Letters to the Editor
Refer to ‘Trust is the key in the AI age’ (The Great Game); AI is akin to a paper flower, lacking the fragrance of the real thing. AI holds immense potential for human welfare; however, the moment it becomes divorced...
Refer to ‘Trust is the key in the AI age’ (The Great Game); AI is akin to a paper flower, lacking the fragrance of the real thing. AI holds immense potential for human welfare; however, the moment it becomes divorced...
Apropos of ‘India’s BRICS balancing act’; the grouping’s Chair is not merely a diplomatic responsibility for New Delhi, but a test of its ability to shape the emerging global order. The real measure of success will be whether India can...
Refer to ‘How life changed for Sikhs in US after 9/11’; the article poignantly captures the complex journey of Sikh Americans over the past 25 years. It reminds us that the challenges faced by the community have not merely been...
Refer to ‘9/11 and the unfinished war on terror’; America took revenge for the killing of thousands of its citizens by gunning down Osama bin Laden. Despite knowing that Pakistan was providing shelter to Osama, the US deliberately ignored it...
Apropos of ‘ISRO stands at a crossroads’; the move to stop manufacturing launch vehicles while putting a brake on routine satellite work is deeply disturbing. For an institution of ISRO’s stature, such measures could amount to nothing less than slow...
Refer to ‘The true meaning of freedom’; we tend to imagine the judiciary as an umpire independent of the State. In practice, its appointments, procedures, budgets and interpretive traditions are located within the same governing framework. The patterns the writer...
Apropos of ‘Teachers must rise to save education’; the real test of teaching is whether it transforms the careless into the careful, the incapable into the capable, and the unproductive into responsible citizens. NEP 2020 can succeed only when teachers...
Refer to ‘The case for jurists as judges’; whatever the mode of appointment, whether from the Bar or the Bench, a judge should be a person of impeccable integrity, sound legal acumen and above suspicion. The higher judiciary commands respect...
Apropos of ‘Tortuous journey of India-China talks’; New Delhi must recognise two key maxims that drive Beijing’s geopolitics: the Middle Kingdom wants to become the world’s dominant superpower and wants to establish the ‘one mountain cannot have two tigers’ proverb...
Apropos of ‘Pay heed to Himalayan warnings’; the catastrophic floods in Nepal have highlighted the critical role of continuous monitoring and advance warning in saving lives in an emergency when ‘time is life’. A ten-minute window given to pupils and...
With reference to ‘Poor prisoners need more than lawyers’; counselling under the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System is certainly essential for prisoners who genuinely cannot afford lawyers’ fees. At the same time, concerns raised by sections of the Bar about...
Refer to ‘Sunrise in empire’s shadow’; the boundary issue between India and China has been unresolved for decades. In the recent meeting between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, it was emphasised that any situation on the...
Refer to ‘An unusual contest in Punjab’ (The Great Game); PM Modi has claimed that all problems afflicting Punjab will be resolved if the BJP is voted to power in the state. However, the party has failed to deliver in...
Refer to ‘Skilling alone won’t solve the problem’; perhaps the underlying reason is that we have not been able to develop a scientific temper as a society. What we need today is the skill of prudent resource management, entrepreneurial initiatives,...
Refer to ‘Munir holds all the aces in Pakistan’; Field Marshal Asim Munir has legally consolidated unprecedented, unified control over Pakistan’s military apparatus through the Defence Forces of Pakistan Act, 2026. PM Sharif’s civilian government remains formally in office. Munir...
Refer to ‘Handle AI detection with caution’; the US-based Pangram Labs highlights the growing dilemma of distinguishing human from AI-generated writing. However, its 99.98% accuracy claim is undermined by its CEO’s admission that the detector had erred. Moreover, wrongly labelling...
Apropos of ‘Change gears to build capabilities’; there is a certain irony in the fact that even the logo of the ‘Make in India’ initiative was designed by Wieden+Kennedy, a US-founded multinational advertising agency. As reported by a leading daily...
Refer to ‘Mecca accord raises the stakes for India’; the viability of the alliance as a close military pact is questionable due to the complex relations that both Turkiye and Pakistan maintain with Iran. Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal lends the alliance...
Refer to ‘Delhi can’t afford to lose Dhaka connect (The Great Game)’; Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to the Bangladesh PM and assurance of a warm reception are steps in the right direction, particularly at a time when India’s ties...
Refer to ‘Cast(e)ing the Census’; as a fellow democracy, India can learn key practical lessons from the US to address deep-seated gaps in health, education and public safety. The US Census Bureau tracks race and ethnicity effectively using standardised categories,...
Apropos of ‘India’s institutions are failing the people’; the functioning of Parliament has been deteriorating with each passing year. Frequent disruptions, adjournments and political confrontations are preventing meaningful debates and delaying important legislation. Parliament is the foundation of our democracy...
Refer to ‘States, Parliament and the mining question’; in 2024, the Supreme Court had upheld the right of states to impose taxes on mining and minerals, and also allowed them to recover arrears. However, Parliament has now passed the Mines...
Refer to ‘An Alternative to the Collegium’; when a rift appears between justice and its public perception, the citizen’s trust becomes the first casualty. Historically, judges refrained from expressing dissent through press conferences. Judges maintained a detached purity, grounding their...
Refer to ‘Taliban-Pak strife gives India a foothold’; the Taliban, once nurtured by Pakistan, are now asserting their independence and drawing closer to India. Growing Afghan Taliban-Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ties and Pakistan’s treatment of Afghan refugees have further pulled Kabul...
Apropos of ‘The freedom to say No’ (The Great Game); India has completed 79 years of Independence, but many women of our country still hesitate to exercise their freedom to say ‘No’. Unfortunately, social attitudes still put unnecessary restrictions on...
Refer to ‘Judicial reckoning’; the indictment of former Justice Yashwant Varma by the Lok Sabha inquiry committee on all the three charges against him is a poor reflection on the credibility and integrity of the judges of the higher judiciary....
With reference to ‘GenZ unrest signals shifting sands’; the CJP-led student protests symbolise a daring rejection of the present authoritarian and divisive governance of the NDA alliance and its punctured aura of invincibility. The government is in a tight spot...
Refer to ‘North-East forests under siege’; forests are not pieces of land that can be replaced whenever development demands it. They support biodiversity, protect water sources and sustain tribal communities. While reducing dependence on imported edible oil is important, it...
Apropos of ‘The room: Fourth layer of the India Stack’; India needs to put in place an ecosystem of vocational education designed to impart skills relevant to the job market, rather than filling universities with unwilling candidates coaxed into getting...
Refer to ‘In repairing the lock we forget the room’; the hypothesis put forward to bridge the gap between the Macaulay concept of education and Swami Vivekananda’s educational ideology deserves serious attention. Education should help identify a child’s inherent aptitude...