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Columnists
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Bloggers
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Opinion | Inside The '$500 Billion' Iran War Bill No Economist Is Talking About
The Gulf War of 1991 lasted 43 days and cost, in today's money, $102 billion. The current conflict has already passed its third week. There is no credible exit timeline.
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Opinion | The Country That Buys 90% Of Iran's Oil Is Still Not Panicking. Here's Why
Beijing has spent two decades preparing to answer: what happens when the Strait of Hormuz closes?
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Opinion | How 12 'Insurers' Sitting In London Paralysed Hormuz - All With A Phone Call
By March 3, there were zero active tanker transits inside the Hormuz Strait. Not because of Iran, or Trump. But simply because an 'underwriter' in London picked up the telephone.
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Opinion | 3 Reasons India Shouldn't Sign A Deal With A Court-Defeated Trump
Post the US Supreme Court's order striking down Trump's tariffs, the legal and economic baseline for an India-US deal has shifted sharply.
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Opinion | Union Budget 2026-27: Don't Look For Fireworks Here. Continuity Is The Goal
The latest Budget needs to be read as a statement of macroeconomic restraint under external stress. Its defining feature is calibration.
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Opinion | How The Economic Survey Redefines India's Growth Constraints
The Survey situates India's recent performance within a global environment characterised by persistent geopolitical uncertainty, fragmented trade regimes, and rising risk premia.
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Opinion | The India-EU Deal Isn't Really About Tariffs
Trump's Board of Peace project is an attempt to return the world to a pre-war model, in which leaders of the great powers would convene forums to redraw maps and sign treaties.
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Opinion | These Are The Sectors That Will Be Most Hit By Trump's 50% Tariffs
Thanks to Trump's tariffs, analysts have flagged a cumulative downside of 60 basis points to India's real GDP growth, 0.3 percentage points from the April round and another 0.3 percentage points from the August escalation.
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Opinion | 6 Ways China Beat Trump At Trade Negotiations - And What India Can Learn
As the US presses India with a "take-it-or-leave-it" offer, New Delhi must draw critical lessons from how China successfully negotiated with Washington in June 2025.
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Opinion | Everything A Caste Census Will Change For India
In his book Seeing Like a State, James C. Scott reminds us that modern states rely on simplification, of forests into timber, of people into populations, to govern effectively. The census is perhaps the most paradigmatic of these technologies.
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Opinion | Akash System, AI Drones, And Why India Can't 'Outsource' Security
A nation that lacks the capacity to manufacture its own armaments finds itself vulnerable to the whims of key defence exporting countries.
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Opinion | Why Some Indian States Are Fiscally Fit As Others Struggle
The historical precedent of Mississippi's default underscores the importance of addressing structural imbalances to prevent fiscal peril. Indian states still have time to course-correct, but the window is closing rapidly.
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Opinion | Delimitation: Don't Let Politics Get In The Way
If mishandled, the delimitation exercise could rekindle old regional tensions, much like the linguistic and statehood agitations of the past. India can't afford to get it wrong.
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Opinion | Ranveer Allahbadia: Is It About Crime Or Control?
Where the law is silent, the state does not remain neutral. It rather compensates for uncertainty with force. It does not fear crime itself as much as it fears its own inability to control.
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Opinion | Budget 2025: What's Better Than Reforms? Execution
The success of the Centre's ambitious measures under Union Budget 2025 will depend on swift and effective implementation. Reforms that remain on paper do little to improve economic efficiency or investor confidence.
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Opinion | Union Budget: Don't Let Capex Down
It is important to recognise that certain ministries, particularly those overseeing large-scale infrastructure projects like road transport and highways, may eventually reach a saturation point where additional investments yield diminishing returns.
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Opinion | What Really Is A Freebie? Depends On Whom You Ask
The CEC was right when he said defining a freebie was difficult. It is fraught with philosophical challenges, the first of which lies in the subjective nature of value.
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Opinion | Why India's 'BIMARU' States Have Remained So
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh report the lowest rural MPCE at ₹3,788 and ₹3,578, and urban MPCE at ₹5,165 and ₹5,474. Madhya Pradesh and Odisha show slightly better figures but still fall below the national average.
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Opinion | 11 Reasons Simultaneous Elections Aren't 'Anti-Constitution'
While the Oppositions objections to simultaneous elections appear to be driven more by political expediency than constitutional merit, the arguments they present fail to withstand legal scrutiny.
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Opinion | India, West, And Why 'Narrative Sovereignty' Matters
In this digital age, where perceptions shape reality, safeguarding narrative sovereignty is crucial. Anything less risks leaving a nations destiny in the hands of those who neither share nor serve its interests.
