Since early 2010, Japan and India have discussed joint infrastructure projects in third countries, including announcing an Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. But not a single project has taken off.
Instead of holding a public debate on making the Right to Information Act more effective, the government is seeking to dilute its provisions.
At a time when India’s relationships with big powers like the U.S., Russia, China and Europe are increasingly being complicated by their rivalries with each other, the country needs to follow its traditional policy of strategic autonomy, focussing on its own vital interests.
Recently around 600 Sea turtles got entangled in ghost gear near the Maldives, of which 528 were Olive Ridleys — the same species that come in thousands to Odisha’s coasts to nest.
The total direct tax collection is estimated to be over ₹10 lakh crore in 2017-18, an increase of about 18% from the previous year. But the contribution of direct taxes to the total amount of taxes collected by the government, which is currently 52.29%, is still below what it was in 2013.
India needs to ponder deeply on what is in its best interests. Its decision needs to be dictated by the cold logic of circumstances. Strategic ambivalence is not an answer to the situation that India faces today.
The Doklam standoff led some in Bhutan to call for the country to adopt an independent foreign policy, one that is not too closely aligned with India, so that it could resolve its dragging border dispute with China.
The work of the courts is the work of public reason. This is what gives the phrase “open justice” its resonance: the dealing of justice must, at all times, be transparent and subject to public scrutiny. That is what separates justice under the Constitution from the ‘firmans’ of an emperor.
With well over 80% of its oil demand being met through imports, India clearly has a lot at stake as oil prices have risen by as much as 70% in rupee terms in the last one year.
One of the most serious lacunas in our defence management is the absence of jointness in the Indian armed forces. Our doctrines, command structures, force deployments and defence acquisition continue as though each arm is going to fight a future war on its own.
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