An aerospace expo to further India’s global presence

Aero India 2025, which is being held at the Indian Air Force station at Yelahanka in Bengaluru (February 10-14), is more than just an exhibition. It is a platform for innovation, strategic alliances, and technological advancement. The edition this year promises to redefine the standards of aerospace expositions and elevate India’s global presence in the … Read more

A gift horse’s teeth: on allocations and scientific research  

The Budget 2025-26 announcements suggest a potential bonanza for scientific research and development. The Finance Minister outlined ₹20,000 crore budgetary support for developing small modular reactors, with the goal of readying five such reactors by 2033. Another major initiative is the Research, Development, and Innovation fund, included in the Department of Science and Technology (DST)’s … Read more

India’s opportunity at the AI Action Summit

Venue for an upcoming AI Action Summit, in Paris. | Photo Credit: AP In early January, India accepted France’s invitation to co-chair the AI Action Summit on February 10 and 11 in Paris. This summit will be the third of its kind, following meetings focussed on AI safety in the U.K. (2023) and South Korea … Read more

Keeping a watch on the growing arc of violence

The present period is proving to be an unpredictable one for most parts of the world. Violence is raging across parts of Europe and in West Asia, while several other regions are facing internecine conflicts to varying degrees. At the risk of repetition, it can be said that the world order after 1945 has broken … Read more

Letters to The Editor — February 10, 2025

The Delhi result Given the nature of the anti-incumbency wave, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi win was on the lines predicted. But the defeats of Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are inexplicable. The result need not resonate across the country but it confirms that the Congress party has lost whatever sheen it had in the … Read more

Seeking an eye for an eye

Junior doctors marched towards the Raj Bhavan to demand justice in the rape-murder case of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. | Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI On February 7, the Calcutta High Court rejected the West Bengal government’s appeal seeking the death penalty for the man convicted for … Read more

India as a bridge between the Global North and South

‘Global South countries are disillusioned with present economic paradigms, burdened with debt and conditionalities’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto In his address in January 2025, in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, while addressing the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, said, ‘Today’s India not only firmly asserts its own point but also strongly amplifies … Read more

Gaza and Trump’s ‘expanding the canvas’ strategy

‘Before the Gaza war, America’s regional diplomacy was focused on Riyadh-Tel Aviv reconciliation’ | Photo Credit: AFP Donald Trump, a consummate dealmaker, often relies on the “expanding the canvas” strategy to resolve an intractable stalemate. Nevertheless, he made his most audacious ever deal-bid on February 4, 2025: with typical nonchalance, he wanted the Gaza Strip … Read more