Kashmir is not protesting, it’s voting

May 16, 2024

One of the many high points of the ongoing general elections is the voting in Kashmir valley, which started in the fourth phase of the elections, with Srinagar going to the polls last Monday. The constituency saw its highest turnout since 1996—38.49%—according to the latest figures given by the Election...

Which rule of law is Justin Trudeau speaking of?

May 14, 2024

It was in September last year that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, soon after returning from a trip to India for G20, stood up in Parliament and made the claim that there were “credible allegations” that India was behind the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Eight months have passed after...

Western media’s coverage of India is getting unhinged

May 9, 2024

As the Indian election process continues, western media’s hysteria on anything Indian has to be seen to be believed. For a long time now western media has been painting India as a dystopian hell, where the smoke of funeral pyres covers the sky—remember the front page photograph of burning bodies...

India’s foreign policy prioritizes country’s needs

May 7, 2024

In an interview with The Sunday Guardian, the sister publication of The Daily Guardian, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was refuting the claim often made by policymakers that a country’s foreign policy is constant irrespective of the party in power. He was speaking on how India’s foreign policy has evolved...

Ripples of Covid-19 still being felt

May 2, 2024

There is suddenly major hue and cry over the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca’s admission in court that its anti Covid vaccine, which has been manufactured and marketed in India as Covishield, may have some rare side-effects of blood clotting known as TTS, apart from loss of platelets. Amid the panic...

U.S. human rights report demonizes India

April 30, 2024

The United States has done it again—indicted India on several counts for what it calls human rights violations, in the State Department’s latest “2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices”. Among the litany of charges hurled at India, from Manipur to the alleged ill-treatment of LGBTQ+ population, the most astounding...

Wealth redistribution: 1950s’ rhetoric in 2024

April 25, 2024

At the start of this piece, a reminder: the year is 2024—we are just 23 years away from celebrating a century of India’s Independence in 2047. India, the fifth largest economy in the world, is on track to become the third largest inside a year or two. It is possible...

Victims of Bengal’s recruitment scam must get justice

April 23, 2024

The verdict by the Calcutta High Court on Monday on the school recruitment scam in West Bengal is a landmark judgement. The Court cancelled the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment panel for state government-run and aided schools. In one fell swoop, the Court cancelled nearly 26,000 appointments, many of...

Work to win votes, do not undermine India’s elections

April 18, 2024

In less than 48 hours of this piece being written, the general elections to the 18th Lok Sabha will start, with the first votes being cast on 19 April, Friday. The 7-phase election will see 97 crore voters exercising their franchise—the largest such in the world. The meticulous manner in...

‘Modi ki Guarantee’ is about deliverables

April 16, 2024

Less than a week ahead of the beginning of the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 on 19 April, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party came out with its electoral manifesto, or sankalp patra, called “Modi ki Guarantee 2024”—thus making the elections all about the personal guarantees being given to Indians by...