

Does Gita Press deserve the Gandhi Peace Prize?

Gita Press is the intellectual and cultural base on which conservative Hindu values, mainly Brahmanical values, are promoted, and it provides the base for Hindu nationalist politics by promoting and propagating a narrow, exclusive version of Hinduism. Gandhi’s Hinduism was, on the other hand, humane and inclusive and he evolved with time to live the humanistic aspects of religion.

US double standards seen in its Bangladesh and Pakistan policies

The US has continued to support Pakistan for short-term geopolitical considerations. On the other hand, the US has been unfair to Bangladesh by alleging that the democratic process there had been disrupted.

A great innings, a growing ‘dosti’

The relationship has grown with extraordinary speed. India and Australia are strategic partners – unthinkable a few years ago! An extraordinary bipartisan friendship reflects the way in which both countries have now come to see each other.

IAF’s daring rescue of Indians from conflict zones

This approximately two-and-a-half-hour operation between Wadi Sayyidna and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will go down in the annals of IAF history for its sheer audacity and flawless execution - akin to that carried out in Kabul, in which almost 400 Indians were brought back by the IAF in August 2021 in very challenging conditions following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

Big tech or Big Talent, both need to be a force for good

The rise and fall of FTX’s co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, a poster boy of the crypto world and seen as a genius, tells a story that has important learnings for all of us. A key learning is that, though talent or ingenuity can erect an empire of fame and riches in a short time, yet devoid of moral and ethical moorings, it can wreak havoc in the long run.

India must not hesitate to do cross-border strikes again to neutralise jihadi camps

Since the late 1970s, the Indian Army has been paying a heavy price of losing good soldiers in asymmetric warfare waged by Pakistan, which involves having large bodies of regular troops committed on the ground for dealing with a 'handful' of the enemy.

Bangladesh, Myanmar and food diplomacy: Can it lead to resolution of the Rohingya refugee crisis?

Analysts see the rice-potato trade between the two countries as an extension of their stepped-up bilateral diplomacy. Their expectation is that this incipient commercial relationship can play a major role in resolving the Rohingya humanitarian crisis

Bangladesh Army Chief's India visit is imbued with great strategic significance

India can assist Bangladesh in achieving the goal of Bangladesh’s military plan “Forces Goal 2030,” a modernization programme that aims to transform Bangladesh's army into a technologically advanced, multi-domain force by 2030.

India’s military spending rose by 6 per cent, ranks fourth in military expenditure; Pakistan's shrinks

Military spending calculated as a share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 2.4 per cent for India, an estimated 1.6 per cent for China, 2.6 per cent for Pakistan.

Cleaning up the police: Can extrajudicial killings in India be stopped?

On the one hand, India sees itself as the rising global power, the head of G20 today, and with an economy that is the fifth largest in the world by GDP. On the other hand, India is the story of flourishing gangsters who when they get too big must be taken to a secluded spot and shot.

A zero-tolerance policy has helped Bangladesh contain terrorism and militancy

Bangladesh's zero-tolerance policy against militancy is bearing fruit. So far, eight militant organizations, namely JMB, Shahadat-e-al-Hikma, JMJB, Hizbut Tahrir, Huji-B, ABT, Ansar Al Islam, and Allahr Dal, have been banned by the government. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tough stance has made it possible to virtually dismantle the militant network in Bangladesh.

750 fisherfolk prisoners languish in Indian, and Pakistani jails: appeals for release falling on deaf ears?

Herman Kumara, the national convener of the National Fisheries Solidarity Organization (NAFSO) in Sri Lanka, strongly opposes the practice of keeping arrested fishermen in jail even after their punishment has been served.

Why India needs a caste census

Today, what is needed is a genuine assessment of the population of different marginalized sections and to modify the country's policies so that the uneven growth of society is brought on the path of equality. The deaths of the likes of Rohith Vemula and Darshan Solanki should awaken India to the need to combat the biases constructed against the socially marginalized sections and strive for a future where ‘annihilation of caste’ is the central credo of our society.

Vigilante justice and its celebration: Time to recall Ambedkar's ‘Grammar of Anarchy’ speech

This is surely not the first or the last of the fake encounters (extra-judicial killing) in our country. Are people, including the police, losing faith in constitutional methods so earnestly championed by Dr. Ambedkar? What would he have said, had he been alive today?