Ram Janmabhoomi Temple at Ayodhya

Ayodhya Temple Scandal in India Signals Systemic Decay

The scandal at Ayodhya is not a new low really. It is all too expected as the slippery slope of a journey focused only on the ends without caring for the means. The collapse at Ayodhya is thus a logical culmination of a system of leadership, governance and capture of power that believes in and lives by the edict that results matter and how we get to the results does not.

The Hidden Tax: Road Accidents Drain Over 3% of GDP From India and Sri Lanka Every Year; Generative AI Could Win it Back

The core data architecture — a national road safety data lake, AI-powered enforcement, multilingual public awareness — is replicable at any scale, in any South Asian language, in any South Asian urban or rural road environment. The technology does not need to be reinvented for Dhaka, Kathmandu or Karachi. It needs to be validated in Colombo and Delhi first.

India's Graduate Unemployment Crisis: Need to Redesign Degrees, Give Social Dignity to Trade Skills

The deeper problem is India’s graduate unemployment crisis. Millions of young graduates are not working, earning or acquiring experience, but preparing for competitive exams. The government job has become a lottery ticket; the coaching class has become a waiting room

Electoral Revision and the Crisis of Citizenship in India: Democracy is Measured by its Protection of the Vulnerable, not by Exclusion

India is neither Nazi Germany nor Myanmar, and historical comparisons should never be employed simplistically. However, comparative political sociology reveals a recurring lesson: when citizenship becomes tied to ideological notions of national authenticity, minorities disproportionately bear the burden of proving belonging.

More on Public Policy and Governance

Can peace return to Manipur?

The rise of ethnic violence in Manipur has had a devastating impact on the state. Thousands of people have been killed and displaced from their homes. The violence has also crippled the economy and disrupted the development of the state. 

India's democratic traditions in danger: Time to lower the political temperature

The government’s answer is to keep the pot boiling as it lives a Rip Van Winkle story – almost as if it slept through the election results and now wants to live an old reality in a new world.

Unruling parliamentary behaviour setting a bad example for Indian democracy

The proceedings of the recent parliamentary session create doubts as to whether our MPs are capable of setting up such standards. By their behavior as seen currently, they are setting up a very bad example for the younger generation and are doing great harm to the fiber and fabric of a resurgent India.

Quota unrest in Bangladesh has lessons for India

There should also be no doubt that these protests are being fueled by China and Pakistan to depose the pro-India Sheikh Hasina Government and install a pro-Islamist anti-India government like the erstwhile BNP-led government in Bangladesh. 

Rumblings in the BJP point to a more fundamental problem

The reality is that communal politics of the kind played by the BJP, led by Prime Minister Modi, has stopped paying dividends of the kind that it once did. 

A Republican future and its impact on international relations

As the world watches the unfolding drama in the United States, the implications for South Asia, particularly India, Pakistan, and China, are profound

The shadow of 5th GW over Baloch resistance movement in Pakistan

The Baloch resistance movement faces an unprecedented threat in the form of deepfakes and propaganda propelled by 5GW tactics. The strategy aims to destabilize and discredit the movement, paving the way for a tightened grip on the region.

India's healthcare reform: Need to look at medical system in totality

This need got a number of us doctors working in different parts of India to come together as a group. We post our questions in the group, or call up an expert for guidance: How do you manage fluctuating blood sugar in a young woman with diabetes? How do you treat malaria in a pregnant woman? We meet online once a week - to share new knowledge, case studies, and also ask questions.

India’s strategic autonomy is its own choice; needs no dictation from others

The US needs to acknowledge that it needs India more than the vice versa. It would be good for the Biden Administration to get off the high horse and not issue “warnings” that can adversely impact the existing bilateral relationship. 

Rahul Gandhi’s Hinduism versus BJP-RSS’s Hindutva

While leaders like Mahatma Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi have expounded on the humane aspect of Hinduism, the Hindutva fraternity are seen by its critics to have treaded the path of hate and violence.

India's controversial Agniveer scheme: Need for pragmatic view with future of armed forces in mind

There is always resistance to any change and in a democracy with free media and freedom of expression, varied views on all matters are only to be expected and welcome. In this fast-developing world, an army can’t be static - or traditional - and frozen in an era of the past.

Does the CIA have a larger game plan for South Asia?

Babar Ali, a senior TTP commander, says, “Entire country (Pakistan) is now under our control; we are present in every corner of Pakistan.” Some 200 TTP fighters are located close to Pakistan’s largest nuclear facility in Dera Ghazi Khan in  Pakistan’s Punjab

India’s ‘weedy and unwieldy’ growth questions its development story

As the world turns more careful and looks to build with caution and care, the Indian State is going berserk in multiple directions with the goal of showing its strength outside India while ordinary Indians are getting the rough end.

Looking back at Kargil: Has India learnt any lessons?

Taking stock of the Kargil War 25 years later, what unfortunately emerges is that most of the important lessons have not been learnt, at least by India’s politico-bureaucratic establishment.

The testing fiasco in India calls for radical reforms in the education sector

This also means unshackling the education sector, allowing greater freedom and autonomy to institutions of higher education in deciding curricula, courses, faculty hiring and salaries, student fees and programs. Otherwise, millions of our youth are wasting the prime years of their youth with a psychological burden, and grueling study with repeated attempts, to crack exams, where the odds of winning are worse than a lottery.