Tariffs, AI, tankers, the tough tests facing India-US tie

If Marco Rubio’s visit to Delhi last month was an exercise in papering over differences, the killing of three Indians could very well wipe the gains.

India must incubate technologies world usesSubscriber Only

India’s innovation story will be written by a generation that chose mastery over mere participation, depth over dispersion, and purpose over convenience. That generation is ready. The moment is now.

After 16 years, Census could tell several new stories

The Census will indicate the transformative progress in human development indices. For policymakers, researchers, and citizens, it is a mirror that India has been waiting for

Our parched cities need to make every drop count, recycle water

Institutional reforms are needed to enable urban local bodies to set up special-purpose instruments to manage reuse projects and convert them into a business opportunity.

From the Opinions Editor | Beyond mental health: SC report’s urgent message on student suicidesSubscriber Only

Deaths on campuses show Indian universities have much to do to create an environment in which diversity is valued and vulnerability is met with support

The genius of David Hockney, and the Mughal lens that helped build it

The British pop icon rejected the linear perspective of Renaissance masters and traditional photography and embraced the reverse perspective of Mughal miniatures to make his art more inclusive

Inside Track: Pricey Presidential Perks

After the Congress’s fraught delay in nominating V D Satheesan as Kerala Chief Minister, the focus has shifted to 83-year old Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. Some complain that Kharge is turning into a bit of a liability because of his excess baggage.

Are you being served?

CarryMen is merely cashing in on the middle-class and rich Indians’ headspace that some people exist only to serve others. Thousands of years of a hierarchical, caste-based society have ensured a blissful lack of discomfort in being waited on, hand on foot. A massive population provides an endless supply of cheap labour.

Inside two of India’s oldest legislatures, a legacy of reformsSubscriber Only

When the newly elected MLAs from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal meet for their Budget sessions, in two of the country’s oldest state legislatures, the people of their states would hope that their public representatives stick to the original mandate of these institutions — to make laws for the “peace and good government.

Tavleen Singh writes: When dissent is crushed, the damage done is incalculableSubscriber Only

There is no reason for it. Modi’s achievements as Prime Minister have been extraordinary. Not to mention that, as your columnist has mentioned before, he succeeded in throwing into the garbage bin of history the entire English-speaking ruling class that worshipped Nehru.

Wisdom dawns but challenges remain

These are tried and tested measures. They are expected to attract more foreign currency inflows: the estimate is USD 30-40 billion — may be more — to augment the foreign exchange reserves

Elon Musk and the trillion dollar question

Can institutions evolve with the scale of inequality created by modern capitalism?

We are still in the Bharathiraja era of Tamil cinema

He changed not just how stories could be told in Tamil cinema, but whose stories could be told

The teacher cannot be replaced by a test

We are facing a civilisational crisis. The focus on classroom processes and discourse must intensify

Even more than unity, Opposition needs a paradigm shift in its politics

When the people are on the street expressing their disquiet and anger against the government, the Opposition must treat this as an opportunity, not as a threat

From Vajpayee to Modi: India’s growing influence at the G-7 Summit

A defining feature of India’s new vision towards Europe is the concept of Indo -Mediterranean— an emerging geostrategic framework connecting the Indian Ocean with Europe

Indian industry is at a crossroads — it needs to look at longer horizonsSubscriber Only

The business community has historically looked to the state to create the conditions for its prosperity, and the state’s obligations in this regard are not trivial. But the capacity for strategic influence is not the state’s to create unilaterally

The Rs 370 biryani joke that wasn’t, and the men who didn’t see the problemSubscriber Only

The distressing reality is: A man made a sexual assault joke, another man amplified it, and neither of them paused at the horror of what they had done

Bharathiraja, the Monet of Tamil cinema

His sugarcane fields are not backdrops. His whitewashed walls, crossed by that thick afternoon light that only the South knows, are not props. They are the story

Himanshu Jangra isn’t the only one to blame for his ‘Rs 370 biryani’ story

The Ashleel Show is not a one-off instance of crowd work gone wrong. For almost a year and a half, Pranit More has built a specific kind of room, where people feel comfortable voicing graphic details of their private lives to an audience and a comic who will reward them for it

From Delhi fires to NTA crisis, ‘Sab chalta hai’ is killing India’s ambitions

Governance, political accountability and dreams of ‘Viksit Bharat’ are all victims of this attitude

A year after AI 171, Air India faces questions about the crash — and itself

A loss in excess of $2 billion; an estimated 22 per cent-plus cut in capacity; and a wide variation in net promoter scores highlight a consistently inconsistent product

Best of Both Sides: TMC’s implosion shows that India’s new generation is not bound by regionalism

The politics of regional exceptionalism, resonates less with a generation that consumes social media, competes in national examinations, aspires to national opportunities, and identifies with a rising India

Best of Both Sides: The future of the Idea of India is inseparable from the future of regional parties

In a country as vast and diverse as India, the vitality of democracy will always depend on the capacity of the national imagination to accommodate regional aspirations

R&D underspending in India has no one cause. It’s systemic as well as culturalSubscriber Only

The truth, as usual, lies in the interaction between multiple causes, none of which is individually sufficient.