The claim that “Dalits were denied education and only Brahmins had access to schools” is repeated so frequently that it has acquired the appearance of historical fact. But history is rarely so simple. The educational landscape of pre-colonial and early colonial India was considerably more diverse, and surviving records provide important evidence that challenges sweeping…
As Bharat prepares to celebrate its 80th Independence Day, I find myself looking at the nation’s technological journey not merely as a journalist, but as a former IITian who had the opportunity to work with institutions such as Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The transformation I have witnessed over the decades is extraordinary. What was once…
Every new government inherits an economy. Yet political arguments about economic performance often begin by comparing where one government left the country with where another eventually took it—without asking the most basic question: what was the starting line? That question becomes particularly relevant when comparing the economic inheritances of Manmohan Singh in 2004 and Narendra…
Indian politics thrives on narratives. Every election throws up fresh slogans, accusations and counter-accusations. But beyond the din of political rhetoric lies a far more consequential question that deserves a serious national debate: Who created the ecosystem that enabled some of India’s biggest financial offenders to secure enormous loans from public sector banks, despite warning…
Rajarao Pochiraju Japan has long been admired as an economic miracle. From the ashes of the Second World War, it built one of the world’s most technologically advanced and prosperous economies. For decades, Japanese manufacturing, innovation and financial discipline became benchmarks for the rest of the world. Yet today, the world’s third-largest economy finds itself…
Political criticism is intrinsic to parliamentary democracy. So is the Opposition’s right to question the government of the day. But when political rhetoric begins to overshadow facts, particularly while discussing individuals whose professional accomplishments are a matter of public record, it deserves closer scrutiny. The controversy erupted during the parliamentary debate on the Public Examinations…
If there is one image that captures the sheer complexity of quantum computing, it is perhaps this: Google’s quantum computer operates at temperatures close to -273°C—colder than outer space itself. Layer upon layer of refrigeration technology is needed merely to keep it alive before it can perform computations. Now imagine a quantum computer that sits…
By all conventional measures of success, Professor Ashoke Sen should have spent his life in the world’s most celebrated scientific institutions. He had studied at some of the finest centres of learning, worked at America’s premier physics laboratories, won one of the richest prizes in science worth $3 million—nearly three times the Nobel Prize money—and…
Raja Rao Pochiraju Indian archaeology may have just unearthed one of the most consequential clues in the long-running debate on the antiquity of metallurgy in the subcontinent. A newly analysed and directly dated weapon from the Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) Copper Hoard culture, dated to around 2000 BCE and reportedly containing nearly 30 per cent…
Rajarao Pochiraju For more than a decade, some of the world’s biggest automobile manufacturers have pursued what seemed like the holy grail of electric mobility—a high-performance electric motor that does not depend on rare earth magnets. Billions of dollars have been invested, research teams assembled and futuristic concepts unveiled. Yet, commercial success has remained elusive….
