Tradition kills

The two sisters, aged 25 and 23, in a Rajasthan village who died of poisoning hours before their twin weddings, allegedly by suicide, per police, were teachers in a primary school. Early Feb, three sisters – aged 16, 14 and 10 – jumped to their death in UP. Among their diary notings: “Mention of marriage…

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Rumi and Hafiz are for all eras

By Sumit Paul What happened in Iran is ironic when you look at rich history of the country and its liberalism. In olden days, it sheltered great Sufis and mystics and let them thrive. Once Iran was muattar , fragrant, with the universal love poetry of Rumi, Hafiz, Fariduddin Attar, Sanai, Khaqani, Nizami, Jami, Anvari,…

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Ultimate survival and prosperity through active agro-farming

“Ultimately, humans have to consume grains, not dollars,” Bill Gates remarked during the severe phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. His words underline a fundamental truth: food security is the bedrock of human survival. With exponential urbanisation encroaching upon agricultural and forest land, the need to utilise every available patch of cultivable land has become urgent….

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Lessons in geochemistry

Critical minerals are the new reality of power. They sit behind the clean energy transition, electric mobility, advanced electronics, AI and modern defence systems. They also enable something less visible: the ability to slow another country’s industrial momentum without ever declaring a sanction. Tariffs can be bargained down. Mineral constraints cannot. That is why India’s…

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‘Our kids growing up without heat & stable schooling, displaced from their homes…will never forget’

History has seen wars that lasted centuries. They differed in scale and character, but their cause was the same: irreconcilable positions, and one side choosing force to impose its political aims. For more than a thousand years, Ukraine endured repeated invasions – in the 11th, 16th, 17th and 19th centuries – from its northern neighbour…

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Making of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013

Property rights are often compared to right to life, as they are essential for access to basic sustenance and the meaningful exercise of other rights under Article 21 of the Constitution. Prior to the adoption of the Indian Constitution ‘property’ encompassed all types of interests a person could have, categorized into movable and immovable, corporeal and…

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Trump, Tariffs & Tumult

Uncertainty in global trade got new lease of life with US President Trump insisting on weaponzing tariffs with no signs of easing down K.A.Badarinath President Donald Trump is going bonkers. Tariffs or weapons of mass destruction, it makes no difference to him or the Republican White House that he runs. It’s with the same vigour…

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A global Uttar Pradesh is emerging. Yogi Adityanath is guiding the shift

Subnational economies do not become global investment destinations by declaration. They evolve through stages: internal consolidation, structural reinforcement, and eventually, external projection. Uttar Pradesh appears to be entering that third phase.  For much of its recent history, the state’s narrative was framed largely in political terms. Its demographic weight was undeniable, but its economic profile…

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