scorecardresearch
Add as a preferred source on Google
Thursday, April 9, 2026
HomeNational Interest

National Interest

Pakistan has a 7-year terror itch. Here’s a two-minus-one-front idea to cure it

Pakistani establishments and their proxies are prone to severe, predictable 7-year-itch. Each step up the escalation ladder buys India about this many years of deterrence on average.

What is Asim Munir thinking?

Kashmir’s return to normalcy, for Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir, had to be reversed. Pahalgam wasn’t plotted in the week between the speech. It must have taken several weeks, if not months of planning.

Caste census is a bad idea whose time has come. Much worse lies ahead

One of the reasons we call the caste census a bad idea is that so far, nobody has figured what to do with the data, except Rahul Gandhi.

Pakistan ISI is killing Hindus for 45 years. To turn India into a nation at war with itself

At some point, Pakistan’s calculation has been, Hindus will rise in reprisal against their own minorities. That’s a crisis ISI has been conjuring up in India. A nation at war with itself.

Abki baar 75 paar—Modi isn’t going anywhere & the Opposition is all out of ideas

Are freebies the way forward for the Opposition? Anything they promise, Modi will improve on the offer. And since he has the power of the incumbent, his promise will be taken more seriously.

US and China are 2 clashing elephants. India can’t be the grass under their feet

Donald Trump brought clarity on his trade war with a 90-day hiatus for the rest of the world while he upped tariffs to 145...

Manoj ‘Bharat’ Kumar sang so Sunny Deol could yell—journey of Bollywood patriotism

This isn’t an obituary of Manoj Kumar. It's about the influence he had in defining patriotism for two generations of Indians across our most perilous decade, say from 1962 until the run-up to the Emergency.

Thank you Trump for putting tariff gun to India’s head. That’s the only way we’d be forced to reform

Trump threatening to pull the trigger might be just what is needed to wake up India’s self-congratulatory establishment from its headline-managing fantasies.

One prime minister’s 19-month legacy is bigger than another’s Emergency

Shastri’s legacy is unfairly overshadowed by peace he made at Tashkent and a visit that also took his life. Among his contributions were Green Revolution and talent-hunting Dr Swaminathan.

Trick or retreat: There’s a grand deception behind Indian military shortfalls, and in this column

It is fashionable to curse Rajiv Gandhi for Bofors and more, but the truth is that 1985-89 was the only period in our history when weapons acquisitions were proactive and futuristic.

On Camera

A stronger Iran has emerged from the rubble. US learned the lesson 40 days late

The US and Israel’s assassinations of Iranian leadership ended up bestowing martyrdom on those killed. Shias saw the deaths as a continuity of martyrdom from the Battle of Karbala.

Data centre gold rush risks blackouts, central electricity body warns states against tripping grids

India’s fast-growing data centre sector may strain state electricity networks; Central Electricity Authority has urged Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu to boost capacity.

Too early to draw lessons from US-Israel & Iran war, India monitoring like a hawk—Navy chief

Indian Navy chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said that the ongoing conflict in West Asia illustrates that speed is no longer merely an enabler of warfare but a distinct capability.

China insulated itself against energy shocks. India is ‘all talk, no walk’

China patiently invested capital, skill and technology in coal gasification. Unlike it, we won’t move from words to action. As crude prices decline, we lose interest.