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Thursday, April 9, 2026
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Opinion

Iran’s Chabahar exposes the gap between India’s standing and Modi’s grandstanding

India is making its decisions on the basis of a third party's interests, for all the election-time braggadocio of the Prime Minister. 'Desh nahi jhukne doonga', anyone remember?

Cement is hitting a wall. There’s no coming back

After decades of growth, cement consumption is bottoming out. We may never return to the peak 4.4 billion metric tons produced in 2021, even as India, Southeast Asia and Africa continue to urbanise.

10 examples of the BJP’s ‘Bengal Virodhi’ mindset—mispronunciations to unpaid dues

The most telling example of the BJP-Sangh Parivar’s Bengal Virodhi mindset is the grotesquely patriarchal and misogynist language used by its leaders against Mamata Banerjee.

India has an import dependency problem. What Budget 2026 can change

Import dependence is not an inevitability; it is a matter of policy and policy can be rewritten.

Census 2027 is special. It could undo the 1971 freeze on constituencies

Once the results of the first digital census start appearing, about 16 months from now, they will open a Pandora’s Box of multiple divides and discontents.

Paperwork and red-tape are killing India’s scientific research. IISc offers a viable model

When flexibility is denied, grants cease to be instruments of discovery and instead become compliance exercises.

Indian students keep getting stuck in war. Families send kids anywhere for Dr title

I hope the Indian students in Iran make it back home safe. They have suffered enough, at home and abroad. But a culture that can only accept two professions in 2026 will learn nothing from this. See you at the next evacuation.

India’s growth numbers look great, but it has a private investment problem

The Modi govt shifted the burden of investing for growth from companies to the public sector. The share of government capital spending in GDP terms has doubled since 2014.

Trump’s Greenland tariff war: It’s time for Europe to fight fire with fire, & it already has the ‘bazooka’

The bloc’s Anti-Coercion Instrument is explicitly designed to defend member states put under tariff pressure by foreign powers.

The real risk to Iran’s oil industry is from labour strikes, not bombs

While the risk of a US attack has receded, the potential for labour unrest has paradoxically increased.

On Camera

India has enough coal stocks to meet power demand, says govt as war pushes up mining costs

LPG supply eased for more industries, govt says coal gasification is next growth avenue. Centre welcomes US-Iran ceasefire but asks Indians to leave Iran.

Western theatre against Pakistan to be headed by IAF, Northern theatre under Army to focus on China

India's military to get Vice Chief of Defence Staff along with one Theatre Commander from each of three services, it is learnt.

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.