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Wednesday, February 18, 2026
TopicState

Topic: state

An American helped IAS officers like me ask the right questions—why James Scott is important

Scott looked at the State as it is—based on its functions rather than through the prism of Kautilya's Arthashastra, Machiavelli’s The Prince, or the Marxist concept.

India’s State institutions are failing citizens because they were built to control, not govern

While centralising elements are necessary at times, the problem is that India’s institutions have not evolved along with the country’s growth.

Modi govt must treat farmers as businessmen & introduce ease of doing agri-business index

If Narendra Modi wants to double farmers’ incomes, then the Centre has to create a system that can rank states according to agricultural performance.

Centre gives a lot of money to states for social welfare. A good policy, but only on paper

In the last 18 years, the Centre spent Rs 14 lakh crore on social services. But centrally sponsored schemes are undermining state say.

Bengali Muslims are not sure where they belong this Lok Sabha election

TMC’s electoral games to garner Muslim votes in Bengal and BJP’s NRC push has made an entire community vulnerable to statelessness.

After Lok Sabha polls, new govt must be wary of big-bang ideas that lead to bad outcomes

From bank nationalisation to demonetisation, the Indian state often rushed into things it was not able to handle well.

State regulation in India – the art of rolling over rather than rolling back

Regulatory bodies were created to de-politicise decision making. But in India, something different has happened.

Of mindless words and a vacuum of ideas: Indian politics under Modi reflects emptiness

Indians have ceased to be ‘argumentative’; instead, they have started surrendering. There’s no intellectual debate; only status-seeking, clever discourse. The very popular, but quite cynical, perception...

On Camera

Tarique Rahman’s govt is on a mission of de-Yunusification. It will fix India-Bangladesh ties

Going forward, India and Bangladesh will have to double the effort to fix the damage done to bilateral ties by the Yunus administration.

Venezuela crude returns to India’s oil basket. But only as ‘supplementary’ supply

Indian refiners are testing Venezuelan barrels again as Russian supply sinks, but analysts say volumes will remain limited due to refinery constraints & supply capacity.

US military commander, envoy Sergio Gor visit Indian Army Western Command, Bengaluru next

At the Western Army Command, the American delegation was briefed on the capabilities of the formation, past operations and the path ahead.

The new Great Game—Trump’s playing for time, China for leverage & India for wiggle room

This is the game every nation is now learning to play. Some are finding new allies or seeing value among nations where they’d seen marginal interest. The starkest example is India & Europe.