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Tuesday, February 24, 2026
TopicMerit

Topic: merit

Education is the only way ahead but SC/ST/OBC students trapped in status quo of merit

Discourse around merit settles for convenience over equitable distribution of resources. Bahujan organisations want to change this.

‘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.

Indian drawing room talk on ‘merit’ stands demolished by Supreme Court NEET ruling

Supreme Court's explanation on the constitutional validity of OBC quota in NEET rejects commonly held views of dominant castes who are blind to India's social realities.

NEET UG results have a loud and clear message: Dominant castes can’t continue old tactics

NEET UG results have bust the caste-merit myth. But dominant castes still have an 'anxiety' about unreserved seats.

Out-of-turn promotion is the only way to recognise and encourage merit in our military

Seniority impinges on merit and there is a need for reform. The challenge is to have a system to find the meritorious 'first'.

Reactions to OBC medical quota are exposing Indians’ flawed merit argument all over again

I didn’t see any protest or anger by Savarnas against EWS quota. No one wrote: 'I will not get treated by a doctor who did their degree under EWS reservation.'

Article 16(4) stands on its own. Constitution made no room for ‘merit’ that courts invoke

The phrase 'efficiency of administration', used in the colonial and precolonial eras, was rejected during the framing of the Indian Constitution, and thus cannot be used against the idea of reservations.

Supreme Court just destroyed the ‘merit’ argument upper castes use to oppose reservations

Before this judgment, there was confusion among policymakers on the scope of reservation in promotion policies.

On Camera

Life in Delhi isn’t easy for Northeast Indians. Racism is always round the corner

Racism is a problem for privileged mainlanders only when it's meted out to them abroad. In their own backyard, it's normalised as 'I was just kidding. Chill yaar'.

In the West, there’s anxiety. In India, optimism—Rishi Sunak says India poised to be leader in AI

On Wednesday, the former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was speaking in New Delhi at a Carnegie & Observer Research Foundation event on AI.

IAF’s Tejas fleet undergoes ‘maintenance check’, decision on airframe yet to be taken

The 7 February incident involving Tejas aircraft caused severe damage to its frame. IAF and HAL are working together as part of the Board of Inquiry (BoI) to probe the incident.

No country is ever fully sovereign. Cold War era taught India its real meaning

India’s fraught neighbourhood places multiple constraints on its strategic choices. It leaves no time to take a deep breath, lean back and reset.