​A cut in time: on RBI and repo rate cut  

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s Monetary Policy Committee’s unanimous decision to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points, to 6%, is a timely reprieve for India’s business community. For weeks now, exporting sectors have been imploring the government to hasten bilateral trade negotiations with the U.S. to attempt to shield themselves from President … Read more

The issue with delimitation’s population-based process

Delimitation, enshrined in Articles 82 and 170 of the Constitution of India, has stirred unprecedented passions that have taken shape in both serious and ludicrous ways. The serious ones stem from what the Constitution provides and its possible implications if implemented as provided. The ludicrous ones include calls by some who are asking people to … Read more

When Parkinson’s strikes early – The Hindu

Parkinson’s disease, often viewed as an ailment of the elderly, is manifesting with alarming frequency among younger individuals in India. This shift not only challenges existing clinical perceptions of the disease but also poses significant socio-economic and public healthcare implications for the nation. The tremors, stiffness, and slow movement commonly associated with the disease in … Read more

The Rohingya are on the brink of starvation

Rohingya refugees hold placards while attending a Ramadan Solidarity Iftar to have an Iftar meal with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Interim Government, at the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on March 14, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters During his four-day visit to Bangladesh in March, … Read more

Ensuring the safety of elephants

The accused in the elephant poaching case in Dharmapuri. Photo: Special Arrangement During the 1990s and early 2000s, the forest brigand, K. Veerappan, who held sway over the forests of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, was notorious for poaching elephants for ivory. While that is now a distant memory for most people, the recent poaching of … Read more

​Legal milestone: The Supreme Court and the Tamil Nadu Governor

The Supreme Court’s judgment on the conduct of Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi is set to have a far-reaching impact on Centre-State relations, underscoring as it does India’s federal principles in what are undoubtedly fraught times. The verdict enhances the administrative autonomy of States, and regulates the functioning of constitutional offices, with implications for the … Read more

Letters to The Editor — April 10, 2025

Governor’s judgment day The Supreme Court of India’s censoring of the Governor of Tamil Nadu for his unconstitutional conduct and gross dereliction of duty has left his position untenable. He should either resign on his own volition or the Union Government should recall him immediately. This is the only way to appreciate this judgment. During … Read more

The pandemic — looking back, looking forward

‘COVID-19 laid bare inherent weaknesses in health systems globally’  | Photo Credit: Getty Images “The only possible answer to the question of how we can survive the plague is by living.” — José Saramago Last month, March, we marked five years of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. By now, we have had events, conferences, … Read more

Home and abroad: on India and the Indian student  

The ongoing programme of revoking the visas of foreign students in the U.S., ostensibly for opposing the country’s foreign policy, is a direct outcome of the xenophobic tendency in the Trump administration. The danger is that the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement that propelled Donald Trump into the Presidency may soon permeate deep into campus … Read more