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Monday, September 15, 2025
TopicState of the State

Topic: State of the State

‘State of The State’ is a series by Sanjeev Chopra that analyses policy, civil services, and governance in India. 

Sanjeev Chopra is a historian and Festival Director of Valley of Words. Till recently, he was the Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.

India has debated sedition at length but it won’t go without the overhaul of justice system

+TFP Sanjeev Chopra -
Preventive Detention has stayed its course because India didn’t invest much in the investigative competence of the police, or legal acumen of the prosecutors.

Don’t reduce BSF from first-class border guarding force to third-class police force in states

+TFP Sanjeev Chopra -
The BSF was created to guard borders, it hasn't been trained for police function. Expanding its mandate will dilute its core competence.

For a ‘civilisational’ India, important to understand a ‘garrison’ Pakistan, ‘fragile’ Lanka

+TFP Sanjeev Chopra -
Although the territory of Pakistan was part of the civilisational State of Bharat, it consciously chose to disinherit its past. In the process, became a garrison.

Not just Kota factories, we need to talk about delayed induction of state officers to IAS

+TFP Sanjeev Chopra -
State civil service officers constitute one-third of the total strength of the IAS, but few rise to fill the vacancies in the IAS and IPS.

This scheme mapping ‘abadi’ village areas is a win-win situation for Gram Panchayats

Sanjeev Chopra -
IAS officers have always settled agricultural land, not homestead land as it wasn't ‘revenue-yielding'. The NLMC and the SVAMITVA scheme change that.

IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS should have specific civil service entrance exams. At least discuss it

+TFP Sanjeev Chopra -
Would it not make sense if the Prelims and compulsory Mains were common to all, but service-specific papers introduced for IAS, IPS, IFS and Revenue Services?

Single Civil Services Exam outdated. UPSC holding separate exam for Indian Railways—good idea

Sanjeev Chopra -
Before the nationalisation of the railways in 1951, all constituent railway companies had their own methods of recruitment. Then why not now?

Is this India’s ‘Amrit Kal’? As state polls go on, we must trace Representation of People Act

Sanjeev Chopra -
The elections in UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur are also ‘a mid-point referendum’ on the Narendra Modi government.

Hire better public prosecutors through exam, tackle India’s abysmal conviction rates

Sanjeev Chopra -
Hiring competent public prosecutors is fundamental to making India a rule-based society. They shouldn’t be caught between police, admin and judiciary.

Modi govt will have to wait on All India Judicial Services. Top judiciary main opposition

Sanjeev Chopra -
AIJS aims to draw better talent to the district and subordinate judiciary but the higher judiciary does not want to give assertion over the lower courts.
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Opinion

US deep state’s involvement in Nepal, Bangladesh is an absurd conspiracy theory

Rajesh Rajagopalan -
The neighbourhood is a region of potential risks for any regionally dominant power like India, but regional dominance also carries some advantages.

PM Modi has pressed the reset button on India’s Nepal policy. It’s a lesson from Bangladesh

Rahul Gandhi must ask a fundamental question about his politics

Economy

What’s behind bond yields’ logic-defying spike? The market’s concern over the future

Manasi Phadke -
While bond yields tend to fall amid low inflation & interest rate cuts, market experts say they’ve been rising due to concerns over tax collections, fiscal deficit & potential impact of US tariffs.

Defence

New Defence Procurement Manual out, first since 2009, with moves to cut red tape, ease pvt participation

Javaria Rana -
The updated manual introduces reforms like guaranteed orders, lower financial penalties & simplified procurement for specialised equipment.

National Interest

Gen Zs have taken down the Nepal regime. Here’s why this will never happen in India

Shekhar Gupta -
To be truly functional and durable, even eternal, a state doesn’t just need a leader, a party or an ideology. It needs functional and robust institutions.

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