Opinion

Edmund S. Phelps The robots are no longer coming; they are here. The Covid-19 pandemic is hastening the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), but few have fully considered the short and long run consequences. In thinking about AI, it is natural to start from the...

Santosh Kumar Mohapatra With the number of Covid-19 victims rising exponentially, it is vital to assess where India stands in terms of medical capacity to provide the necessary healthcare. India’s poor health infrastructure belies any hope, and the health sector is in the doldrums. The...

Kaushik Basu As the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, our understanding of it is improving. Through a combination of epidemiology and physics – including knowledge of the virus's character and how aerosols float in the air – we are learning more about how the microbe infects...

Dr S. Saraswathi Prime Minister Modi has said that the new National Education Policy (NEP) will mark a shift from “the burden of school bag” to “experiential learning” with focus on “job creators” instead of “job seekers.” The NEP seems to usher in a mini...

Jagdish Rattanani A 22-kilogram silver brick marks the symbolic laying of the foundations of what is promised to be a grand temple to Lord Ram at the spot in Ayodhya where the disputed Babri Masjid once stood. There are those who see this as the...

Melvin Durai If I were a snake, there is no other state I’d want to be in other than Odisha. About one-third of the land in Odisha has been classified as forest land, so I’d have plenty of space to slither around without running into...

Ashok Mahapatra Economy is defined as the system of trade and industry by which the wealth of a country or region is mobilised and used. In its broader term, this could also be viewed as a social domain that emphasises the practices, discourses and material...

Shivaji Sarkar The much-awaited New Education Policy has turned out to be old wine in new bottle. It takes us back to the 1960s and not to 2100, with virtual repetition in concepts, approaches and making the whole report cumbersome with an unnecessary four-year degree...

Ajit Ranade This past week saw the publication of two books by two senior former central bankers. Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel published his book called Overdraft, which is dedicated to the Indian saver. This was much awaited from someone who was otherwise extremely reticent...

Sudha Devi Nayak ‘In the Country of Men’, the debut novel of the Libyan writer Hisham Matar that was nominated for the Booker Prize 2006 and the Guardian First Book Award, has also garnered a few other international awards. Written in lucent, mellifluous prose, the...