Opinion

Santosh Kumar Mohapatra Utkal University, an institution with a distinguished history, celebrated its platinum jubilee recently. A suggestion that came up at the celebration was that the institution should be made into a world class university. However, the characteristics that distinguish a university as a...

SN Misra The decision of the Supreme Court to order a floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly could not have come on a more apt day; it was the 70th birthday of the Constitution. Justice Marshall had observed: “A constitution is framed for ages to...

Santosh Kumar Mohapatra Though the government is yet to acknowledge the severity of economic downturn, the Indian economy is facing a perfect storm, beset by a combination of cyclical and structural factors that make recovery doubly difficult. Damp consumer demand and private investment, decline of...

SN Misra In the long festering dispute between two religious communities over a piece of land measuring 1,500 square yards at Ayodhya, the Supreme Court was to decide whether the spiritual belief of Hindus would prevail over the temporal reality of a mosque built in...

Sabyasachee Dash & Bejon Misra The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was dealt a blow when India made a last-minute, unsurprising withdrawal from the seven-year-old negotiations during a series of weekend meetings of Asian governments in Bangkok. India’s action is seen as an inward turn...

Dhanada K Mishra China is one of the oldest civilisations of the world, with beautiful traditions such as that of Confucius and Lao-Tse. China also became the cradle of Buddhism, which came from India and spread onward to all of Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia....

Santosh Kumar Mohapatra On the evening of November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of currency of denominations 500 and 1,000 to combat black money, corruption, fake currency and terror financing. Three years later, none of these goals seem to have been...

Piyush Ranjan Rout Innovation is key for cities to grow prosperous. Despite the challenge involved in achieving this, cities are catalysts for change. When cities grow, so do challenges such as achieving social equality and cultural diversity, alleviating poverty, and protecting the environment. Just as...

Sarit Kumar Rout Universal health coverage (UHC) simply means every citizen, irrespective of income, caste and social status, should have access to basic minimum health services without facing financial hardship. With more resources available, the state should progressively increase coverage and services. UHC has three...

Prateek Pattanaik We have all heard that in the month of Kartika, one must not eat non-vegetarian food. And in the last five days, called the ‘Panchuka’, not under any circumstance. It is said that even the crane abandons fish for these five days. This...