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Thursday, July 24, 2025
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The FinePrint

Why rising powers like India must now adopt amorality as the norm

India must build its own Deep State. Not only Adani, but Ambani, Tata, Birla, Infosys, TCS, Wipro can be potential allies.

The power imbalance between Indian corporations and consumers is growing every day

The result is a system where ordinary Indians are relegated to the margins, while corporations operate with impunity, leaving little room for equitable dialogue or genuine public accountability.

R Chidambaram compared nuclear option to marriage option. They cannot be open-ended

It was clear to Rajagopala Chidambaram that India needed time and could not go along with the Geneva negotiations in 1996. Accordingly, India withdrew.

Bollywood’s new costume king. He’s creating the biggest looks—Gangubai to Pushpa & Manto

As pan-India blockbusters and period films boomed, so did the demand for Sheetal Sharma. ‘Actors have to look like the characters they are playing, not just pretty and handsome.’

Life under the barbed wire

Entering India from Bangladesh, 4 Rohingya Muslims flew to Russia; 2 took a ‘donkey route’ to Latvia. Sent back, arrested & now out on bail, their journeys highlight costs of a refugee’s dreams.

Varanasi’s Great Temple Hunt—Hindu groups are combing gullies, mosques, Muslim homes

Freelance Hindu groups are on a mission to ‘find’ temples in Varanasi. Mosques, Muslim homes, or often tense Hindu-Muslim neighbourhoods are their hunting grounds.

Now Haryana has a drug problem too. And unique ways of fighting it

Haryana villagers have taken the fight against drugs into their own hands. Vigilante groups across the state are naming and shaming users and peddlers, but caste plays a part too.

Fewer tourists are visiting India now. What’s worse, our stand is we don’t really care

Over the last decade, we have begun to take the stand that even if foreign travellers do not want to come, we don’t really care. Even Indians are increasingly avoiding our tourist destinations.

Why Ambedkar remains a conundrum for RSS

While Ambedkar diverged with the RSS on Hinduism, some ideological convergences existed. Yet, his legacy resists appropriation by any ideological camp.

Trump’s America will be a challenge. It’s also an opportunity for growing economies like ours

Tech and innovation will also be a big part of India’s ambitions both to grow our economy as well as to create a globally competitive and efficient economy.

On Camera

Defence, tech, education—Modi’s visit will boost India-UK ties

Given the immediate challenges on India’s borders, cooperation in the defence sector with partners such as the UK has achieved greater importance.

India-US set to ink mini trade deal soon, reach understanding on agricultural & dairy products

Mini deal will likely see no cut in 10% baseline tariff on Indian exports announced by Trump on 2 April, it is learnt, but additional 26% tariffs are set to be reduced.

Indian firm sets up titanium, superalloy plants to meet global need. Safran, Dassault, BAE line up

PTC Industries is investing Rs 1,000 cr in 4 manufacturing plants in UP, has already started supplying titanium parts to BAE Systems for its M-777 howitzers that India also uses.

Strategic partner one day, tactical nightmare the next: India’s learning Trumplomacy the hard way

Public, loud, upfront, filled with impropriety and high praise sometimes laced with insults. This is what we call Trumplomacy. But the larger objective is the same: American supremacy.