Opinion

The scrappage policy is a profit accelerator. By some industry estimates, it can add 30% or more to auto maker profits, not through innovation but by forcing replacement, acquiring old cars cheaply, recycling-retrofitting their parts, and locking consumers into high-margin service and spare part ecosystems....

In early November, as Iran’s years-long drought reached an intensity “unprecedented in modern times,” crowds of worshippers gathered at a mosque in Tehran and tilted their faces upward, pleading for rain. But no amount of prayer – in Iran or anywhere else – can offset...

Indian cricket selections of ten trigger emotions that go far beyond sport. Few decisions illustrate this better than the phases where Shubman Gill was dropped from the Indian T-20 World Cup team, while Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan were preferred. At first glance, this appears...

India and New Zealand have just concluded negotiations on a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA), marking a significant milestone in their economic partnership. The negotiations, finalised on 22 December, aim at doubling the bilateral trade over the next five years, synergising the respective strengths of...

Economic inequality has long stood at the centre of debates on how societies are organised and how prosperity is shared. While disparities have always existed, by 2025, inequality has reached levels that demand urgent moral, political, and economic attention. The gains of globalisation and economic...

Every winter, Delhi’s air pollution debate follows a familiar script. We look for villains, argue over blame, and ignore science and solutions. This year has been no different — except that it has bordered on the absurd. Pollution season opened with the Supreme Court allowing...

The world is on the cusp of a profound geopolitical restructuring, as escalating great-power rivalries erode the multilateral structures that have supported the global order since the mid-20th century. To prevent the international system from sliding into chaos and conflict, those unwilling to accept a...

The North Atlantic is undergoing sweeping historical changes as the rift between Europe and America widens. Under President Donald Trump, the US is seeking to create a world order based solely on spheres of interest, and dominated by the “big three” global powers: the US,...

The passage of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 called the VB-G RAM G Bill, marks a decisive break from one of India’s most consequential social legislations. It replaced the landmark National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) of 2005,...

Back in the early 1980s, Sterling Price worked as a cook at a pizza restaurant in Springdale, Ar kansas, and this is before there were any national sandwich chains in town like Subways. As Sterling tells the story, “A lady came in one day and...