Clean voter lists or the choice of Aadhaar linkage

In its March 20, 2025 issue, The Economist lamented how “India is obsessed with giving its people unique IDs”. It mocked how various arms of the Indian state announce new unique IDs nearly ‘every month for everyone from doctors, teachers, athletes, judges, gig workers to even cows and buffaloes’. The Economist got it half wrong. … Read more

Inconclusive chapter: on Tamil Nadu and NEET

With President Droupadi Murmu withholding assent for the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill 2021, the State is bracing for another battle against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-based admissions. State Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has convened a meeting of legislature party leaders on April 9 to strategise the next move. With … Read more

Letters to The Editor — April 8, 2025

A ‘reconnect’ The election of M.A. Baby as the new General Secretary of the CPI(M) party marks a new chapter in the annals of the party’s history. The challenges before the general secretary, who has inherited a crown of thorns, are manifold. The biggest failure of the Left movement in India has been its inability … Read more

Dispelling concerns: on Modi visit and India-Sri Lanka ties  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka, (April 4-6), his first after 2019, demonstrated, beyond optics, the close ties between the two countries. Colombo, under the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) regime, is serious about improving relations with New Delhi. This was evident from the conferment of its highest honour for … Read more

Trump tariffs will disrupt global trading system, collapse certain national economies: Asia Society president

U.S. President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs”, that go into effect this week, could have a “devastating impact” on global trade, and even lead to the collapse of some national economies, warns Asia Society president and CEO Kyung-wha Kang. In this interview with The Hindu during a recent visit to India, Ms. Kang — who was … Read more

Letters to The Editor — April 7, 2025

Bill and debate I see the path taken, though individually, by some Members of Parliament, in challenging the Parliament-voted and approved Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Supreme Court of India, as the rule of law. It is also reported that more parties are set to follow the route. If the allegation of there having been … Read more

A paradigm shift in mental health policy

It is a major crisis in public mental health ethics that psychologists align with counter therapeutic institutional policies that violate existing constitutional and statutory safeguards. File. | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam On March 24, the Supreme Court of India formed a National Task Force to prevent the increasing deaths by suicide of students on … Read more