Month: November 2021

At one level, a new global tax is being worked upon. The objective is not only to establish a minimum corporate tax regime but also a system where certain profits of large companies will be taxed where they are generated. Carve-outs to suit specific requirements are being carefully negotiated.  Separately, carbon border levies are being … Read more

Covid-19 has exposed the deep faultlines that hobble India’s transition towards a more digitally enabled society. During the pandemic, several essential services, ranging from access to healthcare services – including vaccines – to education, livelihoods, and rations — have felt the effects of unequal distribution of technology in the country. With increasing inequalities and the … Read more

. Given the key geostrategic challenges, emanating from the threat of two-front war (against China and Pakistan combinedly), India faces the complex threats and challenges spanning the full spectrum of conflict from nuclear to sub-conventional. Thus, required reorganisation of the armed forces for effective and efficient utilisation of its resources. Meanwhile, the Chief of Defence … Read more

At the height of the farm protests, the ideologically charged rhetoric that the new farm laws would result in a corporate takeover of Indian farms led to the toppling of Reliance cell towers in Punjab. Soon afterward, Reliance issued an official statement that the company had no interest in entering the farm sector. The result … Read more

. Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) have shown a consistent growth in both the quality and the quantity of research in the past decade. India currently ranks third globally in terms of the total research output, accounting for 5.31% of the total of research publications. Of three aspects — education, knowledge generation (research and development) and … Read more

The events of the past month have caught even the most alarmist of climate scientists by surprise. In China, 1.2 million people were displaced in the province of Henan by what was reported as a “once in a 1,000-year downpour”. In Russia, the Siberian city of Yakutsk, better known for its subzero winter temperatures faced … Read more

. Disruption is replacing discussion as the foundation of our legislative functioning. The passionate debate that should inform the country is taking place everywhere other than in Parliament. Lok Sabha has had a simple code of conduct for its MPs since 1952. Earlier, the rules required MPs not to interrupt the speech of others, maintain … Read more

. Cooperatives, as an organic idea and an organisational platform, are relevant, if re-imagined and implemented skilfully. Carving out a ministry for cooperation must be understood in the context of the cooperative sector’s immense transformative powerthat has not been optimally realised so far. The objective of the new ministry isto strive towards creating a legal, … Read more

In the summer of 2016, a heatwave washed over Europe, thawing permafrost in the north. In the Arctic soil of Siberia, bacteria began stirring—anthrax, to be specific. The thawing, shifting ground exposed a reindeer carcass buried and frozen in 1941. The anthrax spores from the body found their way into the top layer of soil … Read more

.  India was home to the largest number of undernourished people in the world even before the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, released jointly by five UN organisations in July, reveals that the pandemic and failure on the part of state to … Read more

As part of the Union Budget addressfor 2020-21, the Union Finance Minister said that the shutting down of old coal power plants, which are major contributors to emissions, will aid the achievement of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions. Since plants older than 25 years make up around 20% of the total installed thermal capacity in the … Read more

. The agreement for mutual disengagement of troops by China and India at the friction point of Gogra in eastern Ladakh is a step forward forrestoring the status quo ante of April 2020 (Galwan Clash), when Chinese forces made a series of preplanned intrusions across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Including Gogra, Galwan and … Read more

The devastating impact of Covid-19 pandemic has shrunk the world economy by 4.4% and global trade by 5.3%; job losses have been estimated to be to the tune of 75 million. Around the world, countries have responded to pandemic-induced shortages with protectionist reactions and nationalist aspirations with the potential to disrupt complex cross-border supply chains. … Read more

During the pandemic, governments all overthe world faced the difficult choice ofsaving lives versus protecting livelihoods. According to the World Economic Outlook report of April, 2021 of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), almost all countries, except China, experienced economic contraction last year. The global GDP shrunk by 3.3%. India’s GDP fell by 8%. As per … Read more

. In recent years there has been the proliferation of digital adoption across India, facilitated by the government’s focus on the JAM Trinity (Jan DhanAadhaar-Mobile) to create a digital identity for each citizen. From an internet penetration of just 4% in 2007, India currently covers nearly 55% of the population, and is slated to reach … Read more

. Indian agriculture has come a long way since the country saw the Green Revolution in the late Sixties, which saved the country from food shortages and severe farming distress. The science behind the revolution is what made all the difference. Today, India is once again at the cross-roads, though it’s on a much stronger … Read more

. Afghanistan has been plunged into chaos after the Taliban took overin the wake of the pullout of American forcesfrom the country. It not only ensured a swift Taliban advance across Afghanistan but also a peaceful surrender of Kabul. Reports from the provinces point to gross human rights abuses by the Taliban. Ifthe newTaliban dispensation … Read more

. The Prime Minister’s dream of a USD 5-trillion Indian economy by 2025 along with effective financial inclusion and sustainable economic outcomes is premised on investment from both domestic and foreign investors. Government expenditure can only provide a stimulus, but cannot alone take India to PM’s goal. For domestic private investments to happen,the role of … Read more

The Office of the Speaker occupies a pivotal position in our parliamentary democracy. It has been said of the Office of the Speaker that while the members of Parliament represent the individual constituencies, the Speaker represents the full authority of the House itself. He/She symbolizes the dignity and power of the House over which he/she … Read more

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global effort that has one major objective — achieving a better future for all. To achieve these global and national targets, localisation is a crucial lever. It correlates how local and State governments can support the accomplishments of the SDGs through bottom-up action, and how the SDGs can provide … Read more

. The latest IPCC report released in August,2021 has issued “a code red warning to humanity”. Its main message is that the Earth is rapidly deteriorating, there is no getting away from climate change and this is happening because of human “influence.” While it cautions about extreme weather events like heat waves, heavy rainfall, floods, … Read more

The severe cyclones, Tauktae and Yaas, which battered India earlier this year, made landfall on the country’s western coast, Gujarat, and the eastern coast, Odisha, respectively. Both storms caused massive damage to infrastructure, the agricultural sector, and houses. Around 2.5 million people were evacuated to cyclone shelters and relief camps in these two States. The … Read more

The caste system is India’s nemesis and has severely restricted the country’s ability to realise its immense potential and become a great nation in science,technology, knowledge, art, sport and economic prosperity. Studies suggest that 94% of marriages are endogamous; 90% of menial jobs are performed by the deprived castes, whereasthis figure isreversed in white-collarjobs. This … Read more

In India, teaching and learning have largely been in foreign languages whereas Indian languages have never got the much deserving importance in the field. However,the National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP, 2020) has emphasized the use of regional languages for instruction at the primary and higher education levels. With regard to this, the All India Council … Read more

. For the past few decades, Indian women have taken a great stride in all fields of activity. Yet, a lot remains to be achieved. Indian women excelled in the Olympic Games for India. There is no reason for it to be otherwise in any other field, especially education, given the right support. As a … Read more

. Women’s Education play a significant role in making a country inclusive and empowered society in more than one ways. Higher Social Return: The global average for the private rate of return (the increase in an individual’s earnings) with just one extra year ofschooling is about 9%, while the socialreturns of an extra year ofschool … Read more

The Prime Minister emphasised the need to ensure “poshan” (nutrition) to the country’s women and children. He announced that, by 2024, rice provided to the poor under any government scheme — PDS, mid-day-meal, anganwadi — will be fortified. Leveraging science to attack the complex challenge of malnutrition, particularly forlow-income and vulnerable sections of the society, … Read more

. A recent case in Chhattisgarh High Court hasreignited the debate about non-criminalisation of marital rape. Even though many legal amendments have been done in criminal law forthe protection of the women, the noncriminalization of marital rape in India undermines the dignity and human rights of women. Not with standing this, the discrepancies and failings … Read more

. The 13th BRICS summit 2021 is set to be held in digital format under India’s chairmanship. This plurilateral grouping comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is chaired by turn. India held the chair in 2012 and 2016 too. The grouping succeeded up to a point but it now confronts multiple challenges. It … Read more

The fall of Kabul in the wake of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan will prove to be a defining moment for the region and the future shape of its geopolitics; it would be as defining, if not more, as the Soviet intervention in 1979 and the American one in 2001. While a lot depends on … Read more