Op-Eds

Reform, global reach and financial stability statecraft.  Amid developing tensions, the International Monetary Fund’s 2025 Financial Sector Stability Assessment for China arrives at a pivotal juncture. More than a domestic stocktake, it reflects the structural transformation of China’s financial system, marked by increased complexity, persistent contradictions and a steadily expanding global footprint – much of which is...   Read More

As India seeks to enhance its innovation ecosystem, it is worthwhile to pay attention to opportunities and lessons from the self-inflicted wounds on American science What do lasers, the internet, Google’s search algorithm, the gene-editing tool CRISPR-9, Wireless MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology, and Covid vaccines have in common? Key innovations underlying each originated in an...   Read More

India’s water crisis is not only about scarcity. It is mismanagement, over extraction of groundwater and pollution that are the real culprits In a country where nearly 600 million people face high to extreme water stress and where per capita water availability has dropped sharply from 5,177 m³ in 1951 to about 1,400 m³ today,...   Read More

How many handloom weavers are there in India? According to the 4th All India Handloom Census (2019–20), there are 26,73,891 handloom weavers and 8,48,621 allied workers in the country. In other words, there are a total of 35.2 lakh handloom weavers in the country. Challenges in Estimating the Number of Handloom Weavers in India: A Comparison...   Read More

India’s water crisis is no longer a spectre of the future; it is a daily reality. As the summer of 2025 looms, farmers from Punjab to Tamil Nadu brace themselves for parched fields while urban residents grow anxious about taps running dry. Beneath the cracked earth and empty rivers lies an even more alarming threat:...   Read More

NDIA is entering a defining decade for its water and wastewater management. The challenge   is monumental, but so is the opportunity. With surging industrialisation, relentless urbanisation, and climate-sensitive agriculture, the country's wastewater market is no longer an environmental issue alone-it is an economic, social, and political imperative. According to recent estimates, India's water and wastewater...   Read More

‘Preparedness, not prediction, is the watchword’  History has a habit of repeating itself, particularly with recent shifts in global trade and financial instability in developing economies. When the Latin American debt crisis hit in the 1980s, it was sparked by oil price shocks and deteriorating trade terms, and then made worse by an over-reliance on...   Read More

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) appears to have recognized that communication is no longer subordinate to economic design — it can make or break reform and change, especially where trust in institutions is thin and fiscal room is limited. The IMF's latest Fiscal Monitor dedicates a chapter to public consent as a precondition for good policy....   Read More

The US wants to be the permanent global hegemon. BRICS+ must boost regional trade and build alternative financial infrastructure. The Illusory Truth Effect — a psychological phenomenon where repeated exposure to falsehoods makes them seem true—has become a cornerstone of modern political propaganda. A 2023 study in Public Opinion Quarterly found that by the end...   Read More

As the financial system becomes increasingly digitised, it raises a pressing question: are our senior citizens unintentionally being excluded from the financial mainstream? India’s digital transition in the financial sector has been one of the most striking developments of banking system and for making financial transactions seamless, transparent, and accessible. However, this transformation has not...   Read More