Author: Asish Kumar
It is clear that our current course is inadequate in light of the growing need to address climate change. Global temperatures are rising along with severe climate-related calamities and rising greenhouse gas emissions, despite increased awareness and efforts. These dismal facts highlight how inadequate our current approaches are. We need to reevaluate our strategy from the ground up rather than just looking for band-aid solutions. Technological developments force a change towards more sustainable solutions by providing new ways to overcome the limitations of conventional methods. Unified Energy Systems: An Emerging ParadigmSystems of centralised energy production and distribution have long been…
The mood is everything but joyous as the countdown to the next Lok Sabha elections gets off. It is not colourful arguments and cheerful campaigns that are anticipated, but rather a coming tide of resentment and hostility. Respected political analyst and founder-director of C-Voter, Yashwant Deshmukh, bemoaned the sharp change in tone from exuberant celebrations to ugly clashes during the current election campaigns. In today’s political environment, voice concerns about the dynamics of the election campaign, and you risk the fury of ardent supporters of the government. Known more for his unbiased analysis than his anti-establishment rhetoric, Deshmukh expresses the…
My mother’s grandmother, Ama, comes into her own as an unintentional matriarch in the complex web of traditional Indian households. After her husband’s sudden death, she was thrown into a leadership role in her Kumaoni Brahmin community, which was patriarchal. Ama had little formal education and a poor command of the English language, but she was full of traditional wisdom.Her understanding of the institution of marriage was especially deep. Ama used to say that even if weddings are prescribed in heaven, earthly procedures must be followed to carry them out. She highlighted the significance of depending on one’s own judgement…
The last decade has seen a remarkable change in the complex network of world politics, where changes are frequently measured in decades instead of days. This development isn’t limited to the international arena; India’s political environment has experienced profound changes that have unavoidably altered its foreign policy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose direct engagement has helped India establish a unique position on the global stage, is leading this recalibration. The days of dismissing Modi as a local politician with little interest in international events are long gone. His pragmatist approach, rooted in the ‘India first’ mentality, has confused friends and…
The electorate in India has a very clear choice as it prepares for the impending general election. Voters are faced with a choice between entrenched vested interests and the welfare of the country as a whole, which is a shift from the usual since the election’s start 1win 1952. The feelings that are prevalent have been captured in recent headlines. According to a prominent CEO poll by the Business Standard—a stronghold of capitalism—voters are unlikely to be greatly impacted by the disclosure of electoral bond contributors and recipients. This unspoken admission emphasises how unstoppable Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the…
India, which is frequently praised for its democratic and secular culture, is at a turning point in its history as democratic principles and human rights are being jeopardised. India has sunk into a worrisome condition of authoritarianism, according to 2023 V-Dem Institute research from the University of Göteborg. The country ranks low on both the Electoral Democracy Index and the Liberal Democracy Index. In fact, the same university declared India to be an “electoral autocracy” in 2021 due to the country’s extreme democratic collapse. Numerous reasons that seriously jeopardise the integrity of free and fair elections are at the core…
The thunderous cries of “Jai Shri Ram” have taken an unsettling turn since the dedication of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, turning into an instrument of hostility directed at Indians who follow faiths other than the majority. This unsettling trend makes one consider Mahatma Gandhi’s viewpoint, especially his observations on these kinds of slogans and the core principles of Rama Rajya. Gandhi described an incident involving the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) in a moving piece published on August 9, 1942. He discovered that the group’s morning rallies featured anti-Muslim slurs. Every day, some 3,000 members of the RSS practiced…
India’s spiritual well-being is frequently considered in relation to its people’s rich tapestry of varied cultures and religions. The building of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has garnered attention recently, which has sparked debate on the supposed necessity of a spiritual awakening among the Hindu population of that nation. On closer inspection, though, it appears that the story of the “lost” Hindus and the call for a new rebirth may be more of a political fabrication than an accurate representation of the country’s spiritual pulse. It seems implausible to claim that Hindus have deviated from their religious path in the…
A new surge of economic enthusiasm has been generated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to ‘marry in India,’ portraying marriages as a potential engine of economic growth. This innovative concept was unveiled on November 26 on the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ show with the intention of persuading wealthy families to hold their lavish celebrations in India rather than abroad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underscored the economic advantages of holding major events in India, and the ‘Wed in India’ programme is a calculated addition to earlier campaigns like Make in India and Travel in India. Millionaire and billionaire families have…
As per the provisions of its constitution, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mandates that its members swear loyalty to specific values. These include respecting the Indian Constitution, accepting democracy, socialism, and secularism, and applying the Gandhian perspective to socioeconomic problems. Nonetheless, a lesser-known aspect of its ideological framework is at its centre: Integral Humanism, the party’s fundamental ideology as stated in Article III. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya presented the idea of integral humanism in a series of lectures in Mumbai in 1965. It captures a deep understanding of the problems that face Bharat (India). The central claim of Upadhyaya’s argument is…