Democracy is not just about voting every five years. Democracy is about the ability to look your government in the eye and say “you are wrong” — without fear of being beaten for it.And yes, July 20 was a sad day for democracy. It was sad to see brutal force used against young citizens. It was sad to see the Delhi Police behave in a manner that shames the uniform.
Data from India's ministry of road transport and highways show that road crashes claim around 175,000 lives each year, with pedestrians bearing a disproportionate share of the toll. In 2024, as many as 36,526 pedestrians were killed, representing 20.6 per cent of all road fatalities.
India must also deglamorise its bureaucracy. Bureaucrats occupy oversized office spaces, are allotted luxury housing, use oversized vehicles, get large numbers of support staff and personal assistants who work like personal valets and concierges. Political leaders across the globe carry their own bags. Here bureaucrats get servants to have their boots polished. This must clearly stop forthwith.
Few regions in India have such an extensive and layered system of representation. Ladakh is therefore not merely creating new councils. It is building a new model of governance based on geography, identity, participation and national interest. It is taking democracy beyond the main towns
While the Assam government must sustain its present moves against radicalisation, New Delhi must be firm in ensuring that insidious attempts/activities by anti-Indian elements/groups are neutralised effectively in the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and some other states
So, the assessment for the fifth largest economy is that this is a slowing phase, as growth drivers need to pick up along with investor sentiment
Efforts should be made to translate the literary heritage of each state and union territory into each of the national languages of India. This will create a whole new education, employment and business ecosystem in the publishing and media industries, sensitising each Indian to the national and civilisational heritage they inherited and building a sense of unity and common purpose.
The progress of the Montreal Protocol till now is, however, not without hiccups and bumps
Both these carriers, which are floating cities with massive flying and firepower, still do not adequately fulfill India’s maritime force requirement. With two vast seaboards and the Indian Ocean region and two rogue adversarial nations, the considered assessment by old-salt veterans is that even three aircraft carriers, meaning two on the sea and one in refit, are not enough
The other pillars of democracy, the judiciary and media, must remain steadfastly independent and impartial guardians of the Constitution. The people still repose their greatest faith in them to protect their rights and uphold their aspirations
Thus, more than one third of the world’s hungry and undernourished people are in India, which is alarming and embarrassing, if not shameful. India’s rank in the global hunger index also (GHI) has dropped to 101 out of 116 countries
Days are ahead when the rupee will tend to become fully convertible. Full convertibility means fully capital account convertibility in the balance of payment. It opens the market for foreign investors, businessmen and trade partners
Bangladesh is going through a tough economic situation; the government’s two largest sources of foreign currency revenues are the export of readymade garment products and remittances from overseas. Remittances are already suffering
This is part of a long tradition of celebrating the two countries’ independence days together, started by activists like the late Dr Mubashir Hasan, Nirmala Deshpande, Asma Jahangir, Kuldip Nayar, and others. Peace groups on either side have been doing this for a couple of decades now, even as administrations in both countries try to prevent them
The basis of all Indian philosophy is the recognition of divinity in the human species and giving respect to all faiths and shades of opinion
Over the years, women officers in the Indian armed forces have begun notching various types of achievements
It must be understood that welfare spending is essential to partly redress the widening inequality in Indian society
Release prisoners on completion of jail term, decriminalise inadvertent border crossings, especially for fisherfolk and minors
Uncontrolled proliferation of the existing combat uniform has led to many cases of breach of security of military establishments and personnel and, while it has been a cause of concern, not enough action has been initiated
