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‘Bad’ data is all around. Even as the Centre is vigorously questioning the WHO’s Covid death figures in India during the Covid pandemic, it also has issues with information supplied by the states to the Finance Ministry for the release of funds under centrally sponsored...

The West responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with sanctions of unprecedented severity and scope. By the standard of proportionality, the reaction of the United States, the European Union, and their allies seems appropriate. Serious international aggression demands a serious response. But by the standards...

Several reports in the last few months have sounded the alarm about growing income and wealth inequality in India. The statistics cited are not wrong, but they are incomplete. And they have produced sensational, but misleading, news stories. For example, an article based on Oxfam’s...

For the first time in its history since the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997, Hong Kong has got a police officer of China as its new Chief Executive through an election May 8. The 64-year-old John Lee will take charge...

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation submitted to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his younger brother, is but a desperate attempt by the ruling family to appease an infuriated population reeling under extreme economic hardships. The resignation followed violence that erupted when supporters of the ruling...

Finally, the Taliban have shown their true colours so far as their perverse conception of women is concerned. Suffice it to say, their world view dates back to an age when women were regarded as chattel, the personal property of the male folk, their fit...

In July 2020, the government announced it would monitor India’s performance of 29 select global indices. A meeting with 47 Central ministries and departments was held to work out how to improve the ranking. Let us see what has happened since. On the United Nations...

Kerala Chief Secretary VP Joy’s recent visit to Gandhinagar to study the dashboard system for e-governance in Gujarat is full of portent for good governance if picked up by other states. The dashboard monitoring system was started in 2019 when Vijay Rupani was the Chief...

Before the pandemic, nostalgia was a major force in global politics. Donald Trump rose to power by promising to “make America great again,” and Brexiteers won their political battle partly by idealising Britain’s imperial past. While Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a “great rejuvenation...

France is not the United States. Many liberals, including me, worried that Marine Le Pen might just win the French presidency for the same reason that Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016: Loathing of the more liberal candidate would enable the far-right populist to...