Todays Editorial

Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Peace or Performance

The stage was grand. The symbolism, unsettling. A “Board of Peace” chaired by the President of the United States, Donald J Trump, with Pakistan—long scrutinized for its tangled history with extremist networks—occupying pride of place. And beside Trump, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his presence on the dais framed as a diplomatic victory rather than…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

AI Ranking Ruckus

When Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw publicly questioned the International Monetary Fund’s Artificial Intelligence Preparedness Index (AIPI), he was not merely disputing a number on a global leaderboard. He was challenging a worldview that still measures technological readiness through Western institutional lenses, often blind to the scale, speed, and democratic depth of India’s digital transformation. The…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Global Reset

As India prepares to welcome the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, as Chief Guest for Republic Day, the symbolism could not be louder. Beyond the pageantry and protocol, a far more consequential event is unfolding in the background: the likely signing of what many are already calling the “mother of all deals” —…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Victim Narrative

India’s cultural conversation has always thrived on its ability to hold contradictions in the same frame. A country that sings in a hundred tongues, prays in a thousand ways, and watches the same silver screen together also knows how quickly applause can turn into argument. That tension resurfaced recently when Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman spoke…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Power Unchecked

In 1945, the United Nations was born from the ashes of a world torn apart by imperial ambition. Its founding promise was simple and solemn: no nation, however powerful, would again be allowed to redraw borders by threat, coercion, or force. Eight decades later, that promise lies in tatters — not because the rules are…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Brand BJP Wins

The verdict from Maharashtra’s civic polls is not merely a tally of seats—it is a political statement, loud and unambiguous. The Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the dominant force, not just in Mumbai’s prestigious Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), but across the state’s urban landscape. Exit polls projected it, ground reports confirmed it, and the…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Disgrace Mamata

If there was any lingering doubt about who stands for constitutional order and who thrives on political anarchy, the Supreme Court put it to rest on Thursday—firmly, unequivocally, and publicly. By staying the petitions filed against Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, the apex court delivered a stinging rebuke to West…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Diplomacy with Dignity

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s first official visit to India isn’t just another diplomatic pageant — it is a milestone in the evolving India-Germany relationship, setting the tone for a pragmatic, future-focused partnership that spans economic dynamism, security cooperation, people-to-people mobility, and shared global priorities. What’s more, Chancellor Merz’s engagement — including the humane lifting of…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Washington’s Mixed Signals

When the President of the United States speaks with reckless inconsistency and his envoy rushes in to apply diplomatic balm, the question is unavoidable: whom should India believe—Donald Trump or Sergio Gor? US ambassador-designate and Special Envoy to South and Central Asia Sergio Gor wants New Delhi to trust Washington. He urges India to look…

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Columnist-M.S.Shanker

Civilisational Reclamation

The claim that Bharat is “rewriting history” is both dishonest and revealing. Dishonest, because history in India was never neutrally written to begin with. Revealing, because those raising this alarm have thrived for decades on distortion, suppression, and selective amnesia. What is unfolding today is not erasure, but recovery. Not revisionism, but reclamation. For nearly…

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