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(This is the latest edition of the Political Line newsletter curated by Varghese K. George. The Political Line newsletter is India’s political landscape explained every week. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox every Friday.) The logic of partition was that separation would lead to peace, and even progress; now we realise that partition … Read more

On a beautiful spring day in April, a young woman walked into Phuphee’s garden. We had been tending to her garden since the early hours of the morning despite there having been a light shower. Phuphee was planting bulbs for lilies and freesias, which she hoped would bloom later on in the summer. When she … Read more

India imports over 85% of its crude oil and more than 50% of its natural gas. This is not just an economic figure. It belongs in our national risk register. As conflict zones multiply, sea lanes narrow and supply chains fragment, every imported barrel becomes a liability. In this landscape, Russian oil has become India’s … Read more

The Government of India has so far handled the issue of the 50% tariffs imposed by the U.S. with maturity and pragmatism. Despite provocative statements by senior U.S. government officials, India has refrained from being baited and has instead stuck to its established position. So, while U.S. Trade Adviser Peter Navarro called the Russia-Ukraine war … Read more

Washington’s tirade White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro’s brazen assertion that the Ukraine conflict is “Modi’s war” reeks of duplicity and intellectual hollowness (Front page, August 29). The origins of this war are firmly anchored in Russia’s strategic insecurities and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s relentless eastward adventurism. By dragging Prime Minister Narendra Modi into … Read more

Every year, nearly 70 lakh students in India compete for undergraduate seats appearing for entrance examinations such as the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Common University Entrance Test (CUET), and Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). With a fixed number of seats, the competition is intense, fuelling a coaching industry and … Read more

The four-month high July growth rate of 3.5% in the monthly goods output barometer, the Index of Industrial Production, must have come as a relief a day after India’s largest trading partner, the United States, operationalised its punishing “penalty” tariffs of 25% ostensibly for New Delhi’s continued oil purchases from Russia. While this July’s 3.5% … Read more

The ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ (rally for voters’ rights) is a crucial milestone in the country’s fight against “vote theft” and Bihar will show India the way on how to defeat the BJP’s nefarious agenda, says Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal. In an interview after taking part in a massive public meeting held at Muzaffarpur on … Read more

During his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a “Deepavali gift” to the people in the form of next-generation Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms. The Ministry of Finance subsequently said that a large part of these reforms involved moving GST from the current mainly four-tier system to a predominantly two-tier structure of … Read more

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar is drawing crowds and is turning out to be a platform for Opposition unity. In 16 days, the campaign would cover 1,300km across 20 districts and is to conclude in Patna on September 1. On August 27, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, joined … Read more