China has long believed in the power of nomenclature. Rename a place, repeat the invented name often enough, publish it in official documents and maps—and perhaps, over time, fiction can be made to resemble fact. Beijing has tried precisely this game with Arunachal Pradesh. India has now delivered an appropriate counter-punch—not with a military manoeuvre,…
The other day, a friend called me to discuss the prevailing political climate in Telangana. His curiosity was straightforward: Does the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) still have a realistic chance of bouncing back to power? My answer was equally straightforward: I remain doubtful. He wanted to know why. I asked him a simple counter-question: What…
There are imports Bharat pays for at the customs counter. There are others for which the nation pays far more dearly—through stalled projects, lost investment, delayed infrastructure, energy insecurity and opportunities that disappear forever. Foreign donations can become one such expensive import when money entering Bharat from overseas is allowed to become a vehicle for…
Special Correspondent The Telangana High Court’s latest intervention involving five members of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) Apex Council, including Acting President Sardar Daljit Singh and Joint Secretary Basavaraju, over alleged non-compliance with court directions is more than another legal episode in an organisation that seems to have developed an extraordinary appetite for litigation. It…
The successful user-trial of the Agni-IV ballistic missile marks yet another milestone in Bharat’s steady march towards strategic self-reliance and credible deterrence. In an increasingly volatile Asian security environment, where two nuclear-armed neighbours continue to modernise their military capabilities, the latest validation of Agni-IV sends a clear message: Bharat possesses both the technological capability and…
For decades, Bharat watched successive industrial revolutions unfold from the sidelines. We became consumers of many breakthrough technologies rather than their creators. The semiconductor race was largely missed. The internet revolution was dominated by American companies. China surged ahead in manufacturing. The lesson was unmistakable—late entry into strategic technologies comes at an enormous national cost….
How many controversies must Meta stumble into before sovereign nations begin treating it as a geopolitical actor rather than just another social media company? The temporary restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video may have been dismissed by Meta as an “inadvertent technical error.” But India has every reason to ask a far more fundamental…
Democracy is not weakened when questions are asked. It is weakened when questions are dismissed without answers. In a constitutional democracy, no institution—whether it wears political colours, religious robes or spiritual attire—should claim immunity from public scrutiny. If governments, corporations, NGOs and religious organizations can all be investigated whenever credible complaints arise, why should any…
For decades, India lived with a dangerous contradiction. We celebrated our engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs, yet remained heavily dependent on foreign countries for a wide range of critical industrial products. From sophisticated electronics and industrial machinery to components powering renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and electric vehicles, India often remained a buyer rather than a builder. That…
Leadership is often measured by how a person treats his supporters. True statesmanship, however, is revealed by how one treats his fiercest critics. That is precisely why Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response to the young protesters who hurled the most abusive, vulgar and deeply personal insults at him during the recent protests deserves thoughtful appreciation,…
