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 decision to oust Imran Khan ultimately allowed him to hijack the anti-establishment tag in his favour. Khan’s repeated reference to the government as the “imported government” and to the military as “neutrals” further reinforced his perception as a popular civilian leader
In that sense, her choice by the dispensation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, otherwise seen as an autocratic leader who has been accused of undermining many of India's democratic institutions, is seen as nothing sort of revolutionary, both by the standard of the country's conservative political and social norms
In India over 75 per cent of electricity is generated from coal-based thermal plants. Oil accounts for less than 2 percent of electric power, writes S. Majumder for South Asia Monitor
The simplest solution will be to change working hours by advancing it to 0700 hours and ending the workday at 1530 hours, so that the entire working hours are during daylight hours, writes Amb Sarvajit Chakravarti (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Under no circumstances would New Delhi like to see a break in the recent momentum in bilateral relations generated through increased economic and developmental cooperation, even if there is a change of the government in Kathmandu later this year, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
For Pakistan's political elites, it has become a cycle of securing loans from allies to fund its ever-ballooning deficit and again approaching the IMF when funds dry up, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
The I2U2 will work in six areas – water, energy, transport, space, health, and food security – combining the expertise and the resources of the four nations, Modi said
A short video, which went viral on social media, showed people searching for leftover food in the kitchen.
Perspective
The bodies recovered by the residents showed evidence of torture and brutal executions, including some with missing limbs and ropes around their necks. Others had their head beheaded or slit throats, according to the report
Nepal, which shares a long open border with India to its north, west and east, enjoys cultural, historical, and civilizational bonds with India for centuries. People across the border in both countries have been inter-marrying for ages, which led to the “Roti and Beti ka Rishta” (cultural and marital bond) tag to the relationship between the two neighbours.
Other countries in the region, such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Nepal, are also struggling to arrest the depletion of their foreign exchange reserves as a result of high fuel prices. However, Bangladesh is still better placed and has enough time to work out a deal with the IMF.
Experts have pointed out Pakistan’s need to undergo deep structural reforms to avoid recurring cycles of loans and knocking at the IMF's doors
For Sri Lanka, which is in dire need of foreign exchange reserves, tea is among a few commodities offering an assured income in dollars. The industry faced immense hardship during the last year’s ban on chemical fertilisers
The move isn’t a recognition of the Taliban regime which remains internationally isolated. The emphasis on people-people and civilizational connections underscores New Delhi’s attempt to retain its soft power in the country
From withdrawing the fuel subsidies, hiking electricity tariffs and reducing expenditure to increasing tax rates, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has gone all out at the expense of its own political capital to get the IMF programme running
