Opinion

Opinion | Why India's Bureaucrats Have Learnt That Doing 'Nothing' Is Safer

India's bureaucracy has perfected a peculiar survival strategy: make a decision, you may be punished; make none, and you are usually safe.

Opinion | Mumbai's 'Marathi' Test For Cabbies, And The Art Of Fixing The Wrong Problems

All these years, India's financial capital has worked just fine without a Marathi mandate for its taxiwallahs. Whose problem is the new language rule actually solving now?

Opinion | 79 Years On, India's Enduring Answer To Those Who Had Predicted Its Collapse

Seventy-nine years in the lifespan of an ancient civilisation is a mere heartbeat; yet, in the annals of modern nation-building, it's an audacious triumph.

The Coast Pays, Delhi Collects: What The Centre's Mineral Bill Takes From States

India's mineral wealth may lie with the states, but the power to tax it is increasingly travelling north.

Opinion | 84 Years After Quit India Movement, The Nation We Must Still Build

The collective spirit of 1942 cannot remain locked in the past

'A Breaking Point': An Open Letter To Nandan Nilekani On How To Fix India's Exams

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor offers a radical blueprint to the man leading the Centre's exam reforms task force.

Opinion | For The Great Passport Debate, A 'Common-Sense' Cure - By Shashi Tharoor

There is a gap between legal theory and the practical realities of a passport. But an easy fix can resolve this manufactured crisis.

Opinion | Iran War: Has New Delhi Lost Out, And Has Pak Really Gained? By Shashi Tharoor

To imagine a Nobel Peace for the terrorist-sponsoring Field Marshal Asim Munir may be a fantasy too far. The world sees clearly the difference between an autonomous actor and a message-carrying stool-pigeon.

Opinion | The Story Of A Hotel Check-In, And An India That No Longer Exists

Recently, a Muslim BJP leader was denied a room in a hotel in Aurangabad. Therein lie both the tragedy and the irony of our times.

Opinion | The Beijing Spectacle: Two Weary Giants Carve Up Their Share Of The World

For the world's middle powers, including India, the solidification of Washington and Beijing's duopoly presents an acute, existential dilemma.

Opinion | 'Who Else?' - The Hubris That Shattered The Left In Kerala

The LDF's slogan, "Matt aarunde?" ("Who else is there?"), complete with towering portraits of Pinarayi Vijayan, was intended to project stability and a lack of alternatives. Instead, it projected an arrogance that voters found stifling.

Opinion | The 'Donnyland' Donnybrook: How To Conduct Foreign Policy In The Age Of Ego-Geopolitics

What's next after Ukraine's 'Donnyland'? Arc De Trumphe? Mount Trump-more? Trump Mahal?

Opinion | A Year After Pahalgam, India Contends With Desperate Enemies, Distracted Friends

The most challenging question on this anniversary is what might happen if another Pahalgam-scale attack were to occur today. New Delhi finds itself in a strategic pincer.

Opinion: The Great North-South Debate, And Prickly Questions About 'Fairness'

A strict population-based delimitation could produce a Lok Sabha in which a handful of large northern Hindi-belt states hold a permanent majority, enabling them to shape national policies even against the preferences of the rest of the country.

Opinion | India Sits Atop 500 Million Tons Of Gold Ore. Why Isn't It Being Mined? - By Shashi Tharoor

We mine a pittance - barely one and a half tons a year - while draining our foreign exchange reserves to import hundreds of tons annually from mines in Australia, Ghana, and Peru.

Opinion | On April Fools' Day, A Reality Check For US, Iran And The World

Both sides are currently incentivised to escalate: the US to prove its deadlines aren't hollow, and Iran to prove that its "survival" doctrine can withstand direct kinetic pressure.

Opinion | Why The Current LPG Crisis Is More Than Just A 'Supply Chain' Hiccup

In 2013-14, India imported roughly 77% of its crude oil requirements. By 2025, rather than insulating ourselves, we saw that figure climb to over 85%.

Opinion | Debt Trap To Youth Exodus, The 10 Big Crises Ailing Kerala - By Shashi Tharoor

Kerala needs change. The current administration has failed the people across the board.

On Disagreement, Democracy: An Open Letter To Mani Shankar Aiyar - By Shashi Tharoor

Congress's Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor responds to a recent "assessment" by Mani Shankar Aiyar of his positions - and 'character'.

Opinion | What's In An 'M'? The Empty Performance of Renaming Kerala

The 'm' at the end of Keralam will not stop the sea from encroaching, it will not fill the coffers of the state treasury, and it will not provide a bed in a super-specialty hospital.