Companies that align what they earn with what they stand for can transform industries, drive innovation, and actually leave things better than they found them. They build trust that lasts. They attract talent that stays. They create customers who come back. The future belongs to businesses that figure out how to balance purpose and profit. Indian founders face a choice: build like Tata, with purpose woven into the foundation, or chase short-term efficiency like IndiGo and Micromax until the wheels come off.
The emphasis on Vikisit Bharat (Developed India) is to be welcomed. Who would not want India to be developed fully but there remain huge questions in terms of the direction of this development and what the nature of development ought to be in an India where inequality remains high, health services are poor, and education poses many challenges that have been highlighted time and again. Consider that the total percentage on education (Centre and State expenditure on education combined) is merely 3.3% of the GDP, and on health it stands at just 1.5%. This is a shockingly low number
It may be argued that invoking the Bhutanese king’s principled stance as a reference point for a country as vast and diverse as India is deeply flawed—or, at best, a theoretical abstraction. Yet the fact remains: the ethos of good governance knows no geographical boundaries. If the highest leadership of a small, landlocked nation with limited resources could believe in, and strive towards, such ideals, why should our country fall short of visionary leadership, especially when it is far larger and endowed with greater capacities, opportunities, and strategic advantages?
In this backdrop, opening up India fully to Chinese, including inviting the Chinese delegations, is akin to arranging visits of KFC owners to poultry farms! The hubris that this was to familiarize two big political parties and two economic powers with each other must have amused Beijing endlessly. Finally, insecurity is palpable in India’s handling of China and the US. About time we get over this.
The very idea of Pakistan was based on the Two-Nation Theory which emphasized Muslims’ different way of life from that of the Hindus in the subcontinent. However, the mere religious identity of a nation without reconciling Pakistan’s diverse ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups was not enough to hold it together.
Bangladesh is home to people of different religions and cultures, both in the hills and plains. The extreme polarization of thought and ideology between opposing ideological groups is impacting Bangladesh's social fabric.
The BJP is not really taking on the immense political challenge of explaining and then persuading the people to go with the right-wing turns in policies it seeks to implement; it is sneaking it in, and in that it is being met with defeat after defeat.
When the world descended on Afghanistan in 2001, Afghans believed it was about them, about a better life for them. It never was. It never is, writes senior reporter Kathy Gannon, who has covered Afghanistan since the 1980s. Looking back at the second Taliban takeover in 2021 she looks at why the ironically named ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ of 2001 failed and how the aspirations of Afghans have been ignored.
Sri Lanka’s current HDI score stands at 0.78 and is the highest in South Asia.
A message from the Kolkata case is to rebuild our healthcare workplaces with the intent of making them safe and gender inclusive.
The exams for IITs, IIMs, Civil Services, in particular, are strong pointers on how traditional pedagogy and mindset of our educational institutions towards learning is found severely inadequate and deficient, and call for a paradigm shift towards critical thinking and building wider perspectives.
Many of the oligarchic business syndicates that formed around the deposed Sheikh Hasina are now on the run. But their vast industrial establishments remain. It is essential to sustain these industries. Millions of people are working in these establishments that are playing a critical role in the production sector of the country. These industries cannot be shut down because of the crimes of their leaders.
After the Nirbhaya case in India, the laws were tightened against sexual violence. We also have stringent laws against child abuse. Yet the laws have not stopped reported sexual crimes from growing as the NCRB data shows.
Indian students comprise a significant percentage of the global international student community in not just Canada, but the US, UK and Australia. Some of the changes introduced by Western governments will create challenges in the short run, but they may be good in the long term.
What became a reason for special attention was that the Madras Sappers were led by a woman officer, Major Sita Ashok Shelke. This single-woman officer in a 150-strong team worked hands-on with the locals during the construction, planning the move of stores, approving the design and ensuring a safe, speedy launch. If the men kept awake for two nights, her responsibility required an even longer spell without sleep.
Now, the two important power centres in Bangladesh are the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus and the students who led the protests. Both are stressing the inclusive character of Bangladesh and taking a strong position on the protection of Hindus and other minorities.
Yet, this will be a delicate task that may test India much more than Bangladesh. This is because the secular credo of Yunus and a pro-poor agenda that has defined his work and his life pose a unique political challenge to the agenda of right-wing politics that holds centre stage in India.
Thus, the renewal of the Ganges water treaty is much more dependent on the bilateral relations between the two countries. Under the present conditions, there are politically driven ideological differences between both countries that may carry adverse consequences for the Ganga treaty.
Shouldn’t we reflect as a nation of 1.4 billion people, with 117 participants at the Paris Olympics, winning only six medals (that included no gold) and ranked 71 among participating countries? Can we not learn from much smaller countries, some indeed tiny, that won several gold and silver medals and ranked above India?
