Editorial

UNITED States President Mr. Donald Trump’s phone call to Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to discuss the West Asia crisis carries a special importance in the current geopolitical situation. This is the first direct talk between Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi since the war with Iran broke out on February 28. The call has come at a critical moment when negotiations between representatives of the United States and Iran are on the horizon with Pakistan taking the lead to host the talks. This development is of ..

THE assessment of the performance of Mr. Narendra Modi as head of the Government cannot be done on the basis of how many days he has been holding the high office first as Chief Minister and later as Prime Minister. The fact that he has held the highest office in the State or Central Governments for as many as 8931 days and the count is still on, does demonstrate his longevity, all right. But more importantly, it showcases a fulfilling career at the helm complete with innovation, integrity and insightfullne..

 THE longer the war against Iran continues, the messier it is going to get for United States President Mr. Donald Trump. That America has been dragged into the war, that was most-desired by Israel, is becoming amply clear by now and Mr. Trump is find..

PRIME Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s assertion makes a great sense that in politics there is ‘no full stop’ and the future awaits everybody who wishes to make his or her contribution to the larger society even beyond the point of formal retirement. As he addressed the Rajya Sabha when as many as 59 Members of Parliament retired and stated that such farewells often evoked intense emotions, Mr. Modi stated that nobody fully retires from politics as such. The future is all the time inviting everybody to ..

NO MATTER the every-day shouting match between different parties about the Iran conflict, a systematic peace process is yet to begin. Habitually, every morning after he wakes up, United States President Mr. Donald Trump appears to ascend to the White House terrace and indulges in making strange and strong statements that ultimately may mean nothing. Occasionally, Russia also wakes up to make some statements as also does China -- asking for an end to hostilities. India also keeps harping that war would ..

HISTORY has been made at the Twenty20 World Cup and now white-ball cricket is set for a geography tour of India with the Indian Premier League. Another edition of the IPL is round the corner as focus has started to shift to franchisee news from the heart-warming triumph scripted by Suryakumar Yadav’s team in Ahmedabad. From a delirious dressing room, the Indian players are now moving into the preparatory camps hoping to pull a fast one on the colleagues who were together just a few days ago to bail ..

THE ongoing war in Middle East is utterly senseless, getting conducted by people of highly criminal mentality. Even those who are engaged in that war would not know the exact purpose for which they are unleashing upon the world so much violence, so much destruction. They are only using their weapons of destruction -- and their brains to know why at all they are doing all this. One after another, those warlords are bombing critical assets of their so-called enemies -- so much so that the oil refineries ..

AS AN inspiration before the one-off Test against Australia at the renovated WACA ground in Perth, the Indian women’s team had revisited their famous win over the same rivals in December 2023. It was their first Test victory over Australia. The intended spark of inspiration only worked in patches as the Australian women hammered India by ten wickets to win the pink-ball Test. The loss has not come as a shocker for coach Amol Muzumdar but the women’s failure to conjure white-ball magic in white clothing ..

THE end of the Nitish Kumar era in Bihar has been signalled. Bihar’s longest serving Chief Minister has filed nomination papers to enter the Rajya Sabha in the next few days. He will soon be replaced, most possibly, by a candidate from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is a component of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar. Most probably, Mr. Nitish Kumar’s son -- Mr. Nishant Kumar -- would be inducted into the new Bihar Government as a Deputy Chief Minister...

THE latest war in Middle East shows that the nature of war is changing. The concept of ‘boots on the ground’ indicating actually physical invasion of a land by soldiers is very much in vogue, but in a slow but sure manner, its acceptance will possibly be on the wane as countries turn to technology in their attempt to modernise the military. Operation Sindoor by India about a year ago demonstrated what changing war could mean. In the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a more or less similar approach ..

AFTER the first week of the ICC World Twenty20 Championships, all the talk has once again veered around the top names in running for the silverware. The established ones are gunning for glory with their usual firepower but at the same time one light-arc has firmly settled on the small wonders who have staged a big show in their own right in the tournament. Not all the minnows (or weak teams) might make the upper grade in the tournament but they have made a solid statement to the cricketing world -- ..

THOUGH the country has accepted in principle the idea of replacing symbols of British Raj with Indian symbolism, the decision of the Government to remove the statue of British architect Edwin Lutyens and put a bust of (the late) Rajagopalachari -- Rajaji for all -- points to over-stretching the concept rather too much. There is no doubt that Mr. Edwin Lutyens had been hired by the British to design and build New Delhi as national capital when they chose to move their seat of power from Calcutta (Kolkata) ..

