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The FinePrint

‘Running Boy’ Pradeep Mehra’s overnight fame shows India’s obsession with merit and success

Feeding the idea ‘hard work will give rewards’, in a country where ‘a chaiwala can become a PM’, helps stave off questions about inequality.

400-acre campus painted with nostalgia, an Asian melting pot — how Nalanda 2.0 is taking shape

With a 200-strong international student community, 'unique courses', and a campus cradled by Rajgir hills, Nalanda hopes to achieve the stature of its centuries-old predecessor.

Lost, found or vanished: For many child runaways, dice rolls at New Delhi railway station

India’s ‘lost’ children are usually trying to escape from something: crippling poverty, deprivation, violence, abuse, or simply unbearable pressure to perform well in exams.

Let farmers lease land like people rent houses – Land laws are holding India back

All states place restrictions on who can buy farmland. India’s low score on the protection of property rights harms farmers.

Anatomy of Gujarat’s ‘Rs 6,000-cr coal scam’: UPA-era MSME subsidy that beneficiaries ‘never got’

A scheme guaranteeing subsidised coal for MSMEs was formulated in 2007-08 under the Manmohan Singh govt. Its implementation in Gujarat has spawned allegations of corruption.

India’s nuclear doctrine is useless. Discard no-first-use, say nukes are for China threat

The government has to change its view of nuclear weapons as mere symbols of power and see them as affording India a dynamic military means against China.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka bets big on $14 bn China-backed Port City, wants reluctant India to invest

China has invested $1.4 billion in the strategically located project. But the Rajapaksa govt wants India to invest in the potential metropolis, which is Sri Lanka's first SEZ.

Diamonds & blood: How sanctions against Russian diamond industry can help crime, hurt India

Even though exports to India make up just about 10% of Russian direct sales, Indian diamantaires fear they could end up on the frontline of the war in Ukraine.

Vajpayee, Advani to UPA — The Kashmir Files acknowledges a tragedy no one wanted to talk about

VP Singh, LK Advani, Narasimha Rao, Vajpayee, and UPA govts all failed to recognise the pain of Kashmiri Pandits. Now The Kashmir Files is rectifying that.

Medieval NRIs: How Indian monks rewrote Buddhism in China

When we think of India’s influence on the world, it's important to recognise individuals who weren't kings — Buddhist monks can shed stereotypes.

On Camera

Nur Jahan to Chand Bibi—Indian women in sports have been erased from history

Dice have been found dating to the Bronze Age in various Harappan sites in present-day northwest India and throughout Pakistan. And it’s very possible that some had female owners.

Vodafone Idea AGR case, explained: SC breather to cash-strapped telco & what it means for industry

Telecom industry keeping close tabs on the case. Government is single largest shareholder in Vodafone Idea, at 49 percent.

‘Let them see’: Putin says new nuclear-powered missiles in the making, in message to Washington

At a ceremony felicitating Russian military engineers, Putin highlights Moscow’s 'parity' in defence technologies for the next century.

Trump’s trade wars have rewritten powerplay, but India didn’t get the memo

This world is being restructured and redrawn by one man, and what’s his power? It’s not his formidable military. It’s trade. With China, it turned on him.