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Thursday, April 9, 2026
TopicSops

Topic: Sops

Cash now over development later — voters’ distrust of govts leads to more sops, lighter treasuries

Response from political parties, without exception, is to offer non-solutions to very real problems in agriculture, and of unemployment and low incomes. Palliatives are not solutions.

‘We are cracking down’— how Modi govt plans to make it tougher for states to fund freebies

The Narendra Modi government is looking at ways to check states’ spending on handouts like free electricity and rations. The first step is to tighten the noose on state borrowings.

Shun freebie promises, BJP tells state units after Modi’s ‘revadi culture’ jibe at opposition

At a meeting in April, top civil servants had warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the drain on state resources caused by freebies.

Govt planning SOP for terrorist funerals in J&K, says they need to be watched & regulated

Security forces believe the funeral processions, often of local boys, become a "fertile ground for new recruits".

Narendra Modi’s budget sops are darts in the dark, not election game-changers

Evidence shows budget handouts may not get Modi or BJP any more votes than they would have got otherwise. Samajwadi Party lost 2017 UP polls despite the sops.

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.