AFTER a change of regime in Bangladesh following the victory of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), truth behind many questionable policies and decisions taken by the 18-month interim government are tumbling out of the closet. Apart from the economic, political and foreign policy errors implemented by the caretaker government under interim head Mohammad Yunus, the decision of non-participation in the ongoing ICC Twenty20 World Cup turned out to be a grave mistake as the team was misguided by the then ..

   EVEN as the world goes ahead with its romance with Artificial Intelligence (AI) -- at the current AI Impact Summit in New Delhi or elsewhere -- serious spiritual issues, too, are springing up in the discourse. The New Delhi summit saw va..

THE AI (Artificial Intelligence) Impact Summit 2026 at New Delhi has brought to fore the fact that India is well on its course to become a global leader in the AI technology that is expected to have a far-reaching and deep impact on life in general in India and elsewhere in the world. Having known how well India has done on the AI front, leaders of different countries are acknowledging the Indian prowess and are willing to follow the Indian model. The summit’s theme ‘AI for all’ says it all. It shows ..

AFTER the first week of the ICC World Twenty20 Championships, all the talk has once again veered around the top names in running for the silverware. The established ones are gunning for glory with their usual firepower but at the same time one light-arc has firmly settled on the small wonders who have staged a big show in their own right in the tournament. Not all the minnows (or weak teams) might make the upper grade in the tournament but they have made a solid statement to the cricketing world -- ..

SUCH a “Substantive Motion” was waiting in the wings to come up against Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Mr. Rahul Gandhi -- seeking termination of his membership of Parliament. It would have been a real surprise if such a motion were not to be taken up by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). For long, Mr. Rahul Gandhi had been daring the Government with his ugly statements and unholy diatribes. For long, he had been flouting norms and conventions of Parliament. ..

THE serious discourse going on in a Superior Court in Los Angeles about how social media is addicting the brains of children, is of tremendous importance to the larger humanity in the current age of advanced technology as part of the fourth industrial revolution. A strong case is being built by lawyers and jurors about the terrible and negative impact of various digital social media platforms on young minds. The makers of those digital applications and platforms are offering their own defence, but ..

PRIME Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s visit to Malaysia -- first foreign tour in the new year -- created a desired impact of long-term ramifications for India, for Malaysia, Asia, and the larger world. It showed what positive diplomacy -- like that of India -- can achieve in the changing world order. For, the Prime Minister’s visit paved the way to an improved atmosphere in Asian and global geopolitics and economics. There were a few anxious moments in the relationship of India and Malaysia in the past ..

P AKISTAN is bleeding internally. Its home-grown ills are slowly inflicting untold damage on the country and its civil society even as the political class and the military generals keep themselves engaged in futile battles with their adversaries and harping on their anti-India tirade without any success. In this melee, many innocent lives are being lost to terrorist attacks. The latest in a mosque in the Tarlai area of capital Islamabad has taken 31 lives and left almost 200 injured. Pakistan’s own ..

THE horrendous death of three adolescent sisters who jumped from their ninth floor home in Gaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) as part of a ‘task’ in an online game, should shock everyone out of wits. Though this is not the first time that such an episode has happened -- not just in India but also elsewhere in the world. Unthinking children -- having been mesmerised by the so-called glamour of online games with dirty implications -- have taken extreme steps as part of ‘tasks’ that are integral to many such online ..

 THE sea of green on the benchmark indices on Tuesday underlined how much importance Indian businesses attach to having good trade relations with the United States of America. Trigger of the stock market surge was the announcement of the possibility..

FINER nuances of the Union Budget 2026 are unveiling a robust thinking behind making India a key player in the world not only as a strong economy but a vital ingredient for human welfare. All the number crunching by Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman has reflected India’s strategy of consolidation-first before making a move when things fall in place in the global economy. India is ready to play a waiting game but is not willing to sit idle. Instead, it is investing heavily in capacity building, ..

R APID developments in the international arena has possibly compelled United Nations Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres to assert that the UN has been “very active” in mediating conflicts. Even as United States President Mr. Donald Trump tries to form a Board of Peace involving several countries, and also withdraw financial support to several global institutions, Mr. Guterres possibly felt it necessary to tell the world what the UN has been doing. His assertion, of course, is not without substance ..

NO MATTER who says what, it is an undeniable fact that the work-force of the world’s high-technology sectors has become terribly anxious about possible job loss as Artificial Intelligence is proving to be an ever-expanding area causing shockingly high numbers of job cuts all over the world. Even as Amazon cut as many as 16,000 jobs in its various facilities the world over, the world’s high-tech sectors got caught in fears that there could be more job cuts across sectors and machines would replace ..