On 10 February 2026, the ministry of defence quietly placed on its website a draft that may prove to be one of the most consequential reforms in India’s military modernisation journey: the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2026. At first glance, it appears to streamline categories, tweak indigenous content thresholds, and fast-track trials. But embedded within…
Child marriage exists in India amid a web of paradoxes, and it is perhaps this very complexity that has allowed the crime to survive and even thrive for centuries. Even as the country has moved onto a war footing to eliminate child marriage by 2030, the journey has remained uphill and deeply challenging. Child marriage…
India’s informal economy is not being disciplined into formality; it is being translated into data. That distinction matters in 2026. For decades, formalisation meant registration, taxation, and regulatory entry. Today it increasingly means something subtler: economic activity that leaves a trace. The shift underway is not administrative — it is infrastructural. India is building an…
The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on 20 February 2026 delivered the most momentous decision in its 236-year history. Its significance lies in its worldwide impact on the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. In a series of Executive Orders in January and February of 2025, the US Administration had imposed a broad spectrum of tariffs…
I am well into the third year of my research based on the life and works of John Steinbeck (1902-1968), an American author and Nobel prize winner; and at this point, he has ensconced himself in my head like a resourceful tenant who doesn’t help with rent but comments on everything. Anything that irks me,…
For many students in India, CERN feels like a distant dream, tied only to the Large Hadron Collider and the Higgs boson discovery. In reality, while physics drives CERN’s mission, the lab is one of the world’s leading engineering and technology ecosystems. Nearly 77% of CERN’s personnel are engineers, technicians, and support professionals who build,…
For long, the political imagination around youth in Uttar Pradesh was shaped by images of mobilisation, assertion and proximity to power. Energy often translated into visibility rather than productivity. That phase reflected a society in transition. But across the state today — from expanding urban centres to remote rural belts — a deeper and more…
Narayani Ganesh So often in our roles as parents, children, siblings, cousins, employees, colleagues or friends, we tend to beat ourselves up when things go awry. We ask, where did we go wrong? Blaming self or others, can be a very draining exercise – it saps energy, pulls you down and your confidence takes a…
Many migrant workers prioritise spending on phone data plans. Because that’s how they get access to interesting content that helps them cope with daily hard grind Entertainment is often described as luxury – to be enjoyed only after life’s basic necessities are secured. Food, clothing, shelter come first; leisure is presumed to follow. Yet, recent…
Financial mis-selling happens when bankers lure customers to meet their targets. Eg: selling insurance while hawking investment options. To tackle it, fix sellers’ incentive structure & mandate stiff penalties Sometime during UPA’s tenure, the then FM held a meeting on a Saturday amid a tussle between Sebi and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India…