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Sunday, February 22, 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

Youth Congress, your foolish protest helped the Modi govt climb out of the AI summit hole

In tactical terms, the shirtless protest was worse than a self-goal. Suddenly, the fiascos of the AI Summit were forgotten, and the Youth Congress’s disruption became the issue.

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.

MoD, IAF agree on some exemptions to HAL for Tejas Mk1A, but no compromise on ‘must-have’ capabilities

IAF is fine with accepting the aircraft with 'must-haves', even if some other steps remain pending, which may take at least another year, it is learnt.

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.