There are many ways of changing the world. Revolution is one. War is another. Elections occasionally manage it. The United Nations has now discovered a considerably less dangerous method: change the map. On September 4, the UN General Assembly voted 164 to 1 to encourage the world to move away from the familiar Mercator projection towardsContinue reading “What’s in a Map?”
Tag Archives: politics
BRICS: The Delhi Moment
The New Delhi BRICS Summit could hardly have come at a more difficult moment. The world is fractured by wars, trade tensions, sanctions and strategic rivalries. Even multilateral forums that were once accustomed to producing carefully negotiated statements are increasingly finding consensus difficult. Against this backdrop, the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration by allContinue reading “BRICS: The Delhi Moment”
Can India Give BRICS a New Purpose?-II
Part II: What Can Bring Them Together If geopolitics is the fault line running through BRICS, what can hold it together? The answer may lie not in trying to resolve the world’s political differences, but in finding areas where countries with very different interests can still work together. This is where India’s opportunity begins. WhatContinue reading “Can India Give BRICS a New Purpose?-II”
Can India Give BRICS a New Purpose?-I
Part I: The Geopolitical Trap BRICS returns to Delhi at a moment when the world seems unusually divided. But before asking what India can do with the grouping, it is worth asking what BRICS has achieved so far—and whether its original economic promise has been overtaken by geopolitics. A Summit at a Difficult Moment NewContinue reading “Can India Give BRICS a New Purpose?-I”
The India That Stayed With Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem, who died yesterday at 92, was much more than an American feminist. For more than five decades, she was one of the most recognisable voices of the women’s movement in the United States—a journalist, writer, organiser and campaigner who helped turn women’s equality from a private grievance into a public and political question.Continue reading “The India That Stayed With Gloria Steinem”
The Buyer Nobody Talks About
Every examination paper that is leaked has two culprits. One sells integrity; the other buys it. Public anger, however, is directed almost entirely at the seller. We denounce corrupt officials, examination agencies, coaching mafias, politicians and criminal networks. Governments promise tougher laws. Investigative agencies swing into action. Committees are constituted. These responses are necessary, andContinue reading “The Buyer Nobody Talks About”
Lindsey Graham: Beyond the Tariffs
The death of Senator Lindsey Graham has attracted more attention in India than the passing of most American legislators ordinarily would. The reason is not difficult to find. Graham had, in recent years, become one of the sharpest critics of India’s trade practices and among the strongest advocates of punitive tariffs against Indian exports. HisContinue reading “Lindsey Graham: Beyond the Tariffs”
Horn OK Please
The Motorcycle Manifesto I wonder how many of us have experienced it. A motorcycle roars past, its silencer apparently discarded as an unnecessary accessory. The sound is not merely loud; it is physically invasive. Startled pedestrians look up in alarm. Conversations stop mid-sentence. Birds take flight. For a fleeting moment one wonders whether a movingContinue reading “Horn OK Please”
Service at the Crossroads: Part II
The Test of Our Times—Integrity, Power, and the Demands of Viksit Bharat If Part I is a reflection on what India’s civil services have been, Part II must confront what they are in danger of becoming—and what they must yet strive to be. For all their history and institutional depth, the civil services today standContinue reading “Service at the Crossroads: Part II”
Service at the Crossroads: Part I
The Idea of the Civil Service—From Steel Frame to Living Institution There are institutions that merely administer a nation, and there are those that, in quieter and less visible ways, help shape its destiny. India’s civil services have at their best, belonged to the latter category—an enduring presence through upheaval and change, lending continuity toContinue reading “Service at the Crossroads: Part I”
