​Caution and optimism: on India’s FTA with the United Kingdom 

by

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the United Kingdom marks a strong step towards securing India’s bilateral ties in an increasingly fragmented global trade environment. The key highlight for India is that 99% of its exports will attract no duties. Apart from being hailed by business leaders, industry associations representing sectors such as … Read more

The road to regulatory reform

by

India is unique among emerging economies, as its growth has been driven primarily by services rather than manufacturing. If you take a cross-section of the Indian economy from 1980 until now, the share of manufacturing in India’s gross value added has crept up marginally, from 16% to 17.5%. The share of services, however, has gone … Read more

Telangana grappling with officer deficit

by

The Telangana government is facing severe hardships due to the absence of the required number of All India Services (AIS) officers as senior secretaries, Heads of Departments and other key posts, notwithstanding the progress the State has been making in various key parameters. The sanctioned strength of IAS officers at the time of the State … Read more

The building blocks of an India-U.S. energy future

by

United States Vice-President J.D. Vance recently highlighted the U.S.’s willingness to cooperate with India more closely on energy and defence. India’s foreign policy establishment outlined the need for cooperation on energy, defence, technology and the mobility of people. The developments may have been news, but the issues are not new. These topics have increasingly defined … Read more

​Strokes of justice: on ‘Operation Sindoor’ and after

by

India carried out precision military strikes across nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir early on Wednesday. Targets included Bahawalpur, the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Muridke, a nerve centre of the Lashkar-e-Taiba — terrorist outfits bred by Pakistan to target India. India said the strikes were to destroy the camps used to train terrorists and … Read more

Letters to The Editor — May 8, 2025

by

‘Operation Sindoor’ I recollect the lines in the book, Homo Deus, by Yuval Noah Harari, which defines the situation we and the world are in. “By themselves, terrorists are too weak to drag us back to the Middle Ages and re-establish the Jungle Law. They may provoke us, but in the end, it all depends … Read more

Pakistan, Bangladesh and core identity questions

by

Pakistan reveals a tumultuous confluence of unresolved identity, ideological rigidity, persistent reliance on proxy warfare, and selective amnesia. Two events — seemingly distinct but deeply entangled — have reignited the foundational questions about what Pakistan is and what it seeks to remain. Events of contrast On one front, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Asim … Read